The Milwaukee multifamily market has a new premier luxury apartment tower. Monthly rent rates for The Couture were made public Thursday, revealing that the building will become the most expensive place to rent an apartment in downtown Milwaukee. First unveiled in 2012 by Milwaukee’s Barrett Lo Visionary Development (BLVD), The Couture will start welcoming residents to
The Milwaukee multifamily market has a new premier luxury apartment tower.
Monthly rent rates for The Couturewere made public Thursday, revealing that the building will become the most expensive place to rent an apartment in downtown Milwaukee.
First unveiled in 2012 by Milwaukee's Barrett Lo Visionary Development (BLVD), The Couture will start welcoming residents to the 516-foot lakefront tower in April, according to a Thursday announcement from BLVD.
The top levels of The Couture have two penthouses, each with about 2,350 square feet. The two-floor units have three bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms and outdoor terraces with about 350 square feet of space. The north-facing penthouse is priced at $11,585 a month, and the slightly larger south-facing one is at $11,650 a month.
To afford one of these units on one income, one would need to make around $480,000 per year, or $240,000 on two incomes, in order to not spend more than the economist-recommended 30% of income on housing.
While the striking penthouse rents are resetting the high watermark of rent in downtown Milwaukee, a bulk of the building's units will lease for comparatively more modest prices.
The Couture's pricing goes down to $2,045 a month for the building's smallest apartments, which have one bedroom, totaling 576 square feet and facing west.
The average rent in the 322-unit Couture tower is around $3,400 a month, according to a BizTimes calculation.
A majority of the units, about 200 of them, are priced between $2,000 and $3,000 a month, with about 26 between $3,000 and $4,000, 68 between $4,000 and $5,000 and 21 between $8,000 and $9,000.
On a price per square foot basis, The Couture's units will rent for an average of $3.90, according to preliminary research from commercial real estate analytics firm CoStar.
“This is going to be the priciest building on the market," Gard Pecor, senior market analyst with CoStar. "On the higher end, you even have some three-bedroom units that are getting close to $5 per square foot.”
BLVD and the building’s property manager, Dallas-based Willow Bridge Property Company, have launched a new website to market the property where each unit's price and position in the building is listed.
Designed by Milwaukee-based architecture firm RINKA, all apartments at The Couture feature designer finishes, including floor-to-ceiling windows, direct lake and/or city views and custom wood cabinetry.
The building's amenity package includes a fitness center, clubhouse, lounge, outdoor terrace and swimming pool, 24-hour concierge, business center, bike parking and storage, dog park, underground heated parking and electric vehicle charging stations.
The Couture's rents mark a new high for the Milwaukee market, but it's not the first time recently that the ceiling has been raised.
In 2018, the nearby apartment tower 7Seventy7 hit the market with average rents per square foot at $3.40. Then in 2022, Ascent opened its doors downtown at around $3.60 per square foot, according to Pecor.
Similarly, rents for The Couture's penthouse units have pushed the market upward. At 7Seventy7 penthouse units range from $6,840 to $7,895 per month, according to listings for currently-available units. The penthouse at Ascent rents for $8,500 a month.
“There's been a question of demand that has occurred pretty much with every new luxury building we’ve seen downtown,” Pecor said. "...But Milwaukee has a demographic interested in renting these apartments, and typically what they're doing is renting below their means."
According to Pecor, 7Seventy7 leased up in a year and has remained at about 95% occupancy since then. Ascent also reached about 90% occupancy in a year.
"Milwaukee has very tight fundamentals with low vacancies, rising incomes and rising population in the downtown core,” Pecor said.
[caption id="attachment_582911" align="aligncenter" width="1280"] Rendering of The Couture.[/caption]
