Milwaukee east side historic designation on proposed apartment site creates a potential barrier to development at Summit and North.
The possible expansion of a Milwaukee east side historic district has been withdrawn — but a proposed neighborhood apartment development could still be blocked for historic considerations.
The North Point South Historic District's proposed expansion, which the Journal Sentinel first reported on Monday, would need approval from the Common Council and Mayor Cavalier Johnson.
That historic district is roughly between East North Avenue, East Lafayette Place, North Terrace Avenue and North Summit Avenue.
The proposal would expand the district to include the west side of Summit Avenue south to East Woodstock Place, covering 18 older houses, duplexes and apartment buildings.
But that proposed expansion has been withdrawn, City Clerk James Owczarski said Tuesday.
Instead, the Historic Preservation Commission will consider permanent historic designation for just two homes, at 2279 and 2275 N. Summit Ave., owned by Waunakee-based E North LLC.
E North, led by developer Brian Wagner, in 2021 applied for city demolition permits for the homes as well as a pair of neighboring two-story, four-unit apartment buildings on North Avenue.
The apartment buildings were razed.
But demolition plans for the homes were stalled when the preservation commission granted temporary historic designation for them a year ago.
A proposal to grant permanent historic designation was put on hold pending the proposed expansion of the North Point South Historic District to include other neighborhood properties as well as E North's two homes.
Historic district property owners need preservation commission approval for any exterior work. Commission rulings can be appealed to the Common Council.
Wagner couldn't be reached for information about his apartment proposal.
Those plans call a seven-story, 90-unit building and a 103-stall parking garage.
Nearby residents have raised concerns about its impact on traffic, especially on Summit Avenue.
The historic district expansion was proposed by preservationist Dawn McCarthy, a vice president of Historic Water Tower Neighborhood Inc., a nonprofit neighborhood association.
The expansion should be done because buildings on Summit Avenue's west side have similar architectural character to those on the avenue's east side, according to the proposal.
The expansion would "show a more complete history of the neighborhood, demonstrating that the neighborhood, sitting on the bluff above Lake Michigan, included entrepreneurs and business owners, in addition to the extremely wealthy families of Milwaukee."
Tom Daykin can be emailed at tdaykin@jrn.com and followed on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee east side historic designation could block development
