As construction on
The Couture nears completion in downtown Milwaukee, more details on the $190 million project's commercial space have emerged and local real estate experts say it presents a unique opportunity to activate the surrounding area.
Located along the west side of Lincoln Memorial Drive between Michigan and Clybourn Streets, The Couture will have 322 luxury apartment units in a 46-floor tower, but the development will also include nearly 42,000 square feet of commercial space that spans three levels. More details about that commercial space were unveiled when The Couture's developer, Barrett Lo Visionary Development,
unveiled a new website for the project this week.
Plans for the building's first floor show a 10,000-square-foot commercial space and a nearly 3,000-square-foot commercial space that also includes about 2,500 square feet of outdoor space.
The second floor will include two commercial spaces with about 8,500 square feet each. The first- and second-floor spaces were designed to be connected, should a multi-floor tenant move in.
The third floor has about 12,000 square feet of divisible commercial space with two outdoor areas at a total of 5,176 square feet.
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"On the third floor, any user is gonna have a really amazing outdoor terrace that overlooks the lake, art museum and there’s not a lot of areas in the city where you can have that experience," said
Chad Griswold, partner at Milwaukee architecture firm
RINKA, which designed the building. “It’s not really three floors up, it’s more like five floors up because all up the floors are double-height."
Griswold said the third floor commercial space could lend itself to a restaurant user.
“There’s a lot of great opportunities, particularly for destination retail,” Griswold said. "Something could really give this a lot of activity, not just during the day when the (nearby) office (buildings) are occupied, but into the evenings as well.”
“For the most part, (the area around The Couture) is office space, and then you have the museum space, which is pretty dead by around 5 p.m. or so,” said
Gard Pecor, a senior market analyst with
CoStar Group.
Pecor noted that the commercial space at The Couture would have a high amount of visibility from car traffic on the freeway and pedestrian traffic on Lincoln Memorial Drive, particularly in the summer when the lakefront and Summerfest grounds are most active, but also said the space could be best suited to a tenant that will serve as a destination.
“I know people have been begging for a downtown Target for a long time, that could be something that fills out this space," he said.
Marketing materials for the commercial space refer to The Couture development as "Milwaukee's new neighborhood." Marketing materials also say the commercial space could be occupied by office users.
In addition to the building's residential units, the development also includes a transit station for The Hop streetcar and Milwaukee County Transit System bus rapid transit service, as well as a fourth-floor terrace park that will be open to the public. There are also plans for a pedestrian bridge over Lincoln Memorial Drive, according to Griswold.
“We always imagined this being not only the residential piece, but a multimodal transportation space, whether it be car, bike, streetcar,” Griswold said.
“The streetcar is a really promising opportunity there,” Pecor said. “It’s pretty unique to have a streetcar and transportation hub in the building, so that could be a demand driver.”
No tenants have been named for the space, but Couture developer
Barrett Lo Visionary Development is working with Milwaukee-based
Barchetta Real Estate Advisory to market the space.
Barchetta is led by local real estate developer
Jeno Cataldo, who is working on an 11-story hotel development near Brady Street with Klein Development. The firm is also led by
Allison Curtin, who previously worked for Chicago-area real estate firms, and
Madeline Bomier, who previously worked with Colliers | Wisconsin.
The Couture is the only property that Barchetta currently lists on its website.
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