Archive for November, 2020

Mandel Group moving forward with more apartments, commercial buildings next to West Allis Farmers Market

Posted on November 25th, 2020

Milwaukee-based Mandel Group Inc. is putting forward plans to develop a series of commercial retail buildings and a 110-unit apartment building on land southwest of West National Avenue and Six Points Crossing in West Allis, across the street from the West Allis Farmers Market.

The city’s Plan Commission will consider next week a series of approvals related to Mandel’s plans for the roughly 6.5-acre project site. The project has an estimated cost between $25 million and $35 million.

Mandel is proposing at the hard corner the first phase of Makers Row, in reference to the proposed commercial building. The first phase would consist of 17,000 square feet. Part of that will be occupied by an unidentified coffee vendor, which will operate a cafe and production space. The remaining retail/production space will also go to food vendors…

To read Alex Zank’s full article from the November 25th BizTimes, click here.

BizTimes Viewpoints: A call to focus on neighborhood development in Milwaukee

Posted on November 19th, 2020

Editor’s note: Mandel Group chairman and CEO Barry Mandel decided to write this piece after participating in a panel discussion on attracting development to Milwaukee’s lower income neighborhoods for the 18th annual BizTimes Milwaukee Commercial Real Estate and Development Conference, held virtually on Nov. 19.

[Written by Barry Mandel. Published by BizTimes on November 19, 2020. To see the article online, click here.]

BizTimes Milwaukee editor Andrew Weiland was kind enough to ask me to be on the Neighborhood Development panel with Kevin Newell, James Phelps and Ryan Pattee. I accepted knowing that Mandel Group has not actually participated in a neighborhood development in a “highly distressed” part of the city.

While Mandel Group has taken on difficult, technically complicated and catalytic developments, none have faced the headwinds of developing in a neighborhood riddled with crime, having safety and security concerns, unemployment, poverty, insufficient disposable income to support businesses, educational challenges for parents and children, and limited physical and mental health providers. Moreover, these conditions many times create an overhanging cloud of trauma that adversely affects these neighborhoods, eating away at the urban fabric, deteriorating the built environment and, most consequentially, dampening the spirit and connectivity of the neighborhood.

Yet, neighborhoods that have some or all of these characteristics are undervalued, as all these neighborhoods have many positive attributes to build upon, including their residents who have the will and determination to bring about positive change.

My heroes in the city and region are those who take these challenges head on, like my fellow panel members, the myriad of nonprofits, for-profits, foundations, developers, CDFIs, financial institutions, and social service organizations that painstakingly knit these neighborhoods back together. While in many cases working independently, and in the best of worlds working together, their common goal is to create a sense of place and, most importantly, replant a root system that nurtures the neighborhood, connects its residents and metabolizes an energy that mends and heals these neighborhoods in a transformative way.

While there are extraordinary challenges ahead, I am optimistic that “We,” working together, can restore our neighborhoods.

This, of course, cannot be done without addressing the elephants in the room: systemic racism, economic disparity, crime, and challenges regarding education, health, and family-sustaining jobs.

Who is “We”? It is all of us, as this is not just a Milwaukee problem, it is a national problem. It will require participation and cooperation from people with differing political leanings, as well as from federal, state, and local governments. “We” is the public sector, private sector, foundations, individual philanthropy, social service organizations, educational, and religious institutions.

At the same time, the “We” requires the same determination and extraordinary efforts of the individual neighborhoods and the residents within. Our neighborhoods are our biggest challenges and deserve the highest of priorities, while at the same time they are likely to be the source of our city’s greatest and most satisfying potential rewards.

At all levels of government, it will take bipartisanship and “political will” to augment our economic development tools and sources of funds. In my experience, timing plays a significant role in the success of any initiative. I may be completely wrong, but, in the midst of a worldwide pandemic and national political divisiveness in this country, I sense that there could be a silver lining that emerges. The chaos and uncertainty that has been created has “stirred the pot” and heightened the realization for many that we must cooperate with one another to successfully address core issues that impact the health and welfare of our city, state and nation.

For Milwaukee and Wisconsin, it is imperative that we focus on neighborhood development, as it is key to repositioning Milwaukee for the future. We are at a tipping point with both challenges and opportunities. It is time to seize those opportunities and one by one diminish the challenges. We need the political will and leadership of us all. Let’s do it!!

Barry Mandel is the chairman and chief executive officer of Milwaukee-based Mandel Group, Inc. He can be reached at bmandel@mandelgroup.com.

‘Live, work and play’: Housing, hotel, offices, food and more proposed for University Research Park

Posted on November 9th, 2020

Dean Mosiman | Wisconsin State Journal, Nov 9, 2020

The bucolic, sprawling University Research Park on the West Side, home to some of the area’s most illustrious biotech companies, is poised to begin a new era.

The research park is teaming with the Mandel Group of Milwaukee on an ambitious, multi-phase project with 400,000 square feet of new construction, including housing, a hotel, lab/office space, food hall, climbing gym and parking. It marks a major evolution for the 250-acre park, now characterized by modern labs and office buildings surrounded by green spaces and parking lots.

The project, called “Element Collective,” came in response to a research park request for developer proposals and would introduce a more urban environment where office tenants could live, host visitors, eat and recreate, and also provide a new set of amenities for the surrounding area.

“It’s a place to have lunch with a colleague, coffee with an investor, or a drink with a prospective business partner,” park managing director Aaron Olver said. “It will give our employees an option to live, work and play within the URP community without reliance on an automobile. And it will open University Research Park to the community beyond the research park.”

To read the full article in Wisconsin State Journal, click here.

Archive for November, 2020

Mandel Group moving forward with more apartments, commercial buildings next to West Allis Farmers Market

BizTimes Viewpoints: A call to focus on neighborhood development in Milwaukee

‘Live, work and play’: Housing, hotel, offices, food and more proposed for University Research Park

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Archive for November, 2020

Mandel Group moving forward with more apartments, commercial buildings next to West Allis Farmers Market

BizTimes Viewpoints: A call to focus on neighborhood development in Milwaukee

‘Live, work and play’: Housing, hotel, offices, food and more proposed for University Research Park