Envy Apartment

A 27- story apartment tower planned behind the Goll Mansion on Milwaukee’s East Side received the endorsement of the city’s Plan Commission Monday , despite neighbors’ continued objections. This slideshow requires JavaScript . The controversial $55 million project by Chris Houden, the Madison-based developer and the owner of the property, to move the 118-year-old mansion at 1150 N. Prospect Ave. toward the street to make room for the residential tower has been in the works for more than a year. “We are thankful for the commission’s review and the broad support we’ve received from the community,” Houden said after the meeting. “We share their perspective that the proposed development will be a great addition to the East Side neighborhood , and the city of Milwaukee.” The Plan Commission deadlocked with a 3-3 vote on the project in 2016. However, the project was praised by the panel Monday for its design and green features. After more than an hour of testimony, plan commission member...

CLEVELAND, Ohio - One of downtown Cleveland 's worst eyesores finally changed hands Monday , after years of court fights and false redevelopment starts . Alto Partners bought the long- vacant John Hartness Brown complex on Euclid Avenue for $9.1 million, in a deal that sprang from a messy foreclosure fight . The developer, a relative newcomer to the Cleveland real estate market , expects to fill the buildings with apartments, a hotel, retail and parking. Construction could start during the first few months of 2018. Stretching from 1001-1101 Euclid Ave., the John Hartness Brown complex spans three addresses and five facades on north side of the street. Thanks to troubled ownership, financial hurdles and lingering fallout from the Great Recession, the property has languished despite the surge in downtown living and the trend of turning historic buildings into housing and hotels. Alto will be the third developer in a decade to attempt a revival of the block. A rendering shows what ...

At the ribbon cutting this month for the Wesley Village affordable housing complex in Garden Grove, Laura Archuleta couldn ’t resist referencing Joni Mitchell ’s 1970 environmental protest “Big Yellow Taxi.” Built on underused land that’s part of the Garden Grove United Methodist Church campus on Main Street, Wesley Village offered Archuleta , president of the nonprofit community organization Jamboree Housing Corp ., a chance to riff on one of Mitchell’s most famous lyrics. Where Mitchell sang “They paved paradise/And put up a parking lot,” Archuleta told about 300 people packed into the steamy church sanctuary on a hot afternoon that “Today we are going to learn how a group of dedicated organizations and individuals re-purposed a parking lot and put up a paradise.” Then she and others who spoke, including a single mom with six children who now reside at Wesley Village , told how the project became reality through a unique collaboration that involved the church, Jamboree and other...