200-unit riverfront apartment building gets OK in Milwaukee

A proposal for a 12-story multi-family riverfront building in Milwaukee has cleared its first regulatory hurdle.

The city of Milwaukee Plan Commission on Monday unanimously approved plans for Bloomington, Minnesota-based Kaeding Development Group’s proposal for “The Everett,” a 200-unit apartment building slated for 234 S. Water St. along the Milwaukee River in the Third Ward Neighborhood. The lot is currently used for boat storage and has been eyed for development several times over the years.

The proposed building will have four floors of parking and eight floors of residential space, according to a city staff report. The residential space will have 56 units, 100 one-bedroom units, 43 two-bedroom units and one three-bedroom unit. Plans also include 198 parking stalls and 50 indoor bicycle parking spaces.

There will be outdoor resident spaces on the fifth and 12^th floors with gathering areas, an outdoor pool, an outdoor lounge and private outdoor patios, plans showed. The north part of the building will have a first-floor lobby and amenity space.

The developer also wants to build a new segment of the Riverwalk along the parcel of 234 S. Water St. and along the Milwaukee River with a connection under the Pittsburgh Avenue bridge to the adjacent property to the north, according to Pewaukee-based contractor VJS Construction Services.

The new Riverwalk segment will have pedestrian connections on Oregon Street to the south and East Pittsburgh Avenue to the north, project officials said.

There will be around 4,790 square feet of Riverwalk over the river and 3,294 square feet on land, a total of around 8,084, square feet of new Riverwalk, they added.

There will also be lighting, landscaping and boat piers added to the Riverwalk. All areas will be ADA-compliant and open to the public, officials noted.

The project will also include a short extension of East Oregon Street.

Two residents opposed the proposal at Monday’s meeting and shared concerns about the building’s height and impact on local traffic.

An official with the city of Milwaukee Department of Public Works said at the meeting that the project wouldn’t generate enough traffic for an analysis, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

Since 1999, different developers have proposed new uses for the boat lot on the corner of Water Street and East Pittsburgh Avenue, according to the city. In 2019, the city approved the plan for Admiral’s Wharf, which included an 11-story mixed-use building with 133 residential units and 3,400 square feet of commercial space. Those plans didn’t move forward.

The project team includes VJS Construction Services as the project general contractor and architect, Pierce Engineers providing structural engineering services and civil engineering firm Kapur.