The former Midtown Walmart’s partial conversion to self-storage, which City Hall rejected in 2023, is being revised as part of the long-vacant building’s redevelopment.
A new Department of City Development proposal seeks Plan Commission approval to allow self-storage units and a computer processing facility at the building.
It’s located at Midtown Center, near West Capitol Drive and West Fond du Lac Avenue.
The storage and computer facilities would join a planned relocation of the Capitol Branch Library, 3969 N. 74th St., to the former Walmart, 5825 W. Hope Ave.
The Plan Commission is to consider the proposal at its May 18 meeting.
The former Walmart was a Midtown Center anchor store before closing in 2016.
Council Bluffs, Iowa-based Affordable Family Storage, which now owns the building, in 2023 proposed converting 107,000 square feet into 850 self-storage units. The remaining space was to be used as four small- and mid-sized retail and commercial storefronts.
That proposal was opposed by Alderman Mark Chambers, whose district includes Midtown, and Department of City Development officials.
They said the proposal didn’t meet the city’s criteria for overriding a ban on storage centers at Midtown. The Plan Commission denied the company’s zoning exception application.
Under the new proposal, 108,000 square feet would become a self-storage facility and up to 19,000 square feet would be for a high-performance computing facility.
The 17,000-square-foot Capitol Branch Library and 33,000 square feet of adjacent City of Milwaukee tenant space would use the rest of the former Walmart, according to a department report.
“The uses within the approximately 51,000 sf will serve as a hub for community/retail activities, designed to foster engagement and connection,” the report said.
“The goal is to bridge the gap between the Midtown Shopping Center and surrounding neighborhoods by providing a central location for interaction, education, and shared experiences or extend supportive retail environments,” it said.
A department representative didn’t immediately respond to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s question about the position change on the self-storage operation.
Neither Chamber nor an Affordable Family Storage representative immediately responded to the Journal Sentinel’s request for comment.
The new library would be “a valuable addition to the Midtown neighborhood and a needed replacement for the current Capitol Library,” said Jeff Fleming, spokesman for Mayor Cavalier Johnson.
Apartments planned just north of former Walmart
Also, the Plan Commission on April 27 approved Gorman & Co.’s plans to develop Midtown Commons, a 200-unit affordable apartment community to be built on a parking lot east of North 60th Street and north of West Hope Avenue.
That’s just north of the former Walmart.
Midtown Commons would feature two four-story buildings, each with 100 apartments ranging from one to three bedrooms. Gorman plans to begin construction by Aug. 31 on the first building.
Financing includes includes affordable housing tax credits.
Developers receiving those federal and state tax credits must provide most of the apartments at below-market rents to people generally earning no more than 60% of the area median income.
The credits are sold to raise equity cash. A developer then typically obtains a bank loan, and perhaps other sources, to complete the financing.
Tom Daykin can be emailed at tdaykin@jrn.com and followed on Instagram, Bluesky, X and Facebook.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: City rejected storage plan at closed Walmart. It’s now proceeding
Reporting by Tom Daykin, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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