Barrett Lo Visionary Development’s years-long quest to build The Couture seemed to take a significant step forward in June when the firm announced it had secured the equity financing it needed for the project.
However, several things still need to happen before the $122 million, 44-story luxury residential tower is built near downtown Milwaukee’s lakefront.
Now that he has secured the needed equity for the project, developer Rick Barrett can resubmit the project for a loan guarantee through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. In a statement, Barrett said HUD invited him in June to file a formal application for the loan guarantee.
“As we have said throughout this process, we are working tirelessly to make this iconic, transformative building a reality,” Barrett, founder and chief executive officer of Barrett Lo Visionary Development, said in a statement.
People have been waiting to see The Couture come out of the ground at East Michigan Street and North Lincoln Memorial Drive since the project was first announced in 2012. But there’s more work to be done before that can happen.
First, Barrett needs to secure the loan guarantee. And that can’t be achieved until he formally submits the application. So far, he has only submitted the project to HUD for consideration. After a review, the agency then asked him to apply.
As of early July, Barrett still had not submitted the application, according to HUD spokeswoman Gina Rodriguez. HUD could not give a timeline on how long it would take to review and approve the guarantee.
“HUD invited the borrower’s lender to submit an application for firm commitment, but that application has not yet been received, therefore we cannot ascertain a timeline,” Rodriguez said in an email.
It’s important to note The Couture has been at this stage before, although the situation is different now.
Barrett announced in November 2018 that HUD had asked him to submit additional information on his loan guarantee application. But after several extensions, Barrett did not meet the deadline to submit his final application.
That doesn’t mean Barrett has to start all over again with the HUD application process this time around. Rodriguez said HUD has the discretion to accept a “direct-to-firm commitment” application, rather than require an applicant to go through the pre-application stage a second time.
According to HUD documents, a direct-to-firm application should only be considered for projects in strong markets, where both the lender and borrower acknowledge in writing the risk of a rejection, there are no environmental issues, and the lender, borrower and development team have “previous positive experience” with Federal Housing Act multi-family financing.
Barrett had a loan backed by HUD in developing The Moderne, a 30-story high rise southwest of West Juneau Avenue and North Old World 3rd Street downtown.
Barrett did not respond to a request for an update on both the project itself and the application’s status. A spokesperson on behalf of Barrett Lo declined to provide a comment.
There’s also the matter of moving an underground sewer pipe at The Couture site. That work has not been done but is set to move forward with the initial stage of The Couture construction, said Jeff Fleming, a spokesman with Milwaukee’s Department of City Development.
The sewer relocation work would be paid for through city tax incremental financing. The city has set aside $2 million for the relocation work, as part of nearly $51.6 million in project expenses in the TIF district. Other TIF expenses include $31 million for the streetcar’s lakefront line, which is to run through The Couture, $17.5 million in public amenities at The Couture site, and other expenses including street paving, workforce training and administration costs.
The city is also planning to create the public Lakefront Gateway plaza across Lincoln Memorial Drive from The Couture site. Fleming said the city is “anticipating moving forward” with the plaza, but did not provide further details.
“We are glad the (Couture) project has reached this stage, and we continue to have optimism about its positive impact on the city, the lakefront, and the streetcar,” Fleming said.
If it is eventually built, The Couture will have overcome a number of significant obstacles. It started with a years-long battle over development rights at the site, which formerly housed Milwaukee County’s Downtown Transit Center.
Skyscrapers aren’t built in Milwaukee every day, so a project as large and complex as The Couture poses financing challenges. Barrett has said as much previously. In fact, he recruited Milwaukee-based investment firm R.W. Baird & Co. Inc. last summer to help him secure his final needed bit of equity.
Whether this time is the charm still remains to be seen. But The Couture has finally inched forward after numerous setbacks.
