City of Milwaukee officials plan to tap a tax incremental financing (TIF) district to help fund construction for a new international fusion restaurant near the Park Place Business Park on the city's far northwest side.
The restaurant would be located in the former Point Burger Bar space at 10950 W. Good Hope Road, which has been vacant for about two years.
Called IVR Bar, short for International Variety Restaurant, it would serve a mix of Mexican, Indian, Italian and Chinese cuisines. Its owners,
Apexa and
Vijay Patel, also operate Indian Village Restaurant in Greenfield and Waukesha, as well as Honeydip Donuts in Milwaukee.
The Patels plan to purchase the building and invest about $200,000 into it, including for things like signage and facade repairs. The Department of City Development is proposing to give the owners $65,000 in grants to support that work.
The majority of the funding, $60,000, would partially reimburse the buildout and facade costs from low-bidder
EZ Construction and the remaining $5,000 would partially pay for signage from Milwaukee-based
Speedy Signs, according to city documents.
The funding is enabled by the TIF district’s 2017 creation, which includes a $300,000 grant pool to support businesses within the district, which covers Park Place Business Park's boundaries.
According to documents submitted to the city, the owners plan to hire about 20 full-time employees. A floor plan shows that the space will include a bar and indoor and outdoor seating.