The second phase of Racine County’s first multi-family development in the past 20 years is now complete.

Tivoli Green Apartments, located three miles east of I94 in Mount Pleasant, WI broke ground on its Phase two of construction in September of 2023. Following the successful completion of Wangard Partners’ first phase of the project, Greenfire began the construction of the additional nine apartments buildings, adding 180 units to the now 458-unit development. Greenfire also constructed a property maintenance building on phase two’s site.

Working with Wangard Partners, civil engineers raSmith and JLA Architects, Greenfire’s involvement early on helped guide Tivoli Green to be developed in multiple phases. Through this phased construction, the client was able to place tenants sooner during the project’s first phase. Just as important, Greenfire’s strategic project and logistics planning reduced disruptions to the project’s current residents while phase two was under construction.

Now with phase two complete, Tivoli Green now has townhome style apartments, in addition to the walk-up flats style apartments featured in the project’s first phase. The class-A units feature quartz countertops, stainless steel appliances, in-unit laundry and other high-end finishes. The new townhome floorplans also feature attached 2-car garage stalls.

The completion of Tivoli Green’s second phase of construction marks another successful project with Wangard Partners and provides more in-demand housing for Racine County.

Progress is coming along safely and efficiently at the River House Phase II project along the banks of the Milwaukee River on Milwaukee’s Lower East Side.

Prior to the Thanksgiving weekend holiday, Greenfire’s project team conducted a routine safety briefing with the entire project crew at the River House site. As a thank-you for all the hard work the trades people had put forth and maintaining an incident-free worksite thus far, Greenfire treated everyone to a special luncheon from Smoked @ Two-Twenty Five.

Following River House’s successful first phase of construction, completed in 2017, Greenfire is now managing the construction of the second phase of construction. Similar to the project’s first phase, the second phase of construction is the erection of two new four-story towers, totaling 333,400 SF. The podium-style construction will provide the high-end apartment dwellers with two levels of underground parking. Building three has been successfully topped off, allowing insulation, drywall and other phases of interior construction to commence. Meanwhile, the fourth and final tower is quickly following suit, with crews preparing for the building envelope to be fully enclosed and interior work to begin. Once completed, the entire River House complex will be nearly 716,500 SF consisting of four towers of one-, two- and three-bedroom floorplans. Upscale living is offered to residents, with features like private balconies, fitness centers, outdoor courtyard pools, rooftop lounges and a bocce ball court.

Greenfire’s project team has successfully navigated complex site logistics in a high-traffic and compact urban area along Water Street. Keeping the site safe with unique and complicated excavation then infill is a testament to our team and is an achievement worth celebrating. But it is also worth noting that being safe never takes a break, and Greenfire will continue to work to keep our project teams safe and efficient throughout the life of any project.

Greenfire was excited to attend this year’s WHEDA Conference 2024 at the Monona Terrace in Madison. WHEDA (Wisconsin Housing & Economic Development Authority) is an organizational body with a mission is to expand affordable housing in Wisconsin.

Michael Moe, business development manager with Greenfire took the opportunity to connect with developers, property managers, financial specialists, lenders, housing advocates and local officials. The WHEDA conference provided conversations about industry changes and new knowledge through a wide array of highly engaging sessions, all with the goal of collaborating to find creative ways to expand safe, affordable housing throughout Wisconsin. Greenfire is always looking to connect with key project stakeholders early on to help bring affordable housing projects to fruition.

One facet to Greenfire’s value-add to any development and construction project is our front-end project diligence during the preconstruction pricing process to help facilitate and secure WHEDA funding. Currently, Greenfire has three active projects that have utilized WHEDA funding. The first is The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Residences at Woodale Crossing by Jewish Family Services. Woodale Crossing is a new affordable residential facility in Brown Deer, WI that will offer 56 apartment units adjacent to other JFS facilities. The three-story complex will feature social services offices, a conference room, flex exam spaces, along with a community room and an outdoor patio. The building is being designed to LEED® Silver Certification in accordance with WHEDA, and to uphold JFS’ dedication to environmentally responsible buildings.

Our second active WHEDA project is The Ho-Chunk Nation’s latest housing project. Known as Village West, Greenfire is managing the construction of a 40-unit affordable housing project in Baraboo, WI for The Ho-Chunk. Developed by Collin Price and Heena Development, Village West will be a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom units with underground and surface parking. The apartment complex will feature a large sustainability component to enterprise green community standards including storm water management, high efficiency appliance packages, and electric vehicle charging stations. Greenfire was a critical project partner by providing early onset legwork of pricing and planning to help the project secure the necessary funding to break ground.

Greenfire’s third active WHEDA project is in its early stages of construction – Cardinal Capital’s Cornerstone Village-Highland apartments on Milwaukee’s Near West Side. The final result will be a four-story, 71-unit apartment building consisting of affordable assisting living for seniors and individuals living with disabilities.

These projects, as well as projects that Greenfire have completed in the past are the direct result of our proven preconstruction and construction process engaged in the early stages of a development. Our expertise and transparency on the front-end will help check the key boxes in the pursuit of securing WHEDA funding for your next project.

F Street is bringing another innovative housing development to Brown Deer with their groundbreaking for F Street Village 43.

Following their successes at the nearby Greenlink Residences, F Street enlisted Greenfire to manage the construction of Village 43 – a new market rate multi-family community consisting of eight residential buildings and a centrally located clubhouse with access drives and parking. The development will bring 156 units of garden-style town home apartments and shared greenspaces along Brown Deer Road, just west of Green Bay Ave. Alongside F Street and Greenfire, the project kicked off with a ceremonial groundbreaking with project stakeholders, as well as the project team and local officials.

Village 43 will be a family-oriented, walkable residential development with social-connectivity in mind. F Street enlisted RINKA+ to design the development, with Pinnacle Engineering Group shoring up the civil engineering. Stemming from previous project successes, Greenfire was able to leverage a great working relationship with RINKA+ to smooth the transition from concept to breaking ground.

F Street’s Founder Scott Lurie welcomed all in attendance for their support and sharing the vision to make Village 43 possible. The sentiment of excitement for the project was shared by Paul F. Hoesly, Chief Financial Officer of Potawatomi Ventures – the parent company for Greenfire. The Village of Brown Deer Board of Trustees member Amos Owens also spoke to the benefits Village 43 will bring to Brown Deer, which was backed by Tax Increment Financing (TIF).

While the groundbreaking for F Street Village 43 was a ceremonial event for all stakeholders to get together and celebrate the milestone and efforts it took to reach this point, Greenfire’s project team was already hard at work preparing the site and pouring foundations.

Once completed, new residents of Village 43 can enjoy the feel of single-family living spaces with the amenities of a connected community in the heart of Brown Deer’s bustling and rejuvenated downtown.

Greenfire’s latest housing development project was a key highlight of Jewish Family Services’ (JFS) Annual Meeting. As one of Wisconsin’s oldest non-profit organizations, JFS holds an annual meeting for their donors, stakeholders, leadership, staff, family and friends – as a chance to review the milestones from the past year, look to the future and break bread together. As part of the afternoon’s events, JFS hosted tours of their facilities along Bradley Road in Brown Deer. This provides donors and dignitaries an opportunity to meet JFS leadership and staff and learn about the programs and services that JFS can provide for vulnerable members of the community. JFS aims to foster healthy independent living while being able to provide supportive staff and care when needed to residents. A highlight of their tour was the progress of their newest supportive housing project, The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Residences at Woodale Crossing.

Tour goers were able to view the site firsthand, and see the progress made since the project’s groundbreaking in May 2024. The project’s site is located just south of the convergence of West Bradley Road and North Teutonia Avenue in Brown Deer, WI – just a short walk from JFS’ existing housing communities.

Greenfire has made substantial progress on the building, as vertical construction has already commenced on the three-story structure. Greenfire’s early involvement in the planning process has yielded smooth project staging from demolition and clearing of the site, earthwork and precast foundation of the 56-unit apartment development, designed by JLA Architects. Greenfire’s extensive logistical planning has mitigated disruptions to the neighborhood and the adjacent existing JFS property, the Deerwood Crossing Senior Residences.

JFS, Greenfire and JLA were happy to host the tour goers to the site, which included Lt. Governor Sara Rodriguez – who was happy to view the project’s progress since the groundbreaking earlier in the year. The evening concluded with a dinner and speakers from JFS leadership, as well as stirring words of hope and optimism from Shakita LaGrant-McClain, the Milwaukee County Director of Health and Human Services and Elmer Moore, Chief Executive Officer of WHEDA. They reiterated the importance of the services that JFS provides to the community, and the positive impact that housing developments like Woodale Crossing can bring.