Tall & Urban News

The long-delayed Couture apartment high-rise has received its final financing approval, setting the stage for a construction start at its downtown Milwaukee site overlooking Lake Michigan.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has issued a "firm commitment" to insure a US$103.5 million loan to build the Couture.

That's according to an email sent Monday, 23 November 2020 to the Journal Sentinel by Gina Rodriguez, a public affairs specialist at HUD's regional office in Chicago.

That loan guarantee is a key part of the project's financing.

Combined with equity financing raised from investors, the US$188 million project can now proceed.

Construction is expected to begin in January 2021 according to developer Richard Barrett, who operates Barrett Lo Visionary Development LLC. 

“HUD’s firm commitment marks the final financial commitment required for us to begin construction on The Couture,” Barrett said.

 “We are thrilled to be working with the city, county and HUD on this catalytic development that will transform this vacant site into a dynamic public space that improves access to the lakefront, creates thousands of new jobs and adds a signature building to Milwaukee’s skyline," he said, in a statement.

The building is to be completed by about May 2023. 

The project site, a vacant lot at 909 E. Michigan St., has been cleared.

The 44-story Couture is to include 322 high-end apartments, 52,000 square feet (4,830 square meters) of restaurant and retail space and a transit concourse featuring the downtown streetcar, known as The Hop.

Its long delay has affected completion of The Hop's lakefront loop. That loop's parallel tracks on Michigan and Clybourn streets are to connect through Couture's transit concourse.

The city is committing US$17.5 million to pay for the Couture's public improvements — including that concourse. Those funds will come from the Couture's property taxes.

Barrett unveiled the Couture proposal in 2012, with then-County Executive Chris Abele recommending the apartment tower over competing office and mixed-use proposals.

Delays in the project included a 2014 state law change and 2015 court battle tied to claims that the development site included filled lake bed—possibly violating the Wisconsin Constitution's public trust doctrine. 

The County Board and Abele in 2014 approved the sale of the 2.2-acre (0.8-hectare) Couture site for US$500,000. A county consultant said that discounted price was needed to help make the development feasible.

The development firm later completed its purchase of the site and in January 2017 demolished a former county bus facility there.

The HUD loan insurance comes from a program financed by fees development firms pay to obtain the guarantees.

Similar guarantees have been used for other Milwaukee-area projects, including Barrett Lo's Moderne apartment high-rise, 1141 N. Old World Third St., as well as The 2100, in Wauwatosa, and Element 84, in West Allis.

HUD issued its first invitation in October 2018 for Barrett Lo to seek a guarantee. Such invitations come after extensive initial reviews and usually result in loan insurance being issued.

But Barrett Lo failed to submit the application by the July 2019 deadline.

That happened after an equity investor Barrett Lo had hoped to land decided to not invest in the project. 

The firm then hired Baird & Co. to help it secure investors.

On June 26, Barrett Lo announced it had that equity financing lined up and would be submitting a new loan guarantee application to HUD.

HUD announced on 1 September 2020 that the application was submitted.

For more on this story, go to Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.