Burleigh Street business center will rise from rubble of bowling alley
Instead of going hat-in-hand to prospective donors for a new development project on Burleigh Street, James Hiller went bowling-shoes-in-hand.
Hiller, chairman of the Burleigh Street Community Development Corp., a newly created organization formed to promote Burleigh from Sherman Boulevard to 60th Street, sought donors to help fund the organization’s first project: replacement of an aging bowling alley at 5312 W. Burleigh with a new business center.
"We’ve tried some unique approaches," said Hiller, an attorney and president of the Torah Foundation of Milwaukee, a fund-raising organization for Yeshiva Elementary School and Milwaukee Kollel adult learning center. "This is a very emotional project and a unique project. It’s not going to work if you try traditional fundraising strategies. What it does is it sets the emotion and tone and shows people we’re not just like anyone else."
With 100 pairs of bowling shoes from the old bowling alley, sizes children’s 3 to adult 15, Hiller’s approach must have worked. The fledgling organization has secured funding from many public and private sources as well as different government levels for the $3 million development.
"It really is a collaborative effort of all the donors and funders," said Hiller. "We believe that we’re doing the right thing at the right time for the right reasons. If you do those things, people just naturally want to join."
The new 26,000-square-foot business center, known as the Burleigh Street Enterprise Center, will replace the old Zach’s Bowling Alley, formerly Petroff’s, and the attached Michelle’s Restaurant, now owned by the City of Milwaukee, that has stood vacant for several years. Like the diverse Sherman Park neighborhood which is a mixture of old and young, Jewish and Christian, black and white, the new business center will also be a mixed pot of private/public enterprises.
The first level of the center is intended for retail uses such as a pizza or bagel shop, small health club or children’s store. The lower level will contain a community book store and a community meeting place for the neighborhood while the top level will hold a counseling and retreat center for members of the Orthodox Jewish faith who come from around the country to be counseled by Rabbi Michel Twerski of Congregation Beth Jehudah, his wife Rebbitzen Feige Twerski and son Rabbi Benzion Twerski. The upper floor will have about six motel-style rooms and a kitchen for the families.
The counseling center is badly needed for those Orthodox families who have no other place to turn, Michel Twerski said.
"There are people who are deeply religious people and who are orthodox and feel uncomfortable with secular therapists," he said. The counseling center will allow those families to stay for a few days without having to stay with families from the congregation, which is what they do now. "It’s awkward for people," Twerski said. "They come in troubled and need privacy."
Local businesses in the area support the center. Dave Draeger, owner of Burleigh Serv-U Pharmacy and right next door to the new development, said the bowling alley has been an eyesore for years.
"I’m glad to see the bowling alley gone," said Draeger who has owned his pharmacy since 1967. "It was just a hangout for kids."
Draeger has seen small businesses on Burleigh Street move to the suburbs or over to Capitol Drive where there is more traffic, but otherwise, he said, the neighborhood has been solid and good for his business.
"We have really nice, loyal customers," he said. "We’ve always done well with our location."
Draeger, like many in the Sherman Park neighborhood, point to a couple of anchors, St. Joseph’s Hospital and the Orthodox Jewish community, that help stabilize the neighborhood. In fact, Rabbi Twerski said residents often stop him on the street and thank him for staying in the neighborhood. Approximately 90% of his congregation lives in the Sherman Park area. Likewise, St. Joseph’s Hospital continues to be the single biggest employer in the area and contributes time, money and space in the neighborhood.
Those that formed the Burleigh Street Community Development Corp. also recognized the strengths of the neighborhood but at the same time noted the need to attract more businesses.
"We found businesses were existing but not thriving, that were making money but not seriously marketing; there were businesses that were surviving but not growing," said Hiller, the father of seven and a resident of the area since 1983. "If we improve the business district, then the whole neighborhood receives the benefit."
Mayor John Norquist said he’s enthusiastic about the project and feels it will really take off because the people involved are committed to a goal.
"They’re really energized," he said. "Now that they’re doing it themselves, it’s working. The government can’t revitalize private sector businesses for very long. It’s got to come from the heart and from people’s hopes and dreams."
The Burleigh Street CDC recognizes that citizens need to take action to preserve the character of their neighborhood, said Gary Kastel, a member of the CDC’s board and a resident of Sherman Park since 1991.
"Overall, within the Sherman Park area, the Sherman Park people need to concentrate more today than ever before on the infrastructure of the community," said Kastel, a media consultant. "The citizens need to be active. They can’t rely on city government; they can’t rely on organizations. They really need to see the situation and decide they’re going to do something about it."
Norquist said the Burleigh Street CDC is tapping into a new trend towards an urban neighborhood that people now want.
"Urban life is becoming more a positive choice so that the main streets tend to becoming back whether it’s Mitchell Street, Downer Avenue, or Oakland Avenue in Shorewood," he said. "People are looking for that. They’re sick of the strip malls."
The City of Milwaukee has begun razing the bowling alley and will sell it to the BSCDC for fair market value, Hiller said. Construction on the new business center is expected to begin in late fall of 2001 with an expected completion date of spring, 2002. Continuum Architects have completed a design and Mike Hnilicka Company is the construction project manager.
In the meantime, with a little more than half of the funding raised, Hiller still has some more bowling shoes to unload.
"I’ve found people for the size three kids but I have not yet found a donor with size 15 feet," he said.
SIDEBAR:
Donors to the Burleigh Street community business center include:
More money is pending from Firstar, Northwestern Mutual and Ameritech, among others.
