Long-delayed downtown Couture apartment high-rise might finally be completing its financing package

Tom Daykin | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Show Caption Hide Caption Land and Space: Couture faces delays, doubts after big step forward The Couture is $20 million short on raising cash from investors to complete the financing package. But the mayor and county executive still back it.

The long-delayed Couture apartment high-rise might finally be completing its financing package.

In a tweet sent Tuesday night, WISN-AM radio talk show host Mark Belling said Couture developer Rick Barrett "gets $31 million today in deal underwritten by Baird."

Barrett, who operates Barrett Lo Visionary Development LLC, on Wednesday said there's currently nothing to report.

“We are hard at work to complete the last piece of financing to make this iconic, transformative building a reality," Barrett said in a statement. "We continue to make good progress, but have nothing new to share at this time."

There also was no confirmation from either the Department of City Development or the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development — both of which have been involved in the Couture financing.

"DCD remains optimistic that the financing will come together," said Jeff Fleming, department spokesman.

Also, Barrett Lo hasn't yet reapplied for a HUD loan guarantee, said Gina Rodriguez, an agency spokeswoman.

"There's been dialogue, but there's no firm commitment of anything," she said.

The Couture's prospects took a big step forward in October 2018.

HUD asked Barrett Lo to submit a loan guarantee application.

That meant the Couture had largely cleared HUD's underwriting — with the guaranteed loan to cover 60% of the apartment high-rise's costs.

Since then, however, Barrett Lo has missed the agency's application deadlines because it's fallen $20 million short on raising cash from equity investors to complete the financing package.

The firm in August hired Baird & Co. to find investors.

TIMELINE: Couture apartment tower was first proposed in 2012 -- and has since seen a lot of twists and turns

Barrett Lo bought the project site from Milwaukee County at a discounted price, with the city committing $17.5 million to pay for the Couture's public improvements.

Local taxpayers have two other big stakes in the Couture, which could cost upwards of $122 million to develop.

The 44-story, 322-unit apartment tower, to be built between Michigan and Clybourn streets just west of Lincoln Memorial Drive, would include a city-financed transit concourse.

That concourse is needed to complete The Hop streetcar's lakefront loop by connecting parallel tracks on Michigan and Clybourn streets.

The lakefront loop was financed in part with a $14.2 million federal grant. The city could be forced to repay that money to the Federal Transit Administration if the loop isn't completed.

Also, county taxpayers could be forced to pay $6.7 million to the FTA if the Couture and its transit concourse aren't built. That's because the agency provided a 1988 grant to finance the county bus facility that Barrett Lo demolished in 2017 to make way for the Couture.

The city recently filed a request with the FTA to extend the deadline for operating the lakefront loop from Dec. 31, 2020, to June 30, 2022. County officials could seek a similar extension.

Tom Daykin can be emailed at tdaykin@jrn.com and followed on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.