UW Credit Union will open a new branch on the ground floor of a 53-unit apartment complex planned for the 1500 block of East North Avenue between Cambridge Avenue and Newhall Street on Milwaukee's East Side, a developer of
the mixed-use project has confirmed.
“I think it is a win all around. I think it is a win for the community to have a great financial institution there, and it is a location that (UW Credit Union) really wants to be in,” said Shar Borg, a local real estate agent and co-developer for the project.
The 5,000-square-foot branch will take up one of the two retail spaces at the four-story development, which is expected to have 8,700 square feet available for retail in total. The remaining 3,700 square feet of ground-floor space is expected to be occupied by a restaurant.
Borg said the development team is in talks with restauranteurs but said it likely won’t have a tenant locked-in until other development steps are completed.
Plans for the credit union call for a rear drive-thru, including an ATM, and an ITM (interactive teller machine), which allows a customer to interact with an actual teller if they would like.
Expanded Milwaukee presence
News of a new UW Credit Union branch in the city, comes as the financial institution has been expanding its footprint in the greater Milwaukee area. The credit union recently opened a new branch in Bay View, and an Elm Grove location is slated to open later this year. Branches area also expected to open in Oak Creek and Greenfield in the spring and fall of 2023, and an Oconomowoc branch is scheduled to open in 2024.
“For member convenience, we target areas that have high concentrations of UW System alumni, current UW Credit Union members, and high school students bound for UW System schools,” McClain said in a April statement about the Oconomowoc Branch.
In this case, the East North Avenue branch would be in the heart of a student neighborhood. The only existing UW Credit Union branches in the city of Milwaukee proper are the recently opened Bay View branch and a location the UW-Milwaukee student union at 2200 E. Kenwood Blvd. The Kenwood Boulevard branch is closed during the university’s summer break, however.
Development aimed toward residents without cars
Geared toward Milwaukeeans without cars, the North Avenue development is slated to have less than 40 parking spots dedicated to tenants, in favor of a large indoor storage area for bikes. There would be about 18 spots onsite – 10 outdoor stalls adjacent to the building and eight indoor stalls on the first floor – and another 20 spots at a nearby location.
The building owners will also provide two battery-powered Teslas that tenants will be able rent for short trips.
The idea, Borg said, is to forgo the cost of creating an underground parking area for the development, which would have cost $50,000 per stall, in favor or more affordable rents. Rents for the building’s mostly studio and one-bedroom apartments are expected to be around $1,000, developers said.
“Where can you find that on the East Side or in Riverwest?” remarked Borg, who is developing the project with Ryan Pattee of the Pattee group, and other partners.
For Borg, who is realizing a goal of becoming a developer with the project, changing the face of such an underused block should bolster development in the area.
“I have never understood why that spot wasn’t developed. I have always wanted to develop, and when Ryan brought this opportunity for the (former) Buddha lounge, I thought this is our opportunity,” she said. “We really do feel that this will be catalytic for other development on that western most portion of the East Side. It really is sort of the gateway to the East Side and it’s been vacant and dilapidated for so long.”
The developers hope to raze the buildings on the site by end of the summer, and break ground sometimes this fall. Construction is expected to take about 18 months.
