A vacant school in Milwaukee's Sherman Park neighborhood is to be converted into a big child care center designed to ease waiting list
A long-vacant school in Milwaukee's Sherman Park neighborhood is to be converted into a child care center for 100 kids under a new plan.
The two-story, 11,547-square-foot building, 3201 N. 40th St., would be sold by the city for $10,000 to Northwest Impact LLC, an affiliate of the nonprofit Northwest Side Community Development Corp.
That's according to a proposal endorsed Wednesday by the Common Council's Zoning, Neighborhoods and Development Committee.
The buyer plans to renovate the property for a new child care and early learning center to be operated by Tashawna Green. She now operates a Milwaukee home-based child care center.
Green told committee members the larger facility would be filled in part by children who are now on a waiting list for her child care center. It would serve up to 100 children.
Also, the new center hopes to obtain a partnership with Next Door Foundation, which could provide education programming and other services.
Northwest Side CDC will provide a $1,765,000 loan to Northwest Impact for the project, according to a Department of City Development report.
That loan is funded with a $700,000 federal grant from the Office of Community Services and the remaining balance funded by the federal Community Development Financial Institutions Rapid Response Fund and PNC Bank Loan Fund, according to the report.
The Northwest Side CDC loan could end up being less than $1.76 million depending on the group's ability to obtain additional funds for the project, said Jimmy Starke, executive assistant to the group's executive director.
The building, which is near the Sherman Phoenix business hub, 3536 W. Fond du Lac Ave., was constructed in 1926 and for several years housed Walther Memorial Lutheran School, according to the Wisconsin Historical Society.
The city acquired it through property tax foreclosure in 2016. Its most recent use was as a child development center that closed in 2010.
The building "has considerable deferred maintenance, including a leaking roof, that has affected the interior of the building and defective electrical and plumbing due to vandalism," according to the DCD report.
Green's new child care center will create 24 full-time positions, with average starting wages at $15 per hour, the report said.
That center will meet an important need within the community, said Ald. Khalif Rainey, whose district includes the site.
Tom Daykin can be emailed at tdaykin@jrn.com and followed on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Former Sherman Park school to be converted into big child care center
