New Land revises East Side apartment tower plans, a bit shorter but with more units

Seeing a downtown market with more demand for smaller apartments and less demand for parking, New Land Enterprises has revised its proposal for its next high-rise apartment building on Milwaukee’s East Side.

The new plans, approved by the city’s Plan Commission on Monday, call for 346 apartment units, up from the 314 units originally proposed, in a new tower that would be built on what are now parking lots along North Farwell Avenue, south of East Curtis Place.

Milwaukee-based New Land is having less success renting apartments larger than 1,200 square feet, which led the firm to reduce the size of the building’s two-bedroom units, freeing up space for more units, according to Jason Korb, of Korb + Associates Architects.

“In order to make the project viable, they had us redesign it for more, smaller units,” Korb said. “It’s the market telling our client what it wants.”

The new plans also call for a shorter building — 24 floors instead of the 25 floors proposed initially.

That’s because New Land is eliminating one floor from the building’s enclosed parking, resulting in 411 spaces instead of 465.

While the building will still have one parking space per unit, New Land determined the building’s proximity to bus lines and the streetcar necessitated fewer parking spaces.

“Everyone in the industry is building less parking than they used to,” Korb said.

The site’s parking spaces include 18 stalls for the Mexican Consulate and 40 stalls for the now-closed Renaissance Place. Both buildings are owned by New Land and are located on Prospect Avenue just east of where the high-rise is to be constructed.

Those two buildings will remain in place under the development plan, New Land managing director Tim Gokhman has said. While the consulate’s lease at the smaller building would continue, New Land will be looking for a partner to take on Renaissance Place as a reimagined events space or find some other complimentary use for the building.