Article Written by Sean Ryan from the Milwaukee Business Journal

An about $67 million apartment development on West National Avenue advanced Tuesday with a final needed sign-off from West Allis elected officials for up to $13.1 million in city financing.

The project will demolish an office building to make room for 247 apartments at 8530 W. National Ave. It is led by Milwaukee-based Three Leaf Partners, a development firm co-founded by Milwaukee Bucks player Pat Connaughton.

“This large-scale, amenity filled project will have a significant economic impact in the community while providing needed additional housing options to meet continued demand,” Three Leaf president John Ford wrote in an emailed response to questions Wednesday. “We look forward to finalizing agreements and preparations to get this project under construction soon.”

The six-story building with market rate apartments includes a pool.

The project extends a string of new apartment developments along National Avenue in West Allis. The city has also helped support new apartments by Mandel Group Inc. near 66th Street and National Avenue, and for Ogden & Co. Inc.’s Element 84 apartments at 84th Street and West Greenfield Avenue.

Those projects fit into the city’s strategic plan to attract more population to frequent businesses along National Avenue, said West Allis economic development director Patrick Schloss.

“If you get more households in the area, it will help support neighboring small businesses,” he said.

The West Allis Common Council on Tuesday voted 8-2 to approve a development agreement with Three Leaf. That agreement pledges up to $13.1 million in city tax incremental financing support for the project. That total represents the 2023 dollar value of financing that the project would receive over the next 27 years in the form of returns on its property taxes.

The agreement anticipates about $48.2 million in new property value will be generated by the project. Three Leaf must generate at least $40 million in property value to collect the full incentive.

The agreement also pledges payments to the city of West Allis if the project’s internal rate of return to investors exceeds certain percentages if the apartment building is sold.