The Mandel Group, which is planning to build 157 market-rate apartments on the site of the city's Blanchard Street parking lots, will close those lots soon in preparation for construction to begin.
The property at 7746 Menomonee River Parkway, just north of the Harmonee Avenue bridge, has been vacant since the city purchased it in 2020, tore down an old office building there and began seeking proposals.
The city was able to identify just enough space outside of the flood plain and south of the parking lot to fit two single-occupancy restrooms, though installation is at least nine months off.
In a Common Council discussion, members seemed to circle a central tension: The prospect of a consolidated department is filled with uncertainty, and may be inevitable.
Proponents have tried once before to create an East Tosa BID. For it to succeed this time, they again will need to clear two hurdles: obtaining city approval and winning the backing of property owners.
It's been an interesting summer for weather in and around Wauwatosa, even before the historic rain and flooding Aug. 9 and 10 that helped pushed the season into the record books.
The Board of Review also accepted 58 stipulations, or voluntary downward adjustments to the assessments that were sent to all city property owners in July.
A combined department could realize savings of $7 million in the first five years, the study concluded. The public is invited to learn more about the proposal at meetings in September.
