Clarke Square Apartments win preliminary OK

An apartment development proposed for two sites on Milwaukee's near south side that would include units for former foster care youth has received Plan Commission approval.

Clarke Square Apartments would have two buildings totaling 40 apartments about a block apart, at the southeast corner of W. Vieau Place and S. 24th St. and at the northeast corner of W. Mineral and S. 24th streets, according to a city report. Those sites are just south and north of Clarke Square Park.

The commission granted unanimous approval. But the proposal also needs Common Council approval, and it's opposed by some neighborhood residents.

Cardinal Capital Management Inc. is proposing a pair of three-story buildings, with 23 units at the Vieau Place site and 17 units at the Mineral St. site. The firm would develop the apartments in a partnership with Journey House, which provides social services to near south side residents.

Journey House has opened two small apartment buildings, totaling 10 units, near Clarke Square for people ages 18 to 25 who are leaving the foster care system or who are otherwise homeless. A third neighborhood building, with three units, is scheduled to open next spring.

Around 12 to 15 apartments within the two buildings being proposed by Cardinal Capital and Journey House would be added to that program.

Those apartments provide a stable place to live so people aging out of foster care can get a post-high school education and get a job, said Michele Bria, Journey House chief executive officer.

The remaining units would be for families, including those with young children.

The development would include 45 parking spaces. But that's not enough, said neighborhood resident Rachel Zembrowski.

She and her parents, William and Elizabeth Zembrowski, said they represent around two dozen residents with concerns about the project.

Rachel Zembrowski said she supports Journey House's "idealistic projects," but the proposed apartment count should be reduced by about half, she said.

The Zembrowskis also said they are concerned about whether the former foster care youth, and people visiting them, would commit crimes or otherwise cause problems without on-site supervision from Journey House.

Bria said former foster care residents receive social services from Milwaukee County. She and Bob McCormick, Cardinal Capital's director of property development, also said the new apartments would be close to Journey House's offices, 2110 W. Scott St.

The young adults who live in Journey House's apartments are smart, talented and motivated, Bria said.

"However, they're homeless," she said.

Cardinal Capital would seek affordable housing tax credits to help finance the development.

Developers that receive those federal tax credits, which are provided through a yearly competition, must lease apartments at below-market rents to people earning no more than 60% of the local median income.