A historic downtown Milwaukee building being converted into apartments has been sold at a sheriff’s auction to its lender.
The former Humphrey Scottish Rite Masonic Center, 790 N. Van Buren St., was targeted in a foreclosure suit filed by AS 312 LLC, an affiliate of Chicago-based mortgage lender Armitage Street LLC.
The suit said Saxony Van Buren LLC, an affiliate of Northfield, Illinois-based Saxony Capital LLC, failed to make monthly payments on a $4.595 million construction loan AS 312 provided in January 2025.
That was the initial disbursement from an $8 million loan that was to be paid off by July 2026, the suit said.
Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Reyna Morales in December granted a $5.185 million judgment against Saxony Van Buren and two investors who provided personal loan guarantees: Saxony Capital owner Josh Mintzer and Daniel Spitz.
The judgment included unpaid interest and fees.
The three-story, 58,000-square-foot building was sold at a May 11 sheriff’s auction for $1.85 million, said Joseph Abruzzo, attorney for AS 312 – which was the only bidder.
The auction had been delayed to allow Saxony Van Buren time to attempt a private sale of the property, which didn’t occur, Abruzzo told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Mintzner didn’t respond to a request for comment.
The sheriff’s sale is awaiting court confirmation, Abruzzo said. A June 15 hearing is scheduled before Judge Morales.
The Historic Preservation Commission in 2021 approved Saxony’s plans to convert the building into 22 high-end apartments.
Some work, including the installation of new windows, has been done on the building – which AS 312 could be listing for sale.
The building was constructed 1889 in the Romanesque Revival style to house Plymouth Congregational Church, according to the Wisconsin Historical Society, before becoming a Masonic facility in 1912.
It was later remodeled “into one of the city’s most impressive Art Moderne exteriors,” according to the society.
The lodge closed its downtown building in 2017, and an attempt to redevelop it as a hotel failed to obtain 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: Redeveloped historic downtown building sold at sheriff’s auction
Reporting by Tom Daykin, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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