Plans to revitalize a once condemned warehouse in Milwaukee’s Walker’s Point neighborhood continue to move forward and developers are about to solve one of the project’s looming problems.
Michael Morrison purchased the three-story building at 425 W. National Ave. in August 2016, with plans to convert it into 12 apartments with about 5,000 square feet of ground floor retail.
At the same time, he purchased vacant lots at 639-643 and 701-705 S. 4th St. On Monday, Morrison filed a construction permit to begin building a parking lot for the multi-family residents on the lots.
“It is certainly something we had to figure out early on because we don’t own any of the land with the building,” Morrison said.
The approximately $4 million National Block Building project received city approvals last year.
Over the last two years, Morrison, who owns Hartland-based construction firm True Inc., has been working on demolishing and reconstructing the 133-year-old warehouse’s interior.
He is hoping to have renters in the building by April 2019.
Two of the apartments will be two-bedroom, 10 will be large one-bedroom units, Morrison said.
A portion of the roof will be removed to convert the attic space into a roof top deck, according to Continuum Architects + Planners’ website for the project.
So far, Morrison has secured one renter and one retail tenant – a friend and his wife from Silverton, Colorado.
Eric and Carolyn Erdman will rent a two-bedroom apartment and Eric Erdman plans to relocate his custom woodshop to the building, Morrison said.
