Chicago-based Carroll Properties Inc. plans to build a 32- to 33-story luxury apartment building, with up to 270 units, at a site northeast of Van Buren Street and Kilbourn Avenue in downtown Milwaukee.
The site was formerly occupied by an Edwardo’s restaurant and is where New Land Enterprises LLP and later developers Tim Gokhman and Ann Shuk had planned to build a high rise apartment development called Bookends. But the Bookends project never moved forward.
Carroll Properties has a contract to purchase the site from Bookends Group LLC, said Bob King, president of Carroll Properties. That deal is expected to close by the end of the year, he said.
Carroll Properties hopes to break ground in the first quarter of 2015 on its planned apartment tower for the site. It would take 12 to 18 months to build, King said.
The site is zoned for a 244-unit apartment development, so Carroll Properties will need a zoning amendment to build 270 units there, King said. So far city officials have been receptive to the plans, he said.
“The city officials couldn’t be more nice, receptive and helpful, which we find refreshing,” King said. Carroll Properties is not seeking a subsidy for the project, he said.
Chicago-based FitzGerald Associates is the architect for the project.
The building will have numerous high end amenities, King said, including: bike storage, a dog wash, a business center, a business incubator, a barber and beauty salon, a theater, a fitness center, a sport court for basketball and volleyball (and other sports and activities), a computer gaming center and a shared patio on one of the upper floors.
“Everything you can think of are trying to put into this building,” King said. “We’re going to try to give, in effect, hotel-type convenience and amenities to our tenants.”
The building will also have about 10,000 square feet of commercial space for retail tenants.
“I can’t image why this would not be a good site for retail traffic,” King said.
For tenants, the building will provide expansive views of Lake Michigan and downtown Milwaukee.
“I think the views on a 360-degree basis will be spectacular,” King said.
The location is a “walk to everything site,” close to major downtown amenities, employers and other residences, he said.
The city’s apartment market has been robust recently, supporting numerous other recent new apartment developments.
“We think the apartment market is strong in Milwaukee, as it is in the rest of the country,” King said.
