Milwaukee-based developer Cobalt Partners LLC is planning a 100-room hotel as part of a mixed-use redevelopment project along South 70th Street in West Allis.
The project will be built on more than 14 acres owned by the West Allis-West Milwaukee School District. Cobalt is currently working on a comprehensive mixed-use plan for the site.
Cobalt Partners has an option to purchase four school district properties. They include a parking structure, a parking lot, the district’s administrative office and an alternative high school located on South 70th Street, north of West Madison Street and South 71st and West Washington streets.
Cobalt president and CEO Scott Yauck said his firm is also finalizing plans for additional parking on the west side of 70th Street. New developments envisioned for the properties could help support that goal, Yauck said.
Through a tax incremental financing district, the city could use new property taxes generated by the development to help finance a parking structure, Yauck said.
Actual construction won’t likely start until next year because Cobalt wants to firm up plans on a public-private partnership with the city before moving forward, Yauck said.
Patrick Schloss, West Allis manager of community development, said Cobalt representatives have met with city officials several times to discuss the project.
“The hotel is just one component of a large scale project that we are very excited about,” Schloss said. “It just adds to what Mandel is doing and what Cardinal Capital has done in that corridor.”
Cobalt’s planned development is near Mandel Group’s The Market at Six Points project at the corner of West Greenfield Avenue and South 66th Street. That $60 million mixed-use project will include 177 apartments and 50,000 square feet of food-centered retail, anchored by an international market.
In 2013, Cardinal Capital Management Inc., a housing development and management firm built a 12,480-square-foot corporate headquarters office building at 901 S. 70 St.
“We applaud Scott for his vision and willingness to invest in our city,” Schloss said. “We will continue to evolve our partnership and see how we can work together to bring this large scale redevelopment plan to the corridor.”
