Flower shop to be replaced with wood frame 4-flat at Milwaukee-Foster; permits issued
by BRIAN NADIG
The former K House of Flowers shop at Milwaukee and Foster avenues could be demolished as early as this month to make way for a wood frame 4-flat.
The demolition permit was issued about two months ago, and on Dec. 7 the city Department of Buildings issued a permit for the construction of a three-story building with three apartments.
The developer, Ambrosia Homes, plans to seek an additional permit at a later date to install a fourth apartment in the basement, according to 45th Ward Alderman James Gardiner’s office.
Ambrosia indicated that a construction fence could be put up around the approximately 3,000–square-foot parcel this week, the alderman’s office said.
Plans call for seven on-site parking spaces, which will be accessible from an alley off Foster Avenue/Gettysburg Street. (The construction permit lists the site’s address as 5528 W. Gettysburg St. Foster becomes Gettysburg just to the east of Milwaukee, as Foster eventually jogs to the south.)
The property was rezoned in 2018 to accommodate the project. A commercial corridor study for the Gladstone Park area recommends that ground-floor construction on Milwaukee be reserved for commercial use, but then-alderman John Arena argued there was not sufficient street parking in the area for a business there.
The longtime owner of the flower shop passed away about 5 years ago.
A permit to demolish the flower shop had been sought in 2016. In addition, over the years developers attempted to combine the flower shop site with a church property to the east, but none of those plans materialized.
