Too few dollars for Milwaukee's Large Impact Developments program.
Byline: Sean Ryan
When companies request $2.2 million from a grant program that has less than $1 million in its coffers, somebody's going to lose out.
That's what happened this year for Milwaukee's Large Impact Developments, or LID, fund, and it looks as if the redevelopment of Goldmann's department store on Mitchell Street is one of the losers this time around. The Mitchell Street Development Opportunities Corp. requested $207,000 to help with the $4.4 million project.
Milwaukee City Sports and DK USA Development Company Inc. own the Goldmann's building and plan to renovate it for office and retail space. That project will include removing asbestos and erecting new support beams in the building, said Judith Keller, executive director of the Mitchell Street Development Opportunities Corp.
She said she didn't know how losing the $207,000 grant would affect the project, but she added, "It just makes the closing of the (financing) gap more uncertain."
Keller said she didn't ask the Community Development Grant Administration why it decided to recommend against the Goldmann's award.
Goldmann's got a lot of attention Sept. 28 when it closed its doors. The city has it listed as a potential recipient of $1.5 million indevelopment funds in the Mitchell Street tax incremental financing district. However, Keller said she's pursuing other grant programs, including state and federal historic tax credits and the city's facade grant program, in an effort to keep the TIF funds around to support other Mitchell Street projects.
Goldmann's was one of four applicants recommended not to receive grants from the LID program, but five others will split the $931,790 in the fund. The city's Community and Economic Development Committee on Tuesday ratified the Community Development Grant Administration's recommended awards, and the full Common Council is to consider them onOct. 23.
The 30th Street Industrial Corridor Corp. is set to get a $100,000grant to train 20 employees for Capitol Stampings Corp., Master Lockand DRS Technologies.
"We have the jobs, and then we hear from the residents, 'We want the jobs,' but there seems to be a disconnect," said Kein Burton, development manager for the 30th Street corridor.
Many of the manufacturers are losing employees as baby boomers retire, so the city wants to find a way to train its unemployed to move in and replace the retirees. The city is trying to link employers with the local technical colleges and social groups overseeing worker training, Burton said.
"What we do under this pilot project we hope will become replicable for other employers in the sector," she said.
Another winner is the Milwaukee Technology Incubator Center, a 300,000-square-foot space in the DRS facility on 30th Street. That project would receive $141,790.
The Hennessy Group's SoHI Building project at 760 N. 27th St. is recommended to get $275,000. The $1.5 million project will renovate a vacant 9,000-square-foot building so retail can open on its first floor and offices can be sold on its second and third stories. The building is in the center of the strip of 27th Street that organizations are trying to revitalize through the Milwaukee Main Street program.
"It's right in the middle of things, and I knew that if we could get it going, we would a have a big impact," said John Hennessy.
He said 22,000 cars drive by the building every day, so there's solid interest from potential tenants. Hennessy is also looking to get funds for the project from the Local Initiatives Support Corp. and the city's facade grant program.
The two other projects recommended to get LID dollars are the Handsome Plaza project, which will create 24 housing units at 2721 N. Teutonia Ave., and the United Community Center's Latino Geriatric Center.