Mount Tosa: A New Neighborhood Takes Shape

An 80-unit senior apartment complex, the first piece of a larger multi-family housing development proposed nearly a decade ago, will move into construction in May on a 17.3-acre site at North 113th Street and West Walnut Road.

Horizon Design Build Manage of Madison will break ground in about three weeks on an $11 million senior housing project, called Cedar Glen, with completion expected in spring 2012, said Scott Kwiecinski, development manager with Horizon. The project is funded in part through an allocation in tax credits from the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA), which resulted in an $8.6 million tax credit equity investment from Wells Fargo.

The Cedar Glen project will be on a 2.6-acre parcel in the northwest section of the development site, called the Mount Tosa Neighborhood. Developer Helmut Toldt of Toldt Development Inc. first proposed the project nearly a decade ago, when the city in 2002 decided to sell the former landfill site land and called for development proposals for the site.

Toldt purchased the land from the city in December, paying $627,270 at closing, with up to another $431,365 to be paid to the city based on the developer's soil stabilization costs to build on the site. The site is subdivided into seven parcels, and Horizon bought its 2.6-acre parcel from Toldt in January, for $762,900.

Toldt tagged the development a nearly $55.7 million project in 2006, and in fall 2010 the city approved a $350,000 low-interest loan to Toldt to help pay for public infrastructure improvements on the development site. The property, with roughed in roads dotted by bright red fire hydrants, includes a newly completed public water main, said Bill Wehrley, city engineer. He said the development will be served by private sanitary sewer and storm water systems, as well as private roads.

Cedar Glen, a three-story C-shaped complex, will offer a mix of high-quality, affordable one- and two-bedroom apartments for qualified seniors, Kwiecinski said. The one-bedroom apartments will range from 680 to 780 square feet, and will rent from $320 to $680, depending on tenants' income level. The 950- to 1,080-square-foot two bedroom apartments will rent from $525 to $810, he said, based on tenant income levels.

The complex includes heated underground parking, and will feature a community kitchen, club room, fireplace, exercise room, salon and business center, among other amenities. Its address: 1661 River's Bend, the name of a half-circle street that will loop through the neighbhorhood and connect it to West Walnut on the North and North 113th Street to the south.

The Mount Tosa Neighborhood project calls for six additional parcels to be developed with two- to four-story apartment, townhouse or condominium housing complexes, each with from 50 to 100 units. A total of 427 units are planned for the site.

Toldt's proposal calls for all building designs to feature Craftsman style architecture. The development proposal shows pond features, tree-lined streets, landscaping and pedestrian pathways throughout the property.

Construction on the six additional parcels will be "an incremental process," according to city planner Tammy Szudy, with build-out to occur over time, based on market demand.

The development will be accessed via West Walnut Road, just off of North 116th Street, on the north end of the property, and from North 113th Street, just off of Watertown Plank Road, to the south.

The Mount Tosa site is neighbor to the city police and public works departments on West Walnut. Security fencing that close off after-hours access to the city's public works department and recycling, yard waste and bulky garbage collection site on West Walnut will be relocated by the developer to allow access to the new neighborhood while retaining locked gate security for the city public works site, Wehrley said.

The developer will be responsible for traffic lights to be installed at North 113th Street and Watertown Plank Road, Wehrley said, which will occur once construction of additional phases of the development are completed and increased traffic to the development warrants signals at the intersection.

Wauwatosa's newest neighborhood even gets off the ground with a bit of history and a dose of whimsy to its credit. Mount Tosa has long been the pet name of the Public Works Department staff for the massive capped landfill across the street from the development, a testament to the end of the era of landfilling in Wauwatosa. It's a familiar landmark to any resident who has visited the city Recycling Center.