Plans proceed to convert historic Menomonee Valley factory for housing

By TOM DAYKIN

USA Today Network

Plans to convert a long-vacant Menomonee Valley factory into 47 apartments are proceeding – pending a Milwaukee Historic Preservation Commission review.

A group led by developer Ken Breunig bought the four-story, 60,000-square-foot building at 324 N. 15th St., and adjacent parcel at 1357-1439 W. St. Paul Ave., in December 2024 for $1.32 million.

Breunig, who operates Sunset Investors, has now filed his renovation plans with the commission – which next meets on March 2. The development’s exterior improvements need commission approval because the building has city historic designation.

Breunig plans to use state and federal historic preservation tax credits to help finance the project. Those credits can pay for 40% of remodeling costs of historic commercial buildings if the work meets preservation standards.

The project has already received approval from the National Park Service, which oversees the tax credits program, for all exterior renovations, according to Breunig’s Feb. 14 email to the commission.

Breunig awaits federal approval for additional changes, including a new parking garage developed on the vacant lot east of the building, the email said.

That one-story, 44-space parking structure, along with 14 surface parking lot spaces, also will need Board of Zoning Appeals approval, Breunig told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

The Common Council in November 2024 approved rezoning the site to allow housing.

That happened after Ald. Robert Bauman, whose district includes the building, agreed to a separate proposal amending the Menomonee Valley’s land use plan to say the rezoning is a one-time exception.

That led the Department of City Development to support the rezoning and the land use plan change.

The department and Menomonee Valley Partners Inc. had previously opposed rezoning the site.

That nonprofit group initially said allowing valley apartments conflicts with manufacturers, and could force those businesses to relocate – removing family-supporting jobs.

Menomonee Valley Partners changed its position as a compromise to acknowledge the building’s unique situation. It’s located in an area along St. Paul Avenue separated from most of the valley’s industrial operators.

The building was constructed around 1895 for the Geuder & Paeschke Manufacturing Co., which later became Geuder Paeschke & Frey, a metal stampings maker. It’s been vacant for about 40 years.