A former fire station built next to the bridge that is the southern gateway to Milwaukee’s Historic Third Ward neighborhood will become the family home for the owners of Hales Corners-based Wimmer Communities.
Brothers Mark and John Wimmer presented their plans to redevelop and add approximately 3,000 square feet to Fire Engine House #15, 105 N. Water St., Wednesday to the Third Ward Association’s Architectural Review Board.
The family loves boating, water sports and being together, which is what attracted them to the property, Mark Wimmer said. The brothers currently live in Greendale and Pewaukee.
“We’re looking to create a Wimmer retreat,” Mark Wimmer said. “John and I would each take a floor and a 19 (foot) by 34 (foot) children’s suite would be built.”
The Wimmer house would include two bedrooms on the first and second floors and a total of six bathrooms. Each floor would have an approximate 1,000-square-foot addition to the north end of the building, which would become the new entrance, said Greg Uhen, CEO of Eppstein Uhen Architects who is designing the project.
A wrap-around deck will be on the top and second floor. The lower level is along the Milwaukee River Walk.
The Wimmer Brothers, who own a fifth-generation Hales Corners-based real estate development company, purchased the two-story, 5,600-square-foot fire house from IMP Real Estate Services LLC/Timothy Dyer.
The architectural review board gave the project conditional approval but asked for some design alterations. The project will also require a special use permit from the city.
The fire house was listed by Transwestern with an asking price of $2.7 million. The property is assessed by the City of Milwaukee for $703,000.
