As the first phase of a nine-block redevelopment of downtown Kenosha moves ahead, developers are proposing two apartment buildings with hundreds of units to get the project started. Developer Cobalt Smith is planning a 10-story tower with 188 apartments, ground-floor retail and coworking, and seven townhomes, as well as a five-story apartment building with 158
As the first phase of a nine-block redevelopment of downtown Kenosha moves ahead, developers are proposing two apartment buildings with hundreds of units to get the project started.
Developer Cobalt Smith is planning a 10-story tower with 188 apartments, ground-floor retail and coworking, and seven townhomes, as well as a five-story apartment building with 158 units.
The two buildings would be the first in a planned $450 million redevelopment of downtown Kenosha that could add a total of 1,000 new housing units as well as retail, office buildings and a hotel over the next decade.
Cobalt Smith is a partnership between Milwaukee-based Cobalt Partners and Fond du Lac-based general contractor C.D. Smith. The city last year approved a development agreement to allow the firms to oversee the downtown redevelopment.
These first two apartment buildings are up for initial city review this week.
The proposed 10-story building would be built on a site kitty-corner from the city's Harbor Park on the site of the existing LaMacchia Travel Agency at 618 55th St. The existing building would be razed to make way for the new building and an attached three-story parking garage.
The five-story building would be built nearby at 5506 7th Ave. and would also require razing an existing building. The new apartments would have two levels of indoor parking, with one aboveground and one underground.
Each apartment building would have a mix of studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom units.
[caption id="attachment_586136" align="aligncenter" width="1020"] Rendering of the five-story apartment building. Rendering from Plunkett Raysich Architects[/caption]