Milwaukee-based Royal Capital Group is planning one of the largest housing developments the city has seen in decades.
Located on Milwaukee’s far northwest side, the Cudahy Farms development could bring more than 1,100 housing units to a property directly west of the former Northridge Mall, an area that Royal Capital chief executive officer Kevin Newell says has been underserved by development for some time.
But Cudahy Farms is not just a housing development. It’s what Newell calls a “healthy living campus,” and it’s part of a $1 billion venture the company is deploying around Milwaukee and nationwide.
The idea is to surround a housing development with amenities and services to support the well-being of the residents who live there.
The Cudahy Farms development is planned for a 52-acre former YMCA property east of North Swan Road and south of West Fairy Chasm Road. Its first phase calls for 377 apartments, including 153 units for seniors within a trio of three-story buildings and 224 two- and three-bedroom two-story units for families.
Monthly rents in that first phase would range from around $600 to $1,600. Given the shortage of affordable housing units, Royal Capital markets these types of projects at a hyper-local scale, according to Newell.
“It attracts a market that is probably living in double households, where you may have a sister with another sister because she can’t find affordable housing,” Newell said.
They’re also drawing on people who are often overburdened with the cost of housing but maybe don’t qualify for housing vouchers or other programs.
“You may have another sister or family that says, ‘I’m wanting to live alone, stand alone, but I’m paying so much of my income toward rent, so I’m struggling in so many other areas.’” Newell explained. “So, us being able to come in with moderate-income housing allows for a good, quality housing situation at a (more affordable) rent level.”
With future phases to include townhomes for sale, Cudahy Farms would have a total of 1,145 housing units upon completion in seven to 10 years.
“In order to have the impact that we want on these communities, you really have to be bold,” Newell said of the size of the project.
Royal Capital plans to use the site’s YMCA Northwest Early Childhood Education Center as a community gathering place; the center is staying at the building under a lease.
“Child care is an extreme need, particularly in disadvantaged neighborhoods,” Newell said.
Also, the site’s existing walking trails and baseball diamond are to be part of Cudahy Farms. Other planned amenities include a sledding hill, playground, pickleball courts, putting green and golf simulators.
But aside from the amenities, Newell said that for many people that could live at the development, simply having access to quality housing is the most important thing.
“When you look at the emergency room intake at Children’s Hospital, a significant portion of those children are coming due to asthma. We know that asthma is largely triggered or caused by your living conditions,” Newell said, as an example.
This isn’t the first time Royal Capital has done these types of projects.
The developer is working on the $150 million ThriveOn King redevelopment on North Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in Milwaukee, which will have 89 residential units and includes a community gathering space, 100,000 square feet of office space, a child care center and a home for other services and organizations like the Greater Milwaukee Foundation. It has also completed a $22 million redevelopment called The Wheatley, with 82 dwelling units, amenities and educational, wellness and entrepreneurial programming and support for residents and neighbors.
At these developments, Newell said they’re able to bring teachers in for things like parent-teacher conferences, which has resulted in higher performance in the classroom. Police calls for the area around these developments are also down.
As a $300 million investment, Cudahy Farms will be the developer’s biggest project yet. The first phase will cost about $100 million.
“It’s been well-received in the investment community and folks love the social responsibility aspect of it,” Newell said.
Newell intends to spread the development model. Planning is underway for large new campuses in places like Atlanta, where Royal Capital opened an office last year.
“With our national real estate strategy now focused on comprehensive lifestyle campuses, we are set to announce additional campuses later this fall that will be similar in its uses and scale,” Newell said.
