How a young Milwaukee developer landed a large Minneapolis partner for his $59 million north side project

Que El-Amin had the idea: convert a large former industrial complex on Milwaukee's north side into apartments and commercial space — investing $59 million in one of the city's poorest neighborhoods.

But El-Amin, a younger African American developer, needed a partner to help secure financing. And the Milwaukee area's more established firms weren't interested in the project.

So, with an introduction from a local architect, El-Amin met Brian Roers, co-owner of one of the Minneapolis area's largest development firms.

Their partnership bought the development site for $2.5 million in May. The project, known as The Community Within The Corridor, is completing its financing package — with work to begin this fall.

"I couldn't have done it without another developer partner." El-Amin told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "They really believed in the project when no one else did."

"We are incredibly excited to do the project," said Shane LaFave, director of development at Roers Cos.

The development is proceeding while Milwaukee and other cities are seeing large protests against systemic racism after the May 25 killing of George Floyd, an African American man, by a white Minneapolis police officer.

The Community Within The Corridor will create something that all Milwaukee residents can view with pride, said Falamak Nourzad, a principal at Continuum Architects + Planners, the project's architect.

"It will be very impactful because of its size," she said. "It's two city blocks."

The project will redevelop around 7 acres bordered by West Center, West Hadley and North 33rd streets, and Union Pacific railroad tracks. It was once home to Briggs & Stratton Corp.

Six buildings, ranging from one to three stories and totaling 380,000 square feet, will be converted into 197 apartments, 23,000 square feet of commercial space and 40,000 square feet of recreational and community space, according to a city report.

As the development's name suggests, El-Amin's vision is to create a community within Milwaukee's North 30th Street Industrial Corridor. 

The corridor runs through the heart of Milwaukee's central city, and includes some of the city's most impoverished neighborhoods.

The corridor, served by freight rail service, for several decades was home to dozens of Milwaukee manufacturers, starting in the early part of the 20th century.

But the recession of the early 1980s started a decline in that area's industrial base.

Combined with longstanding racial segregation and other forms of institutional racism, the loss of thousands of jobs fueled social problems that continue today.

El-Amin is a local entrepreneur, community activist and graduate of Associates in Commercial Real Estate.That Milwaukee program, known as ACRE, encourages racial minorities to pursue commercial real estate careers.

His other developments include Villard Commons, a four-story, 43-unit affordable apartment building, with a Rise and Grind Cafe on its street level, at 3619 W. VIllard Ave.

El-Amin is a partner in Index Development Group LLC, which is working with Brinshore Development LLC, a Chicago-area firm, to build Villard Commons. It is to be open by November.

The Community Within The Corridor is much larger, and is being done by El-Amin's firm, Scott Crawford Inc.

El-Amin learned about the former Briggs & Stratton complex, and its redevelopment potential, through broker Jennifer Green, of Commercial Realty Advisors LLC. El-Amin is one of her former ACRE program students.

"I called him because I felt he had the tenacity to pull something like this off," Green said.

El-Amin's plans were unveiled in 2017 when the city approved a zoning change to allow the industrial buildings to be converted into new uses.

Meanwhile, El-Amin was talking with larger development firms. He needed a partner to help obtain financing for the project. 

But companies in the Milwaukee and Chicago areas that El-Amin approached took a pass.

"Nobody thought that it was viable," he said. 

Their reluctance, he said, was understandable given the site's location.

Minneapolis developer sees site without "preconceived notions"

That changed when Nourzad, of Continuum Architects, connected El-Amin with Brian Roers.

Nourzad's firm does a lot of work with developers converting historic buildings into housing and other new uses.

She knew Roers in part by working with his company on Maxwell Lofts, a five-story industrial building at 214 E. Florida St., in Walker's Point, that was converted into 116 upscale apartments.

Roers saw the project's potential clearly, El-Amin said, in part because his firm was just entering the Milwaukee market and "didn't have any preconceived notions" about the location.

Roers Co., based in Minnetonka, Minnesota, mainly operates market-rate apartments, including higher-end developments. Its housing properties total over 3,700 units in six Midwestern states.

The firm has done two affordable housing developments, but on a scale much smaller than The Community Within The Corridor, said LaFave, who worked at Minneapolis-Sherman Associates Inc. before coming to Roers Co. 

El-Amin's development proposal presented an opportunity for Roers Co. to expand its Milwaukee presence while partnering with a developer who better understands the central city, LaFave said.

The project, he said, "has a lot of nuance and complexity."

That includes its financing package, which features affordable housing and historic preservation tax credits.

Development firms that receive affordable housing tax credits must provide apartments at below-market rents to people earning from 30% to 80% of the local median income.

The Community Within The Corridor was turned down on its initial housing tax credit applications.

El-Amin then took a different approach.

Financing package includes $3.15 million in proposed city financing

Instead of applying for the more generous tax credits, which are provided through an annual competition, he sought tax credits that provide a smaller benefit — but are easier to obtain.

Also, Continuum Architects helped the development obtain historic preservation tax credits.

All the tax credits together will account for $37.1 million of the development's $59 million financing package.

Other financing includes a $15.5 million bank loan, $2.1 million in a deferred development fee and a $1 million federal grant, said a Department of City Development report.

One of the final pieces is $3.15 million in proposed city financing.

That would be provided by annual payments of the development's new property tax revenue for around 20 years. That tax incremental financing district is to undergo a Redevelopment Authority review on June 18, with a Common Council vote set for July 7.

With renovations to begin in November, the first batch of apartments will be ready by spring 2022, El-Amin said.

The buildings date to 1906, according to the Wisconsin Historical Society.

They housed Briggs & Stratton operations before closing in the mid-1980s.

The historic buildings, operated as warehouses for several years by Jonas Builders, have been well-maintained, LaFave said.

"The buildings have a ton of character," he said.

The nearly 200 apartments will range from efficiencies to four-bedroom units.

The development will include a large recreation center, with basketball courts and other amenities for residents, which also will host community events, El-Amin said. Outdoor rec uses will include a small skateboard park and a putting green.

The commercial space will include a child care center, grocery, laundromat and job training center.

"It's going to be a little city," Nourzad said.

The effects of spending $59 million within the heart of Milwaukee's 30th Street Industrial Corridor are part of what attracted Roers Co. to the development, LaFave said.

"It's an opportunity to make an investment in a neighborhood that could really use it," he said.

LaFave also said Milwaukee's recent civil unrest, which occurred even as thousands of residents peacefully protested racism and police violence, has had no effect on his company's investment plans.

"We have not tapped the brakes," he said.

Meanwhile, The Community Within The Corridor will raise El-Amin's profile as a developer, Nourzad said.

"I think this project is going to catapult him to the next level," she said.

Tom Daykin can be emailed at tdaykin@jrn.com and followed on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.