Milwaukee-based multifamily housing developer Mandel Group, Inc. announced today that it has closed on financing and will start construction immediately on its long-planned 132-unit DoMUS apartment development in the Historic Third Ward in Milwaukee.
“This has been a long time coming however we feel that it has been worth the wait,” said Robert Monnat, partner and chief operating officer of Mandel Group. “The renderings of the completed project show a building that has been carefully considered and that responds incredibly well to the advantages this site offers.”
The six-story DoMUS build will be built along the Milwaukee River in the 300 block of East Erie Street. It will feature two penthouse floors with over-sized floor plans intended to attract empty nesters who Mandel Group believes have been substantially under served by the current wave of apartment building.
“Every week we hear from prospective residents in their 50s, 60s and 70s wanting a high quality living experience in a generously sized apartment home,” Monnat said. “Unfortunately, the development that’s been occurring to date is focused on smaller floor plans that are geared toward millennials. We’ve essentially bifurcated the building and have created a unique opportunity for empty nesters on the top two floors.”
Mandel Group has been working on the DoMUS project for several years. The firm’s original plans for the project called for a 61-unit condominium building, but that project was scrapped when the downtown area condo market collapsed and the Great Recession set in. The firm later revised the project as an apartment building development.
The project will feature a full range of enhancements including indoor heated parking, building‐wide access control and video surveillance systems, private balconies and resident amenity spaces.
Included in the amenities are an expansive fitness facility overlooking the Riverwalk, a fully appointed social lounge with outdoor terrace, a pet grooming studio and bike repair shop.
Mandel is in discussions with a personal training studio to occupy 4,000 square feet of the ground floor.
The building will be constructed by CD Smith, which has also built the adjoining Hansen’s Landing and Harborfront condominiums, Breakwater Condominiums, the Global Water Center and the nearly‐completed Kimpton Hotel on Broadway in the Third Ward.
Mandel’s two nearby apartment communities, Gaslight Lofts and Corcoran Lofts, are 96 percent occupied. Andy Wiegman, vice president of development and construction for Mandel Group, believes when DoMUS opens in late spring 2017, it will be equally successful.
“For a long time we’ve wanted to supplement our current inventory in the Third Ward and in particular dedicate a portion of our offering specifically to an older demographic,” Wiegman said.
The name “DoMUS” is a loose derivative of a term used to describe luxury homes in ancient Rome. In more dense, desirable areas of Rome wealthy owners found that they could only build “up” versus “out” to satisfy their needs.
For the past 60 years the DoMUS site has been used as a 164‐stall surface parking lot. Prior to that time it was an ancillary parcel associated with the Third Ward’s manufactured gas plant, which was located on the property where Gaslight and Corcoran Lofts are built today.
The DoMUS building was designed by HGA Architects and Engineers, whose offices are located next door to the DoMUS site.
