Former Milwaukee north side school to be converted to apartments and condos under new plan

Another former school on Milwaukee's north side would be converted into housing, including a rare condo development, under an $11.5 million proposal to be reviewed by city officials. 

Gorman & Co., which has redeveloped other local school buildings, wants to convert the former William McKinley School, 2001 W. Vliet St., into 36 affordable apartments.

Those units would range from two to three bedrooms, according to the plans. The renovated school also would have a fitness room and club room for the apartment residents.

Also, Gorman would develop four new buildings along West Vliet Street, behind the school, that would each have two condominium units.

Those eight condos would be sold at market-rate prices, said Ted Matkom, Gorman's Wisconsin market president.

The Oregon, Wis.-based firm would need some type of public financing "to make the numbers work," he said. 

That could come through a tax incremental financing district, with the new development's property taxes providing cash to help pay for the construction costs.

"But we do believe there is a market there," said Matkom, noting the site is "only five minutes from downtown." 

Each two-story condo would have three bedrooms, the plans said. A detached, two-car garage would be built behind each of the proposed new buildings.

Much of the former school grounds, which now has paved surfaces, would be landscaped.

The housing proposal is to undergo an initial review at the Plan Commission's Nov. 12 meeting.

Gorman's preliminary plans to develop housing at the former school first surfaced in 2017.

The firm often uses federal affordable housing tax credits to help finance such projects, including its new Fifth Street School Apartments, 2770 N. 5th St.

Those credits require development firms to provide apartments at below-market rents to people earning no more than 60 percent of their area's median income.

The tax credits are provided through an annual competition.

Gorman hopes to obtain tax credits from the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority in spring, Matkom said, and begin construction of the apartments by next fall.

Condos make a comeback

Gorman's housing plan is unusual because it includes proposed condominiums.

There haven't been any major condo buildings developed in Milwaukee for around a decade.

A downtown housing boom — mainly involving condos — ran from the late 1990s until around 2008.

After the housing market collapse, followed by a global recession, demand for downtown-area condos largely disappeared for several years.

But, with a stronger housing market, some developers say demand is returning for condos in or near downtown.

Wangard Partners Inc. wants to develop condos at North Water and East Brady streets.

The first phase would be a six-story, 60-unit building that is to begin construction next spring, said Stewart Wangard, the firm's chair and chief executive officer.

Also, Peter Renner plans to develop 13 three-story condominiums at 620 E. Summerfest Place (formerly known as East Polk Street).

That site is now a vacant lot just east of North Jefferson Street, about one block west of Maier Festival Park.

Historic building

Meanwhile, Gorman could seek state and federal historic preservation tax credits for the apartments portion of the Vliet Street housing development.

Those credits help cover part of a project's exterior costs if it preserves a historic building according to National Park Service standards.

McKinley School was built in 1885, with an addition constructed in 1898, according to the Wisconsin Historical Society. Its architectural style is neoclassical.

Milwaukee Public Schools sold the building in the 1990s to VE Carter Development Corp., a now-defunct charter school operator.

VE Carter operated a school on the site until 2009, and a day care center until 2013, when a fire damaged the building. The city foreclosed on the building in 2016 after VE Carter failed to pay property taxes totaling $96,000.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency did an environmental cleanup of asbestos and other hazardous materials at the building.

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