Couple invests in Milwaukee's Washington Park neighborhood after noticing 'cool old houses'

Tom Straub was working near Milwaukee's Washington Park when he began noticing it: The central city neighborhood has some "cool old houses."

"They were just great houses that needed some love," said Straub, a carpenter.

So, Straub and his wife, Suzanne, began buying and remodeling neighborhood houses as investment rental properties.

They're now renovating a building with apartments, including one unit for their second residence, and street-level commercial space that will house Straub's construction firm, now based in Dodge County, food vendor Pete's Pops and other businesses.

RELATED: Pete's Pops will open a storefront on the west side

"I see a lot of potential here," Straub said about the Washington Park neighborhood, parts of which have seen a reduction in crime and increased development activity in recent years.

Straub's investments are part of the neighborhood's revival, said Ted Matkom, Wisconsin market president for development firm Gorman & Co.

"He's one of the guys saving the city," said Matkom.

His company contracts with Straub's business, CMS Contracting LLC, to provide carpentry services for Gorman's Washington Park neighborhood apartment developments.

"He really believes in the north side," Matkom said.

Straub got started in the construction business while still attending Milwaukee's Riverside High School, where he graduated in 1995.

A Riverside teacher, Terry Gavin, did construction work on the side. He hired Straub to help with remodeling projects on Milwaukee's east side.

Straub continued working for Gavin after graduating from Riverside. He and Suzanne later moved to Mayville, in Dodge County, and in 2006 launched CMS Contracting after Gavin retired.

Straub started his business just before the housing bubble burst in 2007, leading to a deep recession. High-end custom home projects disappeared.

So, Straub shifted to low-income housing, landing a contract to renovate some Section 8 apartments in West Bend.

"From there, I just kind of kept going," he said.

In 2013, Straub's business was hired by Gorman as a carpentry subcontractor for the company's first wave of housing renovation projects on Milwaukee's north side.

Gorman, based in the Madison area, obtained federal affordable housing tax credits to help finance its purchase and renovation of foreclosed houses.

Developers sell those credits to raise cash for their projects. In turn, they're required to provide apartments at below-market rents to people earning no more than 60% of the local median income.

Gorman bought single-family houses and duplexes from the city, remodeled them and then rented them to families — who can eventually buy the houses at discounted prices.

The firm now owns 330 renovated rental units on the north side, which includes the area near Washington Park.

Gorman's other developments include the 42-unit Washington Park Townhomes, which is under construction between W. Cherry and W. Galena streets, east of N. 32nd St. Straub's firm is the carpentry subcontractor on that project.

Straub's firm has done good work for Gorman, Matkom said, while also training construction workers who are former prison inmates.

That training is done in connection with a program operated by Northcott Neighborhood House Inc., a nonprofit organization.

"He's just making it work," Matkom said.

The Straubs bought their first central city property around four years ago. They now own two single-family homes and two duplexes, east and north of Washington Park.

They bought their first commercial property, at 3801-3813 W. Vliet St., in January 2017 for $75,000, according to city assessment records. That 12,400-square-foot corner building is about two blocks east of Washington Park.

The two-story building is actually four connected buildings, built in 1913, the 1920s, 1943 and 1989.

The older buildings' features include both Cream City and Chicago Pink brick, a terrazzo floor, an embossed ceiling and exposed timber supports.

The Straubs, with help from Suzanne's brother-in-law, have been slowly remodeling the property over the past year.

They work mainly on weekends, when they're not doing their main jobs. Suzanne works in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's circulation department at its West Milwaukee production facility.

They've removed garbage bins full of old fixtures and other junk. They've added new windows, new interior framing and even new support beams.

The building still needs its interior finish completed, along with the installation of new heating, electrical and plumbing systems.

The property's five street-level storefronts are being converted into four retail spaces, totaling roughly 2,000 square feet.

The building also will have a pair of two-bedroom apartments, a pair of studio units and a one-bedroom apartment.

The building made the news Monday when Pete's Pops announced it had agreed to lease around 700 square feet for a kitchen and store, which opens this summer. It marks the first store for Pete's Pops, which has been selling frozen pops from carts around Milwaukee since 2014.

Owner Pete Cooney met Straub last July at Vliet Street Gallery Night and Day. They found they had similar ideas about the neighborhood's potential.

Said Cooney: "We kind of just saw eye-to-eye on things."

"He seems like a go-getter," Straub said. "I just thought he'd be a really good fit for the area."

One of the other commercial spaces will house an office for CMS Contracting.

Also, the Straubs will use one of the studio apartments as a second residence, while still keeping their home in Mayville. They're empty nesters and like the idea of having an apartment in Milwaukee.

"We can stay down here and go to a Bucks game or a Brewers game," Straub said.

Tom Straub grew up in the Riverwest neighborhood, and Suzanne grew up near E. Brady St.

"So, I see the value in a diverse neighborhood," he said.

Meanwhile, they're seeking tenants for the remaining commercial spaces. The couple would love to land a deli.

"This area seems to be kind of a food desert," Straub said.

And they're not done investing in the neighborhood.

"There's a couple of other buildings along Vliet that I'm looking at," Straub said.

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