North End helps reshape downtown Milwaukee

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The North End grew up with trendy, up-and-coming developments along north Water Street.

The 650-unit luxury apartment complex was one of the first developments to crop up along what used to be a bare stretch of land between downtown and the Brady Street neighborhood. The five-phase project, which took about a decade to complete, ties the lower Eastside to downtown.

“It’s amazing how much that corridor has changed,” said Phillip Aiello, senior vice president at the Mandel Group. “I can’t say that we were the reason but we did view this as a catalytic development for that portion of the downtown area.”

The North End is the result of a partnership between the Mandel Group and the city of Milwaukee, which provided tax incremental financing to pay for related projects, including parts of a nearby stretch of Riverwalk and Denim Park.

The $88 million building is the result of largest private investment to be made in the city of Milwaukee’s Park East Redevelopment Project Area.

In addition to hundreds of luxury living spaces, the North End offers the residents of its five buildings an array of accommodations, including a pet spa, two mini-bowling lanes and an onsite grocery store, Fresh Thyme.

“We’ve really tried to create a neighborhood within itself by creating this package of amenities that covers nearly all the bases,” said Aiello.

The project, however, was not without difficulties. For one, there was the need to find tenants for hundreds of units. Newly built apartments had to be leased out at the same time as there were turnovers from previously completed phases.

Also, because the property used to be the site of an 8-acre tannery, the Mandel Group had to work with the state Department of Natural Resources to clean up the land. Five remediation plans were drawn up, and soil had to be taken to special treatment centers.

“The environmental impacts, while they made for challenges during construction, they’re also part of the greater story of turning blighted property into an important piece of the north part of downtown,” Aiello said.