A multi-family residential project could be the key to jump-starting the long-awaited Penn Place Redevelopment District on a former landfill in Cudahy.
Kenosha-based Bear Development LLC is working on securing Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority workforce housing tax credits to develop 83 townhomes on 5.3 acres of vacant property at 4701 S. Pennsylvania Ave., next to Lake Parkway and General Mitchell International Airport.
The two- and three-bedroom units will range in size from 1,200 to 1,350 square feet, with rents ranging from $500 to $1,200 per month.
For years, the city was hoping to attract retail users to the site. While retail is still a goal, the current retail environment has delayed those plans a bit.
“We are going through a transformative era, in terms of bricks-and-mortar retail,” said Brian Biernat, director of economic development for the City of Cudahy. “We have to demonstrate there are enough rooftops before attracting the right retailers.”
To date, the city has spent $1.7 million on various aspects of the 32-acre Penn Place development. Cudahy is also committed to spending an additional $3.3 million for infrastructure costs.
“The (Community Development Authority) recognizes redeveloping a landfill is not the easiest project to take on,” Biernat said. “If this were located somewhere else, we would not be dedicating this much time and energy. But because of the high traffic counts, it is worth our while for the site to be redeveloped.”
The Bear proposal could be the key to getting the stalled plans off the ground, Biernat said. But the company will not find out until March if the WHEDA tax credits are approved.
Cudahy has had success with Bear in the past. In 2016, Bear developed Layton Square Apartments, a four-story, 57-unit workforce housing building on Layton Avenue with street-level retail.
“We’re pretty happy that there is a developer that we have a track record with who has an interest in the site,” Biernat said.
The City of Milwaukee bought the Cudahy property more than 60 years ago and used it as a solid waste landfill until the 1960s. The landfill was used by the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District for river waste until about 2000.
The site has been eyed for redevelopment since the mid-2000s, when Milwaukee-based Cobalt Partners LLC had the land under contract to purchase. The Milwaukee Common Council approved a $1.25 million sale in 2010.
Cobalt Partners, which has recently developed the White Stone Station development in Menomonee Falls and 84South in Greenfield, was planning a multi-million-dollar development on the property that included a big-box retail store and a hotel.
Those plans never came to fruition due to the site’s environmental challenges and the Great Recession.
Cudahy’s CDA took control of the property in early 2015.
“We’ve gone through a couple of hiccups in terms of the commercial interests, and trying to get retail has been fits and starts,” Biernat said.
One of the hiccups was recent interest by a hotel ownership group that backed out when it realized environmental clean-up costs would be too steep to move forward with development, Biernat said.
“When the Bear proposal came forward last spring, we were excited,” Biernat said. “We’re not out of the woods, in terms of what we need from the DNR, but I feel confident we will get there within the year.”
The Penn Place development is part of a broader plan for Pennsylvania Avenue. The city is also planning to redevelop a large site on the east side of the street.
The largest parcel is an abandoned truck terminal that is about 10 acres. There are also smaller vacant pieces of land and other parcels that have either been abandoned or are blighted, Biernat said.
Cudahy has reached its tax increment capacity and is unable to create a new TIF district for three years. However, the city has started planning for the redevelopment.
“This area is right off Lake Parkway,” Biernat said. “You can get to the (downtown Milwaukee) Central Business District in under 10 minutes. I always though the gentrification process would ultimately make its way to this part of the South Shore because you don’t lose anything. You still have the amenities, it’s easy to get to and it’s affordable.”
