The owners of a 132-year-old building across the street from the BMO Harris Bradley Center in downtown Milwaukee are planning to take advantage of the neighborhood’s changing landscape.
Aldo Tase, one of the building’s owners, has hired Tredo Group architects to design plans to transform the 2,500-square-foot building that has long-housed Accurate Key & Lock into a tavern complete with a large, two-story outdoor patio that will spill onto the back parking lot.
“We discovered there is quite a bit of exterior space in the back of the building to do a yard, in addition to a whiskey lounge on the first and second levels,” said Alex Van Osten, project manager.
Tase, a partner with Milwaukee-based Athina Properties, contacted Tredo Group after seeing the renderings of the Jose’s Blue Sombrero project the company is working on in Wauwatosa at 7613 W. State St.
Tase purchased the building, located at 324 W. State St., in December 2015, and has waited to decide what the best use would be for the property.
The building, is about one block south of the site of the new arena that is under construction for the Milwaukee Bucks and the entertainment “live block” that the Bucks plan to build across the street from the new arena.
An engineer by background, Tase said he is passionate about Milwaukee and loves the idea about turning something ugly into something the masses can appreciate.
“It was a tough call to decide what to do,” Tase said. “Initially, I thought about tearing down the building and doing something from scratch, but that ended up not being cost effective. I’m still toying with the idea of putting in a kitchen or a special event space – some of the finer details are up in the air.”
Van Osten said the project will likely get started in about three months and will hopefully be completed by the end of the year. The existing building will be used and reclad, with only the back deck being added, Van Osten said.
“We’re really excited to be part of the renewal of this area,” Van Osten said.
So far, a tavern operator has not been identified, but Tase said he has had a lot of interest in the project.
