Mandel Group is planning a mixed-use development at a former elementary school site in Fox Point that will include a Fresh Thyme Farmers Market and up to 120 apartments.
The Milwaukee developer was chosen by the Fox Point-Bayside School District to develop the 10-acre parcel at the southeast corner of North Port Washington and West Dunwood roads.
Preliminary plans call for 110 to 120 market rate apartment units split between two, three-story buildings that will have underground parking. The buildings will be horseshoe-shaped structures that will have a courtyard in the middle, said Ian Martin, vice president of development, for Mandel Group.
Eight to 10 townhomes are also planned along Dunwood Road.
On the far eastern side of the site, on two acres of land, will be an 80 to 100-bed dementia care facility operated by Azura Memory Care, which has 11 locations in Wisconsin.
A 29,500-square-foot Fresh Thyme Farmers Market is also planned for the site.
This will be the fourth Fresh Thyme Farmers Market in the state. Mandel’s North End development in downtown Milwaukee will include a 29,500-square-foot Fresh Thyme Farmers Market grocery store. Stores are also planned in Brookfield and Kenosha.
The school district issued an RFP for the sale and proposed use of the former Dunwood School property in October 2015. The 46,068-square-foot school has not been used since 1992.
The project was appealing to Mandel Group because there is a demand for multi-family housing in the Fox Point area, particularly for empty-nesters looking to downsize, Martin said.
With that demographic in mind, the apartments will be large – with an average size about 1,300-square-feet.
“If you are an empty nester with a house in Fox Point or Whitefish Bay, you’ve acquired stuff over time, we want to provide larger than usual apartment floor plans because we think the demand is here,” Martin said. “This is a much different focus than the millennial projects we’ve done downtown.”
Martin said at this time, all plans are preliminary until Mandel Group can gather feedback from residents and the village.
“The next step is for us to meet with neighbors,” Martin said. “Without the benefit of those meetings, we have done our best to balance the interest of everyone involved but we want to get everyone’s feedback.”
