Milwaukee-based real estate development firm New Land Enterprises has plans to build another high-end apartment tower in the city – this time on the East Side.
Now known worldwide for constructing the 25-story mass timber Ascent Milwaukee apartment tower – the tallest mass timber building in the world – New Land managing director Tim Gokhman recently applied to the city to create a planned development on a 0.6-acre parcel at the southeast corner of North Farwell Avenue and East Curtis Place.
The parcels currently serve as parking lots for the Mexican consulate at 1443 N. Prospect Ave. and the now-shuttered Renaissance Place event venue at 1451 N. Prospect Ave. Those buildings, which are currently owned by limited liability companies affiliated with Milwaukee investor Gary Taxman, would remain in place, under the development plan.
Korb + Associates Architects is designing the 25-story, 300-unit building planned by New Land, which would be made from concrete like many other high-rise apartments in the city.
The proposed building would be located less than two blocks from the 25-story Goll Mansion apartment tower planned for 1550 N. Prospect Avenue. A revamped design of that building recently won approval from the city’s Zoning, Neighborhoods and Development (ZND) Committee.
The New Land apartment tower would contain a parking structure, and there are plans to place an outdoor pool on top of the structure as part of the project, Gokhman said.
Gokhman said he started to pursue a project at the site soon after hearing about the closure of Renaissance Place in February of last year.
“The East Side hasn’t had a fully amentinized building (in decades), and there hasn’t been a building with a swimming pool on the East Side since the 1990s,” he said. “It is a wonderful site. You are by the lakefront, by The Hop, and by Brady Street.”
Under the development plan, the consulate’s lease at the smaller building, would continue, Gokhman said, but New Land would be looking for a partner to take on Renaissance Place as a reimagined events space or find some other complimentary use for the building. The Neoclassical/Beaux Arts building was constructed in 1907 as a home for the First Church of Christ Scientists, according to the Wisconsin Historical Society. The consulate building next door was constructed by the church in 1950 to serve as a school. The congregation disbanded sometime in the 1980s.
No renderings are available for the proposed apartment tower yet, which must still undergo reviews by officials at the city’s Department of City Development, as well as gain approval from committees and the Common Council.
“There are multiple conversations that have to be had with the Department of City Development. It is still really early in the process,” Gokhman said.
