While Milwaukee County is in the midst of constructing a replacement just behind it, the former Schuster's / Coggs Human Services Center on 12th and Vliet Streets appears to have gotten a lifeline.
Milwaukee County announced Wednesday that it has made an agreement to sell the building, 1220 W. Vliet St., to Gorman & Company for $1 million. The Oregon, Wisconsin-based developer plans to convert the structure into about 65 affordable apartments with a small cafe and commercial space for Milwaukee County Behavioral Health Services.
Read a history of the building and see interior and historical photos in this Urban Spelunking story from 2022.
The announcement comes on the heels of the opening of a mixed-use development that includes affordable housing in a former Schuster's Department Store building on King Drive.
There had been talk of tearing down the 1910-11 Brust & Philipp-designed building for parking, but then in February 2023, Milwaukee County issued a Request for Information (RFI) seeking ideas for adaptive reuse or redevelopment of the building and for parking solutions to meet the needs of the County's new building being constructed on a surface parking lot just to the north.
Gorman & Company has done numerous conversions for a variety of developments in Milwaukee, including a handful in former school buildings. Its affordable apartment complex in the former Edison Middle School/Custer High building recently opened.
According to a statement from the County, the Gorman & Company plan, "will preserve the historic character of the building while providing quality, affordable housing for King Park neighborhood residents."
In addition to the upper-floor apartments, and the first floor cafe and Milwaukee County Behavioral Health Services offices, the building will get a rooftop solar array to reduce energy costs.
According to the County, Gorman & Company plans to purchase the building via a development agreement and secure financing.
The Milwaukee County Department of Health and Human Services plans to move out of the existing building and into the new Marcia P. Coggs Health & Human Services Building once construction on the latter is completed next year.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
