Milwaukee developer Robert Joseph is planning a seven-story mixed-use development at the southwest corner of East St. Paul Avenue and North Jefferson Street in the city’s Historic Third Ward neighborhood.
The development includes 60 apartments, two-stories of 3,500 square feet of retail space at the north corner and three stories of above-ground parking on the south side of the building.
In the middle, on North Jefferson Street, would be an 11,000-square-foot We Energies substation.
The one, two and three-bedroom apartments would be on floors four through seven.
Joseph said We Energies asked him to develop a building to house a substation east of the river. He and Matt Rinka, of Rinka Chung Architecture, came up with this plan. WE Energies would lease the space from Joseph.
The Public Service Commission and the city’s Board of Zoning Appeals will have to approve the substation, which Joseph said will not have any odor or noise for residents. Joseph said from doing research, he learned many cities across the United States are incorporating substations into developments.
Joseph, of Joseph Property Development, received approval for the project on Wednesday from the Third Ward Architectural Review Board. He hopes to break ground on the project this year.
Joseph is also currently redeveloping the 33,000-square-foot, five-story Jennaro Bros. building at 322 N. Broadway in the Third Ward into an office building with first floor retail.
He has done several projects in the neighborhood His other Third Ward developments include Commission Row, 301-315 N. Broadway; The Gas & Light Building, 117 N. Jefferson St.; The Landmark Building, 316 N. Milwaukee St.; Chicago Street Lofts, 200 N. Water St. and Lofts on Broadway, 191 N. Broadway.
