Waukesha planning staff mulling another downtown apartment project

Here is a rendering for a downtown Waukesha apartment complex recently proposed to the city. Planning staff is reviewing the project, dubbed Clearpoint, and the development could be discussed at a plan commission meeting next month.
Published on: 7/26/2016

Is one more apartment complex what downtown Waukesha needs?

That might be among the questions being pondered by city staff as they review a proposed apartment project just west of the corner of Main and Barstow streets.

The project, dubbed Clearpoint, calls for a five-story, 64-unit apartment building to be built between Main Street Plaza and the former Panos building on a currently vacant lot that was once the site of Walgreens.

Sterling Investments, a Brookfield-based development company, has proposed the roughly 110,000-square-foot project, according to Waukesha planning staff.

The building would have 56 one-bedroom units and eight two-bedroom units, and consists of residential units on top of a concrete podium with two levels of indoor parking. The parking — 98 covered spaces and four surface spaces — would be situated in the lower level and on the first floor, with residences on the second through fifth floors, according to planning documents.

There is only one building which would be constructed in one phase.

City community development staff said Monday, July 25, that the department was in its preliminary stages of review on the project. Staff said the Clearpoint development could appear on a plan commission agenda late next month for consideration.

The project is one of a somewhat recent spate of apartment developments proposed for or constructed in downtown Waukesha.

Because of its dual-purposed nature, the most highly visible proposal has been the plan for apartments on the grounds that includes the Waukesha County Museum. The plan would involve upscale apartments while, at the same time, preserving the museum. Those plans have yet to advance to the common council.

Finally, the status of an apartment project off Corrina Boulevard along the Fox River is unknown. Plans had previously been presented to city officials.

Some apartment projects have been successful downtown in recent years.

The Prairieville Apartments, at South Street and Grand Avenue, are the most recent to be completed.

Kendal Lofts complex, a three-story apartment building at 456 W. Main St., opened in 2013.

Main Street Apartments, adjacent to the prospective Clearpoint proposal, started the trend in the late 1990s.