As Kenosha-based
Bear Development begins work on a $197 million affordable housing development in Milwaukee's Bay View neighborhood, the firm has purchased the project site for $10 million, according to state records.
The 10-acre site is located at 123 and 147 E. Becher St., near the intersection with South 1st Street.
Bear plans to build 576 affordable apartment units in eight five-story buildings. The apartments would be divided between 144 units for seniors and 432 units for families.
The project, called
Filer & Stowell Lofts, is the largest private affordable housing development in Wisconsin history.
The units will be reserved for households making between 40% and 80% of the regional median income, with most being set aside for those below the 60% threshold.
To help finance the nearly $200 million project, Bear
is receiving $9 million in TIF assistance from the city of Milwaukee. The firm also received an $835,000 grant from the
Milwaukee Housing Trust Fund and $1.8 million from theÂ
Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago, among others, to fund the project. The primary financing source for the development is federal low-income housing tax credits.
The project was first proposed in 2020 and, since then, the project’s price tag has doubled.
At that time, Bear was proposing to redevelop the existing buildings, some of which date back to 1890, into about 300 affordable housing units.
The decision to deconstruct the historic buildings on the site was made after more than a year of inspecting the buildings, which have most recently been used for boat storage.
Work on the project has already begun, and Bear is estimating that the first units will be complete in June 2025 with the final buildings opening in October 2026.
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Development site for the Filer & Stowell Lofts project. Photo by Jon Elliott of MKE Drones LLC[/caption]
