Project Background:

Occupying eight acres and a quarter of a mile along the Milwaukee River in downtown Milwaukee, the former Pfister & Vogel leather 

tannery operated from the mid-1800s until operations ceased in 2000 and the property was left vacant. The property was home to 

more than 50 buildings with 400,000 square feet of space. The leather processing operations conducted at the site included treating 

raw cow hides with sodium sulfhydrate, lime, and chrome. In addition to the leather operations, past uses of the property included a 

sand company, taxi cab company, wood and coal yard, and iron works. In 2001, the property was acquired by USL Land LLC through 

bankruptcy court. Several environmental site assessments were conducted from 1992 to 2006, which revealed approximately eight 

underground storage tanks ranging from 250 to 50,000 gallons in size, petroleum-related volatile organic compound (VOC) and 

polyaromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) impacted soil, groundwater contaminated with VOCs, and methane caused by the presence of both 

waste fill material and naturally occurring organic sediments. 

key accomPlishments:

•	 Eliminated the largest industrial brownfield in downtown Milwaukee.

•	 Salvaged, recycled and reused more than 40,000 tons of concrete from the

demolished buildings for base fill of new structures.

•	 Selected by the U.S. Green Building Council to participate in its Leadership in

Energy and Environmental Design for Neighborhood Development 

(LEED-ND)® Program.

outcome: 

Completed in spring 2008, cleanup activities on the property included: asbestos 

abatement of boilers, piping and mechanical systems; demolition of buildings; removal 

of concrete foundations and subsurface structures; installation of groundwater monitoring wells; and removal and transport of 

contaminated soils and underground storage tanks to an approved landfill. Cleanup was funded in part through a $1.1 million EPA 

Revolving Loan Fund loan and a portion of the $8.5 million in tax increment financing (TIF) provided by the City of Milwaukee. The 

first phase of the $175 million North End development, which will include 83 apartments and 15,000 square feet of retail space, is 

expected to be completed by spring 2009. Later phases of the development will include 395 apartments and condominiums and 

another 30,000 to 40,000 square feet of retail space. As part of the project, the Mandel Group, a private development company, set

a voluntary goal of having 10 percent of the work done by emerging minority-owned business enterprises. From the initial demolition 

and environmental remediation through the first phase of construction, Mandel has achieved nearly 33% minority participation. 

Working with Alderman Joe Davis, the African American Chamber of Commerce and the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of 

Wisconsin, the Mandel Group also is using $500,000 of the TIF funds to mentor several small minority-owned contractors to help

them grow their businesses. Selected by the U.S. Green Building Council for participation in the LEED-ND® program, the North End 

will be one of the first pilot projects in the nation to integrate the principles of this council, which include smart growth, new urbanism 

and green building. The entire development is expected to take five to seven years to build out.

View from a new North End apartment home of a water tower 

salvaged from the former tannery and recycled to become the 

centerpiece of the redevelopment.

address: 1531 & 1635 N. Water St. and 404 E. Lyon St., Milwaukee, WI 53202

ProPerty size: 8 acres

Former uses: Leather tannery, sand company, taxi cab company, wood and coal yard, and 

iron works

current uses: Residential apartments, retail space, river walk and public open spaces 

Transforming Milwaukee’s Largest Brownfield into a Sustainable Benefit for the Community

brownfields at-a-glance

Pfister & Vogel	tannery Milwaukee, Wi

Revolving Loan Fund Grant

EPA-560-F-10-218

July 2010

for More	inforMation: Visit the EPA Brownfields Web site at http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/ or call EPA Region 5 at (312) 886-3058

ePa grant reciPient: Project Partners:

The City of Milwaukee used its $1 million EPA 

Brownfields Revolving Loan Fund awarded in

2006 to loan $1.1 million to USL Land LLC.

Mandel Group, Inc.; Zenith Industrial Services;

City of Milwaukee; USL Land LLC; Wisconsin 

Department of Natural Resources

For additional data and geographic information for this and 

other Brownfields Grants, please visit ePa’s Cleanups in

My Community: http://iaspub.epa.gov/Cleanups/