The Wauwatosa Common Council on Feb. 24 approved a term sheet for an agreement with the developer Irgens that commits $7.85 million in city funding for construction of a four-story, 204-unit apartment building in the Milwaukee County Research Park.
The city incentive for the project on the 3.7-acre parcel on northeast corner of Mayfair Road and Wisconsin Avenue anticipates taxable value of the finished development will exceed $51 million. The city will finance the incentive to Irgens through loans to be paid off with the increased property tax revenue generated by the development, according to the eight-page term sheet, which was obtained by Tosa Forward News and can be reviewed below.
This is the second development in the Research Park that the city has approved for support through its newest tax incremental financing district, also known as a TIF district. The city also has committed $1.8 million in incentives for a conversion of the former Sonesta hotel into 146 apartments at Watertown Plank and Mayfair roads.
As part of the agreement, Irgens must begin construction in October 2026 and complete the new building by July 2028. The term sheet identities a series of "extraordinary project costs" totaling $10 million that meet the criteria for TIF funding. The largest such costs are the parking structure to be built underneath the apartment building for $6.8 million and the use of union labor, valued at $2.2 million. The developer also has agreed to give the city $222,000 for its affordable housing fund, administered by the Community Development Authority.
City officials and Irgens representatives previously discussed the development at a Feb. 10 meeting of the council's Financial Affairs Committee. Video of that meeting can be viewed here, and the Irgens presentation starts at 22 minutes. The slides from the presentation are here.
The city estimates that, with interest, its investment in the Irgens development will total $13.9 million over the 20-year life of the TIF district.
The new district, TID 16, spans the west side of the Research Park along Mayfair Road. It has been authorized by the Community Development Authority and Common Council and will be considered for approval by the city's TIF Joint Review Board at 8 a.m. March 3 at City Hall and on Zoom.
Under the TID 16 plan, the city anticipates spending up to $34.2 million on projects in and near the district, including up to $25.8 million for developer incentives. The benefit to the city, according to the plan, is that those projects are estimated to increase the city’s tax base by more than $100 million, compared to the value if the city did nothing to spur redevelopment.
TIF districts are tools that the state provides to municipalities to spur redevelopment of blighted or underused properties. All new tax revenue generated by new development in the TIF district is used to pay down debt that the city chooses to accrue to pay for eligible development-related expenses, such as road construction, utility work, other infrastructure projects or direct financial support to developers. City costs incurred through TIF districts generally do not result in any burden to taxpayers, as long as the new revenues generated over the life of the TIF are enough to pay down the loan, as has been typical in Wauwatosa’s TIF districts. The city’s most recent summary of all its existing TIF districts can be accessed here.
The TID 16 plan, prepared for the city by the company Ehlers, estimates that the city will recoup its investments within 19 years, after which the increased property value within the district will be added to the citywide assessment roll. The plan drafted by Ehlers can be viewed here.
Demand for housing in Wauwatosa continues to be a top issue in the city, and municipal leaders have long identified providing more affording housing options as a city government priority.
The Irgens apartment building would be the latest phase of the company's redevelopment of the southwest corner of the Research Park on property it bought in 2021. The developer renovated and is leasing the former UnitedHealthcare office building, and in recent years, it has added a retail building and a medical office building nearby. Irgens did not seek city incentives for those projects.
- David Paulsen, a Tosa East Towne resident and editor of Tosa Forward News, has more than 25 years of experience as a professional journalist. He can be reached at editor@tosanews.com.
