Ten years ago, Tana Jeter looked out the window of her parents’ home and saw the neighborhood in flames.
The fatal police shooting of Sylville Smith occurred two houses down – sparking unrest in the Sherman Park area. Over two days, buildings and cars were set ablaze, a result of the neighborhood’s ongoing disinvestment coupled with long-simmering police tensions.
But Sherman Park residents didn’t want their community to be defined by the events of Aug. 13, 2016, or the days that followed. They banded together to rebuild their community, converting a torched bank branch into a business hub that became a symbol of resiliency.
Two years after the unrest, Sherman Phoenix, 3536 W. Fond du Lac Ave., opened as a launch pad for small businesses. But it’s morphed into something larger – a gathering place for community, connection and wellness.
That’s what led Jeter back to her community to open her healthy shake and energy drink business at Sherman Phoenix two years ago. She previously operated Cinnabar Nutrition at Glendale’s Bayshore development.
Sherman Phoenix, she said, offered better business support and a space to give back in meaningful ways, especially through candid conversations about health and wellness.
“I know it is an incubator and people are supposed to grow out of this. I am not going. I am staying in the incubator. I enjoy being here,” Jeter said.
However, Sherman Phoenix has seen challenges – including the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, a court dispute with the city over a delinquent property tax bill, and the 2025 resignation of its president and CEO.
65 business have called Sherman Phoenix home
Sherman Phoenix will celebrate eight years in November. In that time, 65 businesses have called it home, creating nearly 100 jobs.
“If the community didn’t rally around this project, it probably be a burned down bank building to this day,” said Romero McCants, Sherman Phoenix’s director of operations.
The building is a teachable moment for the community. Residents learned to invest in themselves before expecting someone else to step in and do it, he said.
The $4 million creation of Sherman Phoenix at the former fire-ravaged BMO Harris Bank building included funding from the city, state, and around 50 community members who each provided between $1,000 and $10,000.
For the building’s developers, it’s an example of community-driven economic development. Residents saw the importance of entrepreneurship and made that the mission for Sherman Phoenix, said Juli Kaufmann, who co-developed the building with JoAnne Sabir.
“Community wellness is rooted in many factors. But a critical component of a healthy community and healthy individuals is economic opportunity and financial stability,” Kaufmann said.
Sherman Phoenix has incubated several notable businesses, including TrueMan McGee’s Funky Fresh Spring Rolls, HoneyBee Sage Wellness & Apothecary, and Lush Popcorn, a gourmet popcorn company started by siblings Marcia and Marc Taylor.
McCants doesn’t see Sherman Phoenix as a traditional incubator, but a space where entrepreneurs can find their footing – to determine whether to expand or make it their forever home.
It has 20 retail spaces and an 80% occupancy rate. Businesses do well at Sherman Phoenix, he said, but many leave to downsize, move to bigger spaces, or shift to online sales or pop-ups.
“Everybody is not meant for a brick-and-mortar space. That’s doesn’t make it a failure,” McCants said. “It’s really a success for them. They did it on their terms, how they wanted to do it and what worked best for their lifestyle and their business.”
85% of Sherman Phoenix start-ups are still operating
McCants measures success on how many businesses started at Sherman Phoenix are still open. Small businesses nationally have a 49% five-year failure rate, according to the Commerce Institute. But 85% of business ventures started in Sherman Phoenix are still operating, McCants said.
It provides resources such as grant opportunities and workshops. Also, Sherman Phoenix recently concluded its Taste to Table Food Business Growth Series, providing individualized coaching for “foodpreneurs.”
The resiliency of these businesses cannot be discounted, Kaufmann said. Many face hurdles, including operating in disinvested communities.
“I think the fact that it survives is a profound testament to the will and resilience of Sherman Park … and the loyal support of the community continuing to shop there,” she said.
Alan Moore, of 2 Kings Barbershop, has been at Sherman Phoenix since it opened. He saw the good that came from those tragic events of August 2016.
“I think that’s the way the universe works,” Moore said.
This is the second shop for the 20-year veteran barber. He stayed because of the camaraderie among business owners – something absent as a solo shop owner. Everyone learns from and supports each other, Moore said.
He said management backed his idea for “SP bucks,” to help drive foot traffic to other vendors. Shoppers who stopped by his shop received a $1 voucher good at any other Sherman Phoenix vendor.
“It supposed to keep the dollars circulating in our community a little longer,” Moore said.
For Moore, Sherman Phoenix’s lasting impact is exposing youth to dozens of Black business owners.
Luan Seguim-Arnold recently began teaching yoga at Sherman Phoenix through his Senses Yoga School.
Seguim‑Arnold wants to make yoga appeal to everyone. Too often, he said, it’s marketed in a way that makes it inaccessible for people of color. Sherman Phoenix, he said, offers a welcoming space to break down those barriers.
Tax dispute, pandemic effects remain challenges
Sherman Phoenix has become more than a business incubator. It’s a space for people to work, meet, or become part of community.
Over the years, it has hosted different community events, job and resource fairs, night markets, and urban line dancing. It also hosted a teen group therapy session and is working with Froedtert ThedaCare Health to host monthly free clinics.
The goal, McCants said, is for the space to be more relevant and holistic in serving Sherman Park residents.
“I don’t think any mission should ever stay the same forever,” he said.
Meanwhile, the COVD-19 pandemic changed how customers shop. Before, people would peruse the vendors. Now, they get their items and leave.
Sherman Phoenix’s community events are designed to draw people to stay longer. Still, McCants said, people intentionally support Sherman Phoenix by “shopping local, shopping small and some shopping Black.”
But its biggest challenge is a court battle with the city over whether it should pay property taxes.
Sherman Phoenix in 2023 was sold by investors group Sherman Phoenix I LLC, led by Kaufmann, to Sherman Phoenix Foundation Inc. for $300,000, according to a deed.
The nonprofit foundation says the business hub should be exempt from paying property taxes.
The city disagrees, and says Sherman Phoenix owes nearly $200,000 in delinquent property taxes. That includes just over $35,000 in interest and penalties from its 2023, 2024, and 2025 tax bills, according to city records.
A property owner’s nonprofit status doesn’t automatically grant tax-exempt status, Commissioner of Assessments Nicole Larsen said.
“They have to show the use of the property is for one of the exempt purpose under the state statute,” Larsen said. “Their applications have been pretty general, like, ‘We are doing good in the community,’ and that doesn’t suffice. We need to know specifically what is happening to show how it qualifies for exemption.”
The city in September sued Sherman Phoenix Foundation, seeking a money judgment of nearly $25,000 tied to the 2023 tax bill.
That was around the time Stacia Thompson resigned as foundation president and CEO.
In an October court response, McCants said the foundation has provided documentation to the city to support its claim for tax-exempt status.
The foundation, in applying for that status, says it provides free space for community events as well as below-market rents for its business tenants.
The foundation made a $2,000 tax payment, and said it had commitments for an unspecified amount of grants and donations “for property related obligations,” according to court records. That response also sought a payment plan for the delinquent tax bill.
An attorney representing the city in July filed a court document saying McCants is not an attorney, so his court response is invalid. A hearing is scheduled for Oct. 5 before Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Mark Sanders.
Sherman Phoenix exists to “serve this community, the residents of this community, and it would be nice to have a little more intentional support from City Hall,” McCants said.
Still, McCants is optimistic.
“I think we are still rising. We’re just rising differently,” he said. “As things change, we have to rise out of adversities. We have to continue to rise out of challenges and changes. But we are going to keep rising.”
Business reporter Tom Daykin contributed to this story.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Sherman Phoenix helps anchor neighborhood 10 years after unrest
Reporting by La Risa R. Lynch, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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By La Risa R. Lynch, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
