Two Milwaukee Central City Developments
Get WHEDA Loan Guarantees
MILWAUKEE (October 23, 2003) - Gov. Jim Doyle today announced that two central city redevelopment projects have been awarded nearly half a million dollars in loan guarantees under a new urban neighborhood finance program from the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDAŽ).
WHEDA will:
- guarantee 75 percent of a $249,863, five-year loan from Legacy Bank
to North Avenue Community Development Corporation (NACDC) to redevelop
a two-story building at 3821-25 W. North Avenue into a mixed-use facility.
The building will include affordable apartments and a startup retail
clothier.
- guarantee 75 percent of a $410,000, five-year loan from M&I Bank
enabling NACDC to construct a new one-story commercial property on a
vacant lot at 3501 W. Burleigh St. fronting a major three-way business
intersection. The five-sided brick structure will house a retail beauty
supply store that will expand after operating at a nearby location.
"These developments will replace urban blight with new and rehabilitated
housing and commercial space in a neighborhood that needs and deserves
both," Doyle said. "As we grow Wisconsin's economy, I am committed
to ensuring that our neediest urban neighborhoods get their share of support."
NACDC has subcontracted with Esperanza Unida on the mixed-use and earlier
developments to improve the neighborhood while training local residents
in the construction trades, Doyle noted. "That means we are also
helping create a new generation of family-supporting jobs while putting
people to work," he said.
The deals were arranged through WHEDA's new Neighborhood Business Revitalization
Guarantee, a $12 million loan guarantee program targeted to urban neighborhoods,
especially in Milwaukee, Racine and Kenosha.
The program is WHEDA's first new effort to be more aggressive in supporting
urban economic development including smaller businesses and mixed-use
developments, said Antonio Riley, WHEDA executive director.
"Through the Neighborhood Business Revitalization Guarantee we're
focusing on underserved urban areas where there is demonstrated need for
more housing, jobs and stores," Riley said.
"By guaranteeing a portion of the loans that private lenders make
to NACDC and other borrowers, WHEDA's program enables the lenders to reduce
their overall risk and get more deals done," Riley said.
Riley said the mixed-use development will replace a rooming house that
was a neighborhood policing problem. The second floor will contain six
apartments restricted to residents with low to moderate incomes.
Additional financing for the North Ave. development has been provided
through local grants and tax incremental financing. Also, Wells Fargo
Bank provided a low-interest, $100,000 Community Reinvestment Act loan.
The development is within a Tax Incremental Financing area and a Business
Improvement District.
Because the new clothing store is locating in a renewal community designated
by the governor's Grow Wisconsin program, it also will seek a Retail Investment
Fund grant, which provides the employer with $6,000 for each new employee
and a tax credit of $1,500 per new or existing employee each year through
2010.
NACDC currently owns three other mixed-use properties that are in the
process of renovation, said Damon Dorsey, NACDC president. "Over
the past four years, studies of this area have indicated the need for
quality, affordable housing, and this latest mixed-use development speaks
to that need," Dorsey said.
The two deals are the third and fourth awarded under WHEDA's Neighborhood
Business Revitalization Guarantee program.
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