Completed Projects

Project 1st and Greenfield

S 1st Street and E Greenfield Ave. Milwaukee, WI 53204
1st and Greenfield

Project Description

The project consisted of the initial phase of the redevelopment of a vacant 7.2 acre Browneld Site at Greeneld Avenue and S. 1st Street in Milwaukee, WI. The initial $28.4MM project consists of the environmental remediation of the site and vertical construction of two buildings. The rst building is an $11.2 million, 42,000sf Cermak Fresh Market grocery store that will include fresh produce, local and international groceries, meats, fresh sh, dairy and bakery. The second building will be a $16.2 million, 82.392sf mixed-use building that consists of 16,500sf of rst oor retail space and ninety-four residential units. The residential units will include studio, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom apartments above, of which at least 20% of which will be designated aordable. (QALICB II). The grocery and rst oor retail space will bring commercial goods to 187,368 residents within a three mile radius of the site of which 53.5% or 100,243 are low-income while also helping to mitigate the $111.3MM of annual retail leakage in this three mile radius.* The grocery store will eliminate an adjacent USDA Food Desert and the project will act is the catalyst for the remaining development of the Browneld site. The project is expected to bring 120 direct construction jobs and a projected 155 permanent jobs to a community with 40.4% poverty, incomes at 50.41% of the area median and 2.5 times the national unemployment rate.

Due to the high-remediation costs and limited value associated with the Browneld site, a collaborative nancing package was needed for the project to move forward. The nancing included a browneld grant, tax-incremental nancing, bank debt, subordinate debt from a community lender, private equity and NMTC allocation. FIRE provided $12MM of NMTC allocation in conjunction with $10MM of allocation from the Greater Wisconsin Opportunity Fund (GWOF), which provided the below-market, exible nancing that was needed for the project to move forward.

CDE Alignment

FIRE focuses on providing gap-nancing on urban core projects in the Southeast Wisconsin historic industrial corridor that create jobs, eliminate blight and help revitalize distressed communities. The gap nancing provided by FIRE allowed this critical project to move forward in a highly distressed community in Milwaukee, WI that has all three of the primary distress criteria (median income, poverty and unemployment). The Project allows for the construction of a new grocery store, the remediation of a browneld site and development in a much-needed community. The project will provide jobs along with healthy aordable foods to low-income persons and residents. This project focuses on the primarily on the provision of quality jobs creating between 155 positions, with 105 of these anticipated to be quality jobs. In addition the project will provide 100,243 Low-Income Persons with accessibility to commercial goods and the project is directly aligned with community plans. The project will also provide for 120 construction jobs. Overall the project appears to be in direct alignment with FIRE's stated mission and goals.

Total Project Costs $29,161,937

FIRE NMTC Allocation $12,000,000

NMTC Investor

Closing Date August 2015

Distress Criteria
  • Median Income: 50.41%
  • Poverty Rate: 40.4%
  • Unemployment: 2.54x National
  • Browneld Site
  • TIF District

Community Impacts
  • 155 Created Permanent Jobs
  • 105 Quality Jobs
  • 11 Indirect Permanent Jobs
  • 120 Construction Jobs
  • 31 Indirect Construction Jobs
  • 100,243 LIPs with accessibility to commercial goods
  • $75,000 Donation to Local Non-Prot
  • $32,095,253 Economic Output from Construction

FIRE welcomes requests for NMTC’s throughout the year as we work to maintain an active pipeline of viable and potential projects throughout the region. 

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