Three Leaf revises Wauwatosa apartment design following opposition

Three Leaf Partners has revised its plans for its apartment proposal in Wauwatosa’s village center following a barrage of opposition from residents and city government.

The Milwaukee-based development firm will present its revised plans for the project at 7474 Harwood Ave. to the city’s Design Review Board (DRB) on Thursday. Three Leaf’s first proposal designs were turned down by the DRB at a meeting in April attended by more than 100 residents, most of whom expressed their disapproval of the plans.

The most notable changes to the project are at the southern end of the building, where a portion of the building has been removed to make room for more community space, which was a request from residents. The community space will include an enclosed patio for residents alongside a public plaza that will connect to a public park just south of the project site, the revised plans show.

In removing a section of the building, the proposal’s total unit count has been reduced from 163 units to 153.

Like the first proposal, a majority of the building’s units will be “junior” one-bedroom and one-bedroom units, with some two-bedrooms, though the revised proposal adds two three-bedroom units.

In order to break up the building’s appearance and add connectivity to the street, four of the one-bedroom plus units will be built with a private entryway along Harwood Avenue. The revised plans also call for a more varied facade by using a variety of brick, plans show.

Announced in April as a $46 million project, the development will take the place of St. Bernard Congregation and Wauwatosa Catholic School, which sit on a 2.8-acre lot near the intersection of Wauwatosa and Hardwood Avenues.

Wauwatosa Catholic School closed down at the end of last school year and St. Bernard, which was the first Catholic church in Wauwatosa, recently announced that it would be closing to consolidate with its sister parish, Christ King.

The project was designed to comply with the site’s zoning requirements as to not require any rezoning, just design approvals. The project’s architect is Milwaukee-based Korb + Associates and its engineer is Brookfield-based Trio Engineering.