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Joseph Property Development will begin construction on a new apartment building at 2214 N. Prospect Ave. in the coming weeks. The 80-unit building, originally announced in September 2015, is being designed by Rinka Chung Architecture. The six-story building will be known as The Contour, reflecting its design which bows out towards N. Prospect Ave. at the northwest and southwest corners.

The site is currently occupied by a surface parking lot and 2,520 square-foot Qdoba Mexican Grill restaurant, the latter of which permanently closed yesterday to make way for the project. Burrito lovers need not fear a shortage, a construction fence is already up on the lot at 1348 E. Brady St. where Wisconsin-franchisee Roaring Fork Restaurant Group will build a two-story building to house a new Qdoba.

Project plans, approved last fall by the East Side Architectural Review Board, include 73 parking stalls on a lower-level accessed from N. Prospect Ave. and 63 stalls on the first floor of the building accessed off E. Ivanhoe Pl. More than enough parking for the building’s residents and commercial tenants, leaving stalls available for users of the firms other area buildings. The northwest corner of the site at N. Prospect Ave. and E. Ivanhoe Pl. would include almost 10,000 square-feet of retail space. As with their other projects, Joseph will serve as the own general contractor on the $14 million project. The firm plans to open the building in 2017.

Apartments will be a of mix market-rate of one- and two-bedroom units. The building will have an L shape, with the bulk of the massing along N. Prospect Ave. to match Joseph’s the Overlook on Prospect apartments directly across the street.

Robert Joseph is no stranger to the heart of the East Side. In the past three years his firm has opened the Edge on North apartments (39 units, James Piwoni Architects) and the Overlook on Prospect apartments (52 units, Miller Architectural Group). The latter was built in the former Prospect Mall, a project Joseph’s grandfather George Bockl originally developed. Joseph noted that those two buildings are effectively fully leased in an interview this morning.

Architectural review board member and Colectivo Coffee co-owner Lincoln Fowler is excited about the project. At last fall’s ARB hearing, Fowler stated “something should be there. [The site is] one of the missing teeth, if you will, on Prospect.” Fowler would know, he operates a coffee shop across the street at 2211 N. Prospect Ave. and owns the building occupied by the newly-opened Village Ace Hardware at 2170 N. Prospect Ave.

Will the development help calm traffic on a stretch of N. Prospect Ave. that drivers often mistake for a straightaway at the Milwaukee Mile? Architect Matt Rinka believes so, during the building’s review board hearing he noted “the fact that there is open parking makes people feel they can speed on Prospect. The hard edge of the building will slow people down. We discuss this in Urban Design Strategies class.”

The building also offers a twist on modern apartment design, with terracotta being planned to form the black bands seen in the building design. The material, which Rinka billed as “expensive, historic and modern,” is found on many historic buildings in the area, but likely none built in the past 90 years. For more on the terracotta and a discussion of two-way traffic for Prospect and Farwell avenues with area alderman Nik Kovac, see Michael Horne‘s September 19th, 2015 article “Prospect Avenue Apartments Win Board OK.”

Renderings and Site Photos