Approval of Milwaukee east side apartments recommended, foes suing

A four-story, 55-unit apartment building proposed for Milwaukee’s east side is being recommended for Common Council zoning approval — despite a lawsuit filed by its opponents.

The development, with apartments ranging from studios to two-bedroom units, would be at 2604-2644 N. Hackett Ave., just east of the Downer Avenue business district.

That site now includes a vacant lot as well as St. Mark’s Episcopal Church. That empty site north of the church parish hall is where the apartments would be developed.

The commission on Monday voted 6-0 to endorse the zoning change after a three-hour public hearing. That followed a one-hour closed session to discuss the lawsuit — allowed under Wisconsin’s Open Meetings Law.

The church plans to demolish the parish hall and replace it with a smaller facility better suited to St. Mark’s current membership count. It would be built as an addition to the historic church, which will remain.

St. Mark plans to use the sale of its vacant lot to help finance the new parish hall.

The Common Council’s Zoning, Neighborhoods and Development Committee could consider the proposal at its Sept. 13 meeting.

Supporters include Downer Avenue Business Improvement District and State Rep. Jonathan Brostoff.

Brostoff is the only candidate on the November ballot for the district alderman position left open when former Ald. Nik Kovac was named city budget director in May.

The apartments would benefit the neighborhood, he said, including providing more customers for such businesses as Downer Theatre and Nehring’s Sendik’s on Downer.

“We need foot traffic,” Brostoff said.

Project developer Michael DeMichele told commission members that the apartment building would include 69 underground parking stalls, and a height that fits the neighborhood.

It would be slightly lower than Church In The City, which is just north of the proposed development site at 2648 N. Hackett Ave. The number of parking stalls would be more than what’s required by city code.

Opponents said the development would be too large for the site.

They also said its parking structure would be too small — leading to building residents and their guests using street parking in a neighborhood where such spots can be challenging to find.

Meanwhile, five opponents have filed a lawsuit in Milwaukee County Circuit Court against the Plan Commission.

It seeks to block the city from acting on the zoning proposal because neighborhood residents are allegedly being denied guarantees of due process and equal protection under the law.

Among other things, the suit says the city should conduct a study of the apartment building’s impact on traffic, safety and parking before making a decision on rezoning the site.

The City of Department Public Works reviewed those concerns and concluded such a study isn’t needed — in part because a large, underused parking structure is located one-half block from the development site.

“We did not see any issues,” said Dawn Schmidt, a department civil engineer. 

Former Ald. Larraine McNamara-McGraw, one of the lawsuit’s plaintiffs, said the opponents’ analysis shows the number of cars on one-way Hackett Avenue would “massively” increase.

The proposed building meets the current zoning’s height limit, said Sam Leichtling, city planning manager.

The new zoning would raise the limit on the number of apartments allowed on the site, said Leichtling.

That increased density is a goal of the city’s comprehensive plan for  northeast side, he said.

The proposed building’s density would be similar to that of other neighborhood apartment buildings, DeMichele said.

Some opponents, however, said that’s generally not true of buildings east of Downer Avenue.

“Could it be a little less dense?” nearby resident Jim Schleif asked about the proposed apartments.

The Historic Preservation Commission in July approved the building’s siting, scale, form and materials.

DeMichele hopes to have the building completed by March 2024.

The monthly rents would be around $2.10 per square foot, he said. That translates to rents starting at around $1,050 for a studio unit.

“We need affordable housing,” McNamara-McGraw said. “That’s not this building.”

Tom Daykin can be emailed at tdaykin@jrn.com and followed on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.