I’m excited to see this high-profile South Milwaukee property potentially come back to life, as the city’s investment in acquiring it hopefully pays off with an anchor project at the south gateway to our downtown.
From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel story …
Milwaukee-based AK Development is proposing the Canal Transit Housing project, a 64,000-plus-square-foot commercial building at 2318 10th Ave., where a gas station formerly operated. The concept includes 63 market-rate apartments (29 one-bedroom and 34 two-bedroom) and 5,000 square feet of commercial space. A parking lot in the rear could provide 26 spaces.
Renderings for the project list a lounge area and an 896-square-foot community room as amenities inside the building. Bench seating is shown along the building on 10th Avenue.
The land, owned by the City of South Milwaukee, is 0.70 acres. The former Amoco/BP gas station was demolished on the property, including removal of the underground fuel tanks, in 2018 after the property sat unused for over five years. (The city would later buy it.)
The project has been on the radar of South Milwaukee staff since early 2023 with preliminary plans for 39 apartments. Work was done throughout the year updating the proposal, leading to this latest version of the project. … The project could incorporate eight workforce housing units “for young people and youths aging out of foster care,” as stated in the application for tax incremental financing. Another portion of the documentation mentions the possibility of 13 units set aside for the same youths to be supported by Wisconsin Community Services.
The project is far from a done deal, however, with state and local funding still necessary.
The project budget is $18,930,131 with approximately $12.6 million of the developer’s capital stack listed as WHEDA funds. Additionally, the developer is requesting $1.5 million from South Milwaukee, according to City Administrator Patrick Brever. That help could come in the form of tax incremental financing district (TID 5), which was created in 2018 and includes this property plus the former Bucyrus Campus and portions of the downtown area along Milwaukee and Chicago avenues.
South Milwaukee Blog 
Um, where will the tenant’s cars park? 63 units, with 26 parking spaces? I do hope that there are at least 1.5 parking spaces for each unit.
On another topic, why is nobody building condos? (hear me out) Condos may entice our SM elders to off ramp home ownership, so young people can onramp into homeownership. Condos could help elders keep their home equity and property tax break. Condos also offer a higher quality build than apartments do. I’m sure our SM elders want to stay in SM, yet there are no enticements to do so.
Thanks.
I live in South Milwaukee and don’t own a car, one of the top benefits of this community is one can save thousands of dollars a year by forgoing car ownership here. Daily necessities are all available by foot or bike and a car-free or car-lite lifestyle is growing massively in popularity especially among young people. And the 15 bus line is right there too.
A) every unit will not necessarily have more than one person living in it;
B) not every person needs or even wants a car. The development is located right on a bus route; and
C) There is a huge always empty parking lot across the street