Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation Awards $250,000 Grant Toward Bronzeville Revitalization Efforts

MADISON - The Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation awarded a $250,000 grant last week to the City of Milwaukee to support the $17.4 million revitalization of the historic Garfield School campus in the Bronzeville neighborhood.

The project will transform a vacant city block at N. 4th St. and W. North Ave. into a mixed-use campus that will include apartments, commercials space, and a new home for America's Black Holocaust Museum, which shuttered its doors in 2008.

Redevelopment efforts will be done in stages, with the first phase being the conversation of the school building into the Historic Garfield Apartments, 30 units of mixed-income housing. In the second phase, vacant properties will be demolished and rebuilt as The Griot, which will have 41 residential units and 8,000 square feet of commercial space containing America's Black Holocaust Museum and a cafe, expected to open spring 2018.

The $250,000 grant was provided through the WEDC Community Development Investment Grant Program, which supports community and redevelopments efforts statewide, with a focus on downtown areas. The grant was awarded based on the projects ability to demonstrate a positive economic impact, public and private partnership development, financial need, and use of sustainable development practices.

The project is expected to create more than 115 jobs through construction, property management, and the museum, and about 40 people will receive on-the-job training through Employ Milwaukee and the Northcott Neighborhood House.

In addition to the most recent grant, WEDC also helped the Garfield development project in November by authorizing up to nearly $1.3 million in Historic Preservation Tax Credits.