A Milwaukee-based real estate developer plans to bring an apartment development to the former site of St. Bernard Congregation and Wauwatosa Catholic School in the Wauwatosa village. Here’s what to know.
Three Leaf Partners named as developer to purchase St. Bernard parish
Three Leaf Partners LLC submitted its plans for a three-story multi-family development at 7474 Harwood Ave. to the City of Wauwatosa weeks after parishioners learned St. Bernard would close to merge with its sister parish Christ King.
Rev. Phillip Bogacki, pastor of both parishes, told parishioners in a letter that parish leaders had chosen a developer to whom they would sell the St. Bernard property, but didn’t name Three Leaf Partners. Proceeds of the sale will serve as an infusion of cash to carry the newly merged parish forward, he said.
Three Leaf Partners, co-founded by Milwaukee Bucks guard Pat Connaughton, has developed hotels, multi-family apartment buildings and other projects around the Milwaukee area, Minnesota and Indiana. The firm developed the Honey Creek Apartments in Wauwatosa and is working on multi-family apartments and townhomes in Hartland.
St. Bernard property to be replaced by 163-unit apartment building
Three Leaf Partners’ plans would bring a 163-unit apartment building to the coveted property in the Wauwatosa village, plans by Milwaukee-based Korb + Associates Architects show.
One-bedroom units from 650 to 850 square feet would make up most of the building, while more spacious one-bedroom units from 850 to 950 square feet and two-bedroom units that are 1,150 to 1,250 square feet will also be available.
Below the three levels of apartment units, a basement garage will provide 187 parking spots for residents. Twenty-three parking spots north of the building are planned for visitors.
A courtyard will bring residents an outdoor space within the apartment complex’s walls, complete with grills and a fire pit. The building will include a storage area for bikes, a fitness room and club room, among other amenities.
How much will Three Leaf Partners’ apartment development on Harwood Avenue cost?
The project costs $46 million and Three Leaf Partners does not plan to ask for tax incremental financing, or TIF, according to the BizTimes, which first reported on the development.
Representatives of Three Leaf Partners did not immediately respond to requests for an interview.
The firm has sought out TIF in other projects, including $13 million in city financing help for an apartment project in West Allis.
Parts of St. Bernard’s history may be preserved in the new developments, plans show
Plans show that developers and architects may repurpose the bricks, stained glass and other aspects of the existing building that housed St. Bernard parish, which became Wauwatosa’s first Catholic church in 1911.
Construction on the current parish complex began in 1962. The parish property underwent extensive renovations starting in 2000, which brought new parish and school office centers, a gymnasium and an elevator, according to the parish website.
Rev. Bogacki said in his letter to parishoners that approval from the city for the developers’ plans may take six to nine months and that the parish will remain in their building during that time.
“If plans are approved, we can determine when to set moments to celebrate the good work of our past and pledge ourselves to a renewed future,” he wrote.
Will the new apartment replacing the St. Bernard property in Tosa’s village go before the Common Council?
The development meets the current zoning code and therefore does not need to go to the Common Council for approval, according to Eva Ennamorato, Wauwatosa’s communications manager.
“That’s unique when it comes to developments,” Ennamorato told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
The development firm plans to present its plans at the Wauwatosa Design Review Board meeting Thursday, April 18 at 7 p.m. in the Common Council Chambers at Wauwatosa City Hall.
The in-person meeting will not be recorded, and residents can share their thoughts on the development during public comment, Ennamorato said. The development may need to go before the Board of Public Works or other boards to receive certain permits before construction can begin, according to Ennamorato.
Contact the reporter at bfogarty@gannett.com
St. Bernard Parish, a Catholic church on the edge of Wauwatosa’s downtown village area, will close and the property will be sold to a developer, its pastor said in a letter to parishioners on Sunday.
Church operations will merge with its sister parish, Christ King, said the Rev. Phillip Bogacki, pastor of both St. Bernard and Christ King. The merged parish will move entirely to the Christ King campus, and use its name, Bogacki said.
The closure of St. Bernard, at 1500 N. Wauwatosa Ave., follows the shuttering at the end of the last school year of the adjoining Wauwatosa Catholic School because of a financial deficit and low student enrollment.
Beyond that, the move reflects what is happening to scores of houses of worship nationwide facing existential threats such as declining membership, aging congregations and an unwinnable financial situation.
Bogacki called attention in his letter to changes in demographics and churchgoing habits in Wauwatosa, a city of about 48,000 people with five Catholic parishes and six more nearby. As is the story elsewhere in the country, Catholic institutions were at their peak in the 1950s and 60s, and a downturn began in the 1970s. People began to have fewer children, and the high concentration of Catholic churches and schools in the area no longer fits the needs of residents.
“Our area parishes — as a group — have been operating far below their intended capacity for several decades,” he said. “The moment to choose to change our trajectory is now.”
Other local Catholic churches have closed, merged
Parish leaders have chosen a developer to whom they will sell the St. Bernard property, and proceeds of the sale will serve as an infusion of cash to carry the newly merged parish forward, Bogacki said.
The St. Bernard campus will continue to be used while the new developer, who was not named in Bogacki’s letter, seeks approval for its plans from the city. That could take six to nine months, he said.
“I am confident about our future. I challenge us to become larger and more robust than our two parishes within the next few years,” Bogacki said. “God placed us in this moment to create something new and exciting.”
St. Bernard joins other local Catholic parishes that have merged with neighboring churches. Last year St. Florian Parish in West Milwaukee shut down and merged with Holy Assumption Parish in West Milwaukee. In 2021, the Catholic parish in Riverwest, Our Lady of Divine Providence, decommissioned its Our Lady of Czestochowa location after it sat unused for years.
When St. Bernard Parish held its first Mass in 1911, it became the first Catholic church in Wauwatosa. Construction on the current parish complex began in 1962.
Wauwatosa Catholic School, the elementary school on the grounds, was operated jointly by St. Bernard and St. Pius X parishes beginning in 2011.