Once places for people to gather and shop, properties across Milwaukee now sit abandoned and in disrepair.
However, two once-abandoned properties, a former bar in Merrill Park and a closed corner store in Harambee, have been transformed using the City of Milwaukee’s Art and Resource Community Hub Loan Program.
Nicknamed ARCH, the program provides interest-free matching loans of up to $25,000 to buy and renovate city-owned tax-foreclosed properties for art-related uses or as community resource centers. The program by the Department of City Development began as a pilot in 2017.
Though the program is still active, it’s been scarcely utilized in recent years. City of Milwaukee officials say the two properties have been the only uses of the program’s funding since 2025.
The two entrepreneurs who did take advantage have turned spaces from eyesores into eye-openers.
Carpentry on the corner
Tonda Thompson took a corner store on 128 E. Burleigh St., which was abandoned for 12 years, to house her business, She Slangs Wood. She sells lumber and furniture there while providing a space for woodworking and carpentry and hosting classes.
Thompson remembers her son’s first reaction when she bought the building and took on the monstrous task of refurbishing it in 2021.
“Why are we in here? It’s scary. This is ugly,” he told her.
According to Thompson, “ugly” was an understatement. She described the space with boarded-up windows and a dark interior that reeked of cat urine. “It just had the most horrible aura when you opened the door,” Thompson said.
Four years later, the building was renovated, but that didn’t come without challenges. Thompson said they had to rewire and replace much of the property’s foundation, and make other big fixes. But she didn’t let it faze her. “It’s been a battle, but I’ve learned a lot of lessons,” Thompson said.
After all was said and done, the former corner store was brought back as a bright spot for her Harambee neighborhood. “It changed the whole perspective of the block,” Thompson said.
Funding the project, though, wasn’t easy. Thompson said she was constantly on the lookout for grants and loan programs to help transform the space. She bought the property for just $3,000, but renovations cost over $330,000.
Thompson eventually received multiple grants including the ThriveOn Collaboration Grant from the Greater Milwaukee Foundation and the ARCH loan to help her fund the renovations.
Abandonment into art
Amelia Mitcham, owner of Third Space Collective MKE, 500 N. 29th St., also utilized an ARCH loan. The city-owned building she purchased was built in 1875, so securing funding for modernizing renovations was an important step.
“The ARCH grant was a vital lifeline,” Mitcham said.
Although Mitcham isn’t an artist, her love and admiration of the arts led her to create a new space in Merrill Park where artists can showcase their work.
The spacious downstairs portion of the multi-use complex includes film showings from directors, curated art galleries and more. Mitcham wants the space to be a community incubator for everyone to use.
She also rents out the upper level of the property as a living space.
“For people that have grown up and been present in the community, how do we still center them and ensure that they’re not priced out?” Mitcham asked.
Differences in the community
Back across town, Thompson shares a similar mission. She wants to give people in the Harambee community a space and new experiences and job opportunities in carpentry. For her, offering woodworking jobs ties into her mission of providing a place to work and be. “It changes a lot to those social determinants of health that cause so much harm to our community each day,” Thompson said.
She said she chose to create a woodworking space because of how therapeutic it is for her. “You could have the worst day, but when you create something with a hammer and some nails and wood, that’ll change your whole perspective on how that day was,” Thompson said.
Carlos Ramsey Jr., who works as a carpenter for Thompson, said it has been a meaningful journey. “It’s been a life-changing experience learning new things in a different field, making money and building new relationships,” Ramsey said.
Ramsey has worked at She Slangs Wood for just over five months. Someday, he plans to get his carpentry license and start his own business. “She’s helping us to be our own bosses,” Ramsey said.
In Merrill Park, Mitcham is also strengthening her community. She said the abandoned and fire-damaged building she used to drive by every day is now a community beacon.
Her curator, LeLe Cross, said letting the community control the narrative through art is an important piece of the new space. “I like the fact that Amelia chose to empower the community to really open up the story,” Cross said.
Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.
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