The Flats at Bishops Woods, a 203-unit workforce housing development in Brookfield, received a $1 million loan from a new state program to support housing affordability.
The $71 million project is among the first housing developments to be supported through the Vacancy-to-Vitality Loan Program, a loan program for projects converting commercial properties into affordable housing.
Bishops Woods is one of three projects that will receive funding in the first round of awards, according to a Wednesday announcement from Gov. Tony Evers and the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA). Of the six loan applications the state received, Bishops Woods and two projects in Dane County were deemed eligible for funding, the announcement says.
Located at 250 and 350 Bishops Way in the Bishop’s Woods Office Park between Bluemound Road and Interstate 94, the Flats at Bishops Woods will replace two mostly-vacant office buildings.
The apartments, which include one-, two- and three-bedroom units, will have monthly rents priced at about $400 less than the average Brookfield apartment, according to Santa Monica, California-based developer
Lincoln Avenue Capital.
The apartments will be catered towards people making between 40% and 80% of the Brookfield median income, or between about $43,000 and $86,000 annually.
The developers are planning for eight of the ground-level apartments to be live-work units, where residents can have an office or studio connected to their apartment with parking in front.
Lincoln Avenue Capital is anticipating that the first units will be available by mid-2025.
Some business groups, including the Waukesha County Business Alliance, have voiced support for the project, saying the
high housing prices in Brookfield and Waukesha County keep many people who work in Waukesha County priced out of living there.
"Between 2013 and 2023, Waukesha County only had three developments totaling 176 affordable units that were supported by federal or state low-income housing tax credits, which are typically needed to finance affordable housing developments," the governor's announcement said, citing the Wisconsin Policy Forum. "With this investment, the number of affordable units in the community will more than double."
The 2023-25 biennial state budget allocated $100 million for the Vacancy-to-Vitality Loan Program, which allows a developer to apply for a loan to cover the costs of converting a vacant commercial building to workforce or senior housing, according to the announcement.
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