Real Estate Spotlight: Wisconsin’s largest private affordable housing project nears opening

A major affordable housing development is nearing completion in Milwaukee’s Bay View neighborhood.

Known as The Corliss, the project by Kenosha-based Bear Development began opening its first buildings this month, and when fully complete next year, will be the largest privately developed affordable housing project in Wisconsin history.

Located on a former industrial site along East Becher Street, The Corliss will ultimately include eight, five-story buildings with 576 apartment units, two of which are fully dedicated to senior housing.

As of late July, the first two buildings are 80% pre-leased, with Bear expecting them to be fully leased by the time they open.

All of the development’s units are set aside for households making less than 80% of the area median income, with most units set aside for those making below the 60% threshold. During the approval process, city officials noted that Bay View has some of the fastest-rising housing costs in the city resulting in some families and seniors being priced out of the neighborhood, which the addition of The Corliss could help mitigate.

Though The Corliss has grown into a landmark development, Bear Development didn’t originally intend for the project to be record-setting, according to project manager Nick Orthmann.

“We always knew this site was perfect for housing, it was just a matter of how much and in what form,” Orthmann said.

When Bear first proposed redeveloping the site in 2020, the plan included preserving existing structures from the 19th and early 20th centuries, which would have yielded around 300 housing units. The site was previously home to Filer & Stowell, a manufacturer of sawmill equipment that operated there until the 1960s....   ...more