Sherman Park is a community on the go … and on the grow.
So says the Burleigh Street Community Development Corporation, which is poised to break ground in a major revitalization effort of the west side neighborhood.
According to its president, James A. Hiller, the BSCDC was formed as a catalyst for economic and real estate development in the Sherman Park area. Since its development in 1999, BSCDC’s vision has centered on the creation of the Burleigh Street Community Enterprise Center, for which ground will be broken on Aug. 25.
That center, said Hiller, an attorney and president of the Torah Foundation of Milwaukee, located on the Burleigh St. corridor, will turn a long-vacant bowling alley into the centerpiece for downtown Sherman Park.
“Now we’ve got the green light,” Hiller said. “We’ve raised $1.6 million for construction of Phase I, which will provide 13,000 sq. ft. of usable rental space. We will break ground at a ceremony at 10:30 a.m., Aug. 25, with completion expected by next spring.”
Funds for the $2.5 million project were raised from individuals, corporations, foundations, and state, county and city government sources in keeping with the BSCDC’s mission of revitalization through public-private partnerships.
Hiller said that the goal of the Community Enterprise Center is to make Sherman Park a shopping destination and identify it as a safe place to shop and live. The center will be located between 53rd and 54th Sts., which was determined to be the main business artery in Sherman Park.
It will serve the surrounding community by bringing together retail stores, food services, financial services, a counseling center and a community hall.
“The Sherman Park area is racially, religiously and economically diverse,” said Hiller. “We plan to market our unique identity to real estate brokers, businesses, investors and potential residents.
“We hope the center will inspire others to strengthen their enterprises and spark an overall renewal of the whole neighborhood.”
“This project will stand as a demonstration of what can be accomplished when neighbors set their minds to making a difference and work together with a variety of government agenices and private organizations for the betterment of their community,” Hiller added.
Not a strip mall
Though no leases have been signed, first-floor plans call for a financial institution, take-out kosher pizza restaurant and other retail tenants. The use of the second floor will be what Hiller thinks makes the center different.
“We are planning a community hall that will accommodate up to 135 people with a small [kosher] warming kitchen. Additionally, there will be retail space on this level too,” he said.
The community hall, Hiller believes, will provide a “much-needed” gathering space for family events, dinners, performances, receptions and meetings for residents of the neighborhood and the community at large. “This,” said Hiller, “makes our project different from every other strip mall.”
Phase II will add another 8,000 sq. ft. of rental space at an estimated cost of $800,000-$1 million.
“Again, we’re seeking grants to fund this phase, which we hope to begin next summer. We’re phasing the project in two steps because we have the money for Phase I and the momentum is rolling so we didn’t want to wait,” Hiller added.
Phase II also includes a second-floor site for the Family Development Counseling Center operating under the direction of renowned Torah scholar and therapist Rabbi Michel Twerski.
Community leaders as well as current Sherman Park merchants and residents have expressed enthusiasm for BSCDC’s efforts.
In a letter asking for support of a grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Common Council President Marvin Pratt, who represents a portion of the neighborhood, said: “The HUD grant would provide … funds that will help to stabilize the neighborhood and create economic initiatives … for those who live there.”
Describing the neighborhood as “economically and culturally varied,” Pratt wrote that the development efforts will help prevent Sherman Park from becoming “a disadvantaged neighborhood.”
Longtime Sherman Park resident and Burleigh St. merchant Rabbi Dovid Eisenbach, owner of the Kosher Meat Klub, wrote Hiller that he supports the efforts of the BSCDC:
“I have witnessed the ups and down and the comings and goings of our residential and business neighborhoods. There is now a sense of hope for new economic vitality in our area….”
In a statement to The Chronicle, Mayor John O. Norquist said, “[T]he city is pleased to be an investor in this new development. BSCDC president Jim Hiller and the rest of his board are to be congratulated for their tireless efforts to convert this unproductive vacant site into a facility that will add value to the neighborhood and to our tax base.”
In addition, support has been voiced by longtime business anchors St. Joseph’s Hospital and M & I Bank.
BSCDC, a not-for-profit coalition of Sherman Park residents and business professionals, has an 11-member board of directors that “reflects the diversity of … the community” and an advisory council “to provide strategic planning assistance and a professional business perspective….”
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