Celebration of community and collaboration took center stage Thursday in Milwaukee’s Bronzeville district to mark the opening of 90 housing units as part of the multi-phase ThriveOn King development.
Milwaukee-based Royal Capital Group has been leading an effort for the better part of seven years to redevelop the former Gimbels and Schuster’s department store building at Garfield Avenue and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive into a community hub.
Construction work wrapped up last year on the project’s 470,000 square feet of commercial space for organizations that include the Greater Milwaukee Foundation and the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW), among many others, which will serve as support services for the affordable housing units.
The mixed-income apartments will include affordable housing units for families and people 55 and older, as well as market-rate apartments and units dedicated for medical students at MCW. The apartments are being constructed inside the 1917 portion of the former department store, which has been closed more than 50 years.
“This development, it checks literally all of the boxes,” Mayor Cavalier Johnson said.
Apartments range from one-bedroom to four-bedroom units, all boasting large windows due to the building’s prior commercial uses and refurbished hardwood floors.
Residents will begin moving in July 1. Rents range from $525 to $2,275 per month.
Royal Capital assembled a complex capital stack to finance the project, with nine sources in total, including CIBC Bank USA ($45.5 million in debt and equity) and CREA ($20 million in equity), among other public and private entities.
Engberg Anderson did the design work on the project with construction led by contractors CG Schmidt and JCP Construction.
See more from WISN-TV Channel 12, a partner of BizTimes Media:
More articles about ThriveOn King:
- Community Leader of the Year: ThriveOn Collaboration aims to bring King Drive ‘back to life’ with $120 million redevelopment project
- Versiti opens blood and community resource center in ThriveOn King
- ThriveOn Collaboration names café operator
- ThriveOn King project completes first phase, welcomes Medical College, other tenants
- Construction begins on residential portion of ThriveOn King
- ThriveOn King project getting $45.5 million in financing from CIBC
