Hales Corners-based Wimmer Communities plans to transform part of a building at 221 N. Water St. in Milwaukee’s Historic Third Ward into apartments.
Restaurant Lucky Ginger currently rents the three-story building’s first floor storefront. Construction plans recently submitted to the city as part of a commercial alternation permit application indicate plans to construct five apartments on the second and third floor.
When contacted about the project a representative with Wimmer Communities said the company did not currently “have any information to share other than what was submitted.”
Wimmer develops, builds and manages apartments and other residential housing. According to its website, the company currently owns and operates more than 30 properties throughout southeastern Wisconsin, including in communities like Brookfield, West Allis and Oak Creek.
Constructed in 1914 for the John Dahlman Construction Company, the building has been known under a few different names in recent years, including Gallery H2O and Pier 221, but today most city residents think of it as the building that hosts Lucky Ginger, which opened in 2015.
Wimmer Communities bought the building in 2019 for $800,000. The purchase was part of larger deal between the apartment developer and shoe polish maker The Harri Hoffman Co., which is now based in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. That sale included The Harri Hoffmann Co. Inc. building at 125-129 N. Water St. as well as an 4,600-square-foot parking lot at 239 E. Erie St.
The 239 E. Erie St. lot is also located along the Milwaukee River and sits between the 7-story River Renaissance building and the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD) Jane Bradley Pettit Building.
