Ground will be broken Aug. 25 for the first phase of the $2.5 million Burleigh Street Community Enterprise Center in Milwaukee, said James Hiller, chairman of the Burleigh Street Community Development Corp., formed to promote Burleigh from Sherman Boulevard to 60th Street.
The center will be built on the site of the former Zach’s/Petroff’s bowling alley at 5312 W. Burleigh, across the street from the Burleigh Street Community Development Corp.
The organization has secured funding from a wide variety of organizations, some of it by Hiller’s attention-raising means of presenting old bowling shoes to potential donors.
The first phase will involve construction of a 12,000-square-foot two-story building on the west side of the property, at a cost of about $1.6 million. The organization has that amount of funding available, acquired via grants, banks loans and pledges, Hiller said.
The first floor of the building will retail operations, which, Hiller hopes, will include a bank branch. The second floor would be for commercial offices.
The east side of the property would remain grassy space until the second phase of the project would be undertaken. That would involve construction of an addition of 8,000 to 10,000 square feet, at a cost of $800,000 to $1 million, according to Hiller.
The second-phase space would accommodate additional retail and a counseling center, with the counseling center primarily for Orthodox Jews who have a strong presence in the neighborhood.
Original plans for motel-style rooms to accommodate people coming to town for the counseling services. Hiller said plans are now for such a retreat center to be built later at a different site.
July 5, 2002 Small Business Times, Milwaukee
