Martin Luther King Drive is experiencing a housing boom.
The latest housing development to break ground on that thoroughfare is Union at Rose Park in the Harambee neighborhood. It is among three new developments occurring on or proposed for King Drive.
The developer, Indiana-based Annex Management Group LLC., community leaders and city officials held a ceremonial groundbreaking for the 75-unit mixed-income apartment on Sept. 24.
Tom Tomaszewski, president of the Annex Group, speaks at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Union at Rose Park, a new affordable apartment development located on North King Drive.
“We are thrilled to be part of the revitalization of this community and look to be a big part of it going forward,” said Tom Tomaszewski, Annex Group’s president.
The apartment complex, Union at Rose Park, 3040 N. King Drive, by The Annex Group, named for the park across the street, will feature 75 units, with most dedicated to low-income renters.
The $25 million project is expected to be completed in the winter of 2026. Of the 75 units, 70 will be allocated under the Affordable Housing Program, designed to assist individuals with moderate incomes. A portion of the units will start at price points for those at 30% of the area median income, and others will include those at 50% and 60%, according to the Annex Group.
Five units will be market-rate and nine will be targeted to veterans. Those units will be held for 30 days and are available at the varying price points. If they are not rented in that timeframe, the units will become available for other qualifying renters who are not veterans.
“We are really targeting that at-risk population that has a lot of housing challenges,” Tomaszewski said.
The four- to five-story Union at Rose Park development sits on 1.39 acres. It will have a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments as well as 12 three-bedroom townhome-style units for larger families.
The development will also have a space for an organization called Impact Housing Indiana, which will offer onsite resources like financial literacy, nutrition and education opportunities.
Jenni Yeagley, executive director of Impact Housing Indiana, speaks at the groundbreaking for the affordable housing apartment development Union at Rose Park.
Jenni Yeagley, of Impact Housing Indiana, wants to partner with other local organizations to provide additional services like job placement, career readiness or even wellness services.
“We are open to anything,” Yeagley said, adding a survey of residents once the building is occupied will also determine additional services.
But this holistic approach is part of Annex Group’s mission. “It is not just about a building. It is about community,” Yeagley said. “We want to be a good partner in our community and just see people thrive.”
Location, city investment make King Drive attractive to developers
The housing development is one of several projects on North King Drive.
The newly reopened Dr. Martin Luther King Library branch is a mixed mixed-use development featuring 41 apartments on three upper floors. That development also calls for a four-story, 43-unit apartment building on the southwest corner of North King Drive and West Chambers Street.
Also on North King Drive between West Concordia and West Keefe avenues, the Five Points Lofts development features 55 units and 7,500 square feet of street-level retail.
Another development at 3116 N. King Drive, the 67-unit Compass Lofts, hit a financial snag and has been delayed.
Lafayette Crump, City of Milwaukee Department of City Development commissioner, speaks at a new affordable apartment development groundbreaking in the Harambee neighborhood.
“I think one of the reasons why developers are looking at King Drive is because of the continued focus and investment that the city has made,” said Lafayette Crump, the city’s development commissioner.
The city has invested in the area through bike lanes, traffic calming features and streetscapes making it attractive to developers, Crump said. Location is another key.
“This is a major arterial right into downtown. All of that contributes to folks wanting to be a part of that,” he said.
Still, some residents are not convinced the development answers the most pressing need for Harambee. Arcadio Diaz-Miller would like to see developments that replace lost resources like a neighborhood pharmacy rather than a new apartment complex. Others mentioned more commercial developments and outlets for young people.
Crump recognizes the concern, especially in communities that have been disinvested or struggled with rising property taxes. This project, Crump noted, is done under the auspices of the city anti-displacement preference policy. Residents already living in the community get first preference to units in the development.
“This is a project that is going to contribute to the fabric of this neighborhood, not harm it,” he said.
The Union at Rose Park is a new affordable apartment development by the Annex Group. City officials and members from the development company broke ground on the project Sept. 24.
Developer focuses on building affordable housing
The Annex Group is a housing developer based in Indianapolis, Indiana, focused on building affordable housing.
It developed another complex in Oshkosh that opened its doors to renters in 2018. That one has 140 units and is targeted toward students, according to the company’s website.
Students can rent furnished “by-the-bed” leasing options at the Oshkosh location, but the same is not true for the Union complex, according to the group.
This new development will be about half the size of the Oshkosh building.
Funding for the project comes from a combination of investment, tax credits and government funding aid.
Annex Group is looking for other opportunities to expand in the area.
“Once when we get really good at doing something, we like to replicate it,” Tomaszewski said. “So, I would like to see more of this kind of thing go on, depending on the partnerships we can assemble and put together.”
Everett Eaton covers Harambee, just north of downtown Milwaukee, for the Journal Sentinel’s Neighborhood Dispatch. Reach him at ejeaton@gannett.com. As part of the newsroom, all of Everett’s work and coverage decisions are overseen solely by Journal Sentinel editors.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Affordable housing development would add life to North King Drive lot