Developer plans to turn former BMO Harris Bank in Sherman Park into hub for 12 businesses

MILWAUKEE -- Developers and government leaders hope to transform the former BMO Harris Bank building after the unrest in Sherman Park in August of 2016.

Sherman Phoenix Developers wants to renovate the former bank branch near W. Fond du Lac Avenue and 36th Street after it was targeted by arsonists in the wake of the fatal officer-involved shooting of Sylville Smith by former MPD Officer Dominique Heaggan-Brown.

The plan is to create an entrepreneurial hub for up to 12 small businesses.

The overall budget is at $2.3 million, and the group could receive a grant from a new tax incremental district totaling $225,000. The proposed tax incremental district will require approval from the Joint Review Board, The Redevelopment Authority of the City of Milwaukee, and the Milwaukee Common Council.

Another $100,000 could be made available through grants and loans.

"We continue to rise and we continue to rebuild Sherman Park to be the neighborhood we all know it to be -- a neighborhood full of strong, hardworking men and women. A neighborhood of people who are eager to get involved at restoring this neighborhood to its prominence," Milwaukee Alderman Khalif Rainey said.

The BMO Harris Bank has reopened at a temporary adjacent location and construction on a new branch in the same neighborhood is underway.

BMO Harris Bank in Sherman Park