The Moderne, the 30-story residential high rise completed last year southwest of Juneau Avenue and Old World Third Street in downtown Milwaukee, is filling up with new residents, developer Rick Barrett said.
The building has 203 apartments, 14 condominiums and a first floor retail space that will be occupied by Carson’s Prime Steaks and Famous BBQ restaurant. The restaurant is under construction and will open at the end of May, Barrett said. So far 80 of the 203 apartments in the building have been leased. Residents of about 70 of the apartments have moved in, Barrett said.
Four of the 14 condos have been sold. Two of the sales have already closed, one for $675,000 and the other for $250,000, Barrett said. The third condo sale will close in May, for $1.1 million, and the fourth sale will close in July, for $1.3 million, he said.
Barrett said he is “very, very pleased,” with the progress of leases and sales of the building’s residential units. He said the project is ahead of its pro forma projections, which call for the apartments to be fully leased by February of 2015.
The financing for the $55 million development included a $42 million loan from the AFL-CIO Investment Trust, which was backed by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s 221(d)4 loan guarantee program. The city of Milwaukee also provided about $9 million in loans for the project. The city provided two loans: a $3 million loan with an interest rate of about 16 percent and a $6 million loan with an interest rate of about 5 percent. Barrett says he has paid off about $1 millon of the high interest loan with the city.
The opening of Carson’s should help attract more attention and exposure to the building, which could help condo sales and apartment leases, Barrett said. The restaurant will offer silver cart room service to residents of the building, he said.
“I think that’s going to be a big draw,” he said.
