A partnership of Madison-based Gorman & Company Inc. and the Northwest Side Community Development Corp. plans to build a four-story senior housing and library building on a mostly vacant lot at 3401-31 W. Villard Ave., in the central city of Milwaukee.
The proposed building, called Villard Square, would have 47 senior housing apartments and 12,000 square feet of ground floor space for a relocated Villard Avenue Library, currently located at 3310 W Villard Ave. The project would also include 36 covering parking spaces.
The apartments would be a mix of 1, 2 and 3 bedroom units.

After more than 50 years of being located at 514 W. Walnut St., just north of downtown Milwaukee, General Rubber Company recently moved to 16988 W. Victor Road, New Berlin.

The new 8,000-square-foot space is larger than the 6,000-square-foot Walnut Street building.

General Rubber is a distributor of hoses and accessories for hydraulic air, water, welding, refrigeration and other equipment.

“The move to this new facility creates new opportunities for our business,” said Jack Kacsur, president of General Rubber Company. “The New Berlin office is ideally located to allow us to expand our coverage area and assist industrial customers throughout Milwaukee, Waukesha, and Racine counties and the rest of southeastern Wisconsin."

The Walnut Street building is being sold by General Rubber to Integral Investments.

The foreclosure rate in the metro Milwaukee area increased in May to 1.9 percent of outstanding mortgage loans, up from 1.6 percent in May of 2008, according to a new report from Santa Ana, Calif.-based First American CoreLogic Inc.

However, the area's foreclosure rate in May was lower than the national rate of 2.5 percent.

The percentage of mortgages in the region that are 90 days or more delinquent was 4.8 percent in May, up from 3.6 percent in May of 2008, according to the report. The national average is 6.5 percent.

An item in the state budget, recently signed by Gov. Jim Doyle, provides a major boost to redevelop historic buildings, supporters say.

In Wisconsin each partner in a development gets a portion of the state tax credit, based on that partner's investment.

Under the previous law, if the out-of-state investor did not have a Wisconsin tax liability, that credit would go unused. As a result, out-of-state investors had a disincentive to invest capital in the restoration of a historic Wisconsin property, and the state lost out on potential revenue opportunities that could contribute to Wisconsin’s economy. 

Under the new law Wisconsin investors can utilize the Wisconsin historic credit even if the federal credit is utilized by an out-of-state investor

“In many states, the investor who uses the federal credit is different from the investor who uses the state credit.  This new law will give developers a chance to attract additional investors, thus maximizing use of the credit provision by achieving a larger pool of investors,” said Michael Stevens, State Historic Preservation Officer and Administrator of the Division of Historic Preservation and Public History at the Wisconsin Historical Society.

“This brings additional capital to historic projects so that more projects will be financially feasible,” said Gary Gorman, president of Oregon, Wis.-based Gorman & Company, Inc..

With the commercial real estate market in a major slump, many commercial building owners are remodeling their buildings to attract and retain tenants, according to the Milwaukee chapter for the National Association of the Remodeling Industry (NARI).

That commercial building remodeling trend is similar to the trend of more homeowners remodeling their existing homes, rather than moving to larger homes, since the housing market collapsed.

“I see people buying (commercial) buildings at a reduced cost because of the economy.  There are some good bargains out there,” said Jim Klappa of Greenfield-based JDJ Builders Inc. “People are buying these corporate buildings at a deal, and then preparing the buildings so they can either move their business into it or make rental space for tenants. There are more vacancies now than there have ever been in the corporate sector.How much is the owner of the building willing to invest in you, the tenant?  We find that owners are willing to offer more to the potential renter.  They’re trying to get tenants in their buildings, and they’re willing to make improvements.  But as far as ‘accessorizing,’ they stick to the basics – making it functional for an affordable cost. Years ago, they wanted the ‘glitz and glitter.’  Today, it’s about functionality rather than luxury.”

The UWM Real Estate Foundatin Inc. is receiving a $800,000 blight elimination and brownfield redevelopment grant from the state Department of Commerce to redevelop a former gas station property at 1436 E. North Ave., Milwaukee, into a 700-bed student residence hall.

“Brownfield grants help renew damaged or vacant land and provide communities with opportunities for additional reinvestment,” Governor Jim Doyle said. “I’m pleased that we could help the UWM Real Estate Foundation, Inc. increase the number of dormitory rooms available to UW-Milwaukee students.”

The new facility will require an investment of $50 million and over $900,000 will be spent on remediating the site.

“This is an extremely important project for UW-Milwaukee and for the City of Milwaukee,” said Phil Aiello, UWM Real Estate Foundation board member. “We are very pleased and grateful that the Department of Commerce is able to provide us with this level of assistance. It is a critical component of the project financing.”

The City of Racine has been awarded a $950,000 Economic Development Initiative (EDI) from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The funds be used to help the city restore the dilapidated west platform of the historic Chicago-Northwestern Railroad depot and to acquire and demolish blighted buildings in the 1300 block of State Street.

The rail depot project includes restoration of the platform to the same condition as the platform on the east side of the railroad tracks. The west platform was not previously restored because the city did not own the west platform at that time.

The properties to be acquired are across from the existing bus Transit Center. Once the dilapidated buildings are acquired and razed, the cleared land will provide a site for transit-oriented, mixed-use redevelopment.

The EDI projects will complement the reconstruction of State Street, which is scheduled for 2010. The State Street reconstruction will include pedestrian amenities similar to improvements previously made on Main Street in Downtown Racine. The objective of the project is not only to improve the appearance of the corridor but also to foster development of employment opportunities along State Street, encourage reuse and redevelopment of historic properties and provide safe access to the Julian Thomas Elementary School and other public attractions, city officials say.

“It is our objective not only to improve the appearance of the State Street Corridor with this project but to spur additional private redevelopment in the area both by existing property owners and by new developers,” said Racine Mayor John Dickert. “This grant marks another significant milestone for the revitalization of the State Street Corridor.”

Milwaukee-based Siegel-Gallagher recently added Chris Stecker as a commercial real estate broker in its industrial and corporate counseling group. Stecker has more than 20 years of real estate consulting and transaction experience in Wisconsin and California.

The 240,675-square-foot, three-story office building at 11200 West Parkland Ave. on Milwaukee's far northwest side, owned by Wells Real Estate Investment Trust IIInland Companies, recently received the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Energy Star rating, a symbol for energy efficiency and environmental protection. Wells REIT II bought the building last year from Washington Mutual.