A pair of vacant office buildings in Wauwatosa could be replaced with apartments under a plan that is moving through municipal government.
Milwaukee-based
Revel Investments is proposing a 41-unit, four-story apartment building at 11400 W. Bluemound Road, located near the border with Elm Grove.
The 0.8-acre lot is currently occupied by two vacant class C office buildings, which would be demolished to make way for the new market-rate apartment building.
"The demand for this grade of office space is low making it difficult to support the costs for significant capital improvements to the parking deck; however, the market for multifamily residential continues to expand and we believe the best use of this property would be to redevelop it into multifamily housing," the development team wrote to the city.
Studies have shown that Wauwatosa
needs to develop more housing, particularly multifamily housing, to curb its trend of increasing unaffordability.
The project gained initial approval in March 2023, but that approval expired and the development team received renewed approval this week from the Wauwatosa Plan Commission. A Revel spokesperson said the project was paused due to high interest rates and construction costs.
Plans submitted to the city last year show that the building's apartment units will range from one to three bedrooms and include amenities like a rooftop terrace, fitness room and electric vehicle chargers, among others.
Atlius Builidng Co. is a construction and development company that has completed projects throughout the region. Revel Investments is a "sponsor and manager of real estate investment offerings," its website says.
