West Bend's newest luxury apartment community has been seeing a strong lease-up, project leaders say, particularly among people moving from out of town.
Known as
The District and located just north of West Bend's historic downtown, the 177-unit building has been about 82% leased since this summer, with all of the development's studios and one-bedroom units occupied.
"There's a lot of diversity coming into West Bend, people coming from outside the area," said
Melissa Rupnow, The District's property manager with commercial real estate firm
Founders 3. "People are looking for a different level of luxury that they're not able to find anywhere else here."
The project was developed by Milwaukee-based development firm
HKS Holdings, which had previously focused on projects in Milwaukee and its surrounding neighborhoods. The firm's more notable developments include the Kimpton Journeyman Hotel in the Historic Third Ward, the Global Water Center in Walker's Point and MKE Lofts in Westown.
"We've always enjoyed doing catalytic projects," said
Joe Klein, one of HKS' three principals. "We like to see the transformation, the value-add component, not just in our projects but as other people invest around us."
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HKS purchased the project site back in 2021 for about $1 million and began construction on the two-phase project that same year.
With a $42 million price tag, one of the project's major investors was
West Bend Insurance Co., which is also one of West Bend's largest employers.
"When we have the ability to invest in our home city, that's very important to us," said
Rob Jacques, chief executive officer of West Bend Insurance Co. "As we grow our business here, we need to attract talent, and one of the things (West Bend) struggles with is having enough affordable and market-rate housing. We've hired a couple of people from out of state that have already looked at living here."
Before redevelopment, the site at the northeast corner of North Main Street and West Washington Street sat underutilized for more than 50 years, city officials said, and once housed West Bend Brewing Co.
The development included an approximately 6,500-square-foot retail space that has been occupied by
1840 Brewing Co., which still has its initial location in Milwaukee's Bay View neighborhood. The company describes itself as an “urban farmhouse brewery” that crafts ales, lagers, sours and stouts with a focus on barrel aging and blending.
The District is located along the Milwaukee River and the project, supported by a tax incremental financing district, included an extension of the city's riverwalk, which Rupnow said has been an attraction for residents, along with the complex's walkability to downtown West Bend.
Rents in the remaining available units start at $1,995 per month for a two-bedroom unit, or $2,595 per month for a three-bedroom townhome unit, according to Apartments.com.
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