Developer of the Year

Mandel earns praise as an urban pioneer

By JoAnn Petaschnick

Barry Mandel President and chief executive of Mandel Group Inc., Milwaukee

Some who know him describe Barry Mandel as one of the most daring and prolific real-estate developers Milwaukee has ever seen.

As president and chief executive of Milwaukee-based Mandel Group Inc., an integrated real-estate services firm with operations in development, construction and property management, he has helped create a radical transformation in downtown Milwaukee.

Rocky Marcoux, commissioner of the city of Milwaukee’s Department of City Development, had high praise for Mandel’s work.

“Barry is a visionary,” he said. “He really has been an urban pioneer and a champion for Milwaukee.”

Marcoux said Mandel saw potential in a strip of land in Milwaukee that had been vacant for years, and he developed East Pointe, a community of condominiums, apartments, stores and restaurants. That turned into one of the first major downtown developments in many years.

“That project had a very high degree of difficulty because, at the time, there was a lack of understanding of the potential for downtown development,” Marcoux said. “Barry had to work hard to get the financing, but it became the beginning of a renaissance in downtown Milwaukee.”

But Mandel’s vision for downtown Milwaukee didn’t stop with East Pointe. Mandel Group’s University Club Tower, a $90 million, 57-unit condominium complex, is slated for completion in spring of 2006, with most of the units sold.

“This signature downtown development represents a great example of the rebirth of the downtown housing market,” Marcoux said. “More importantly, given the pricing of the units, it indicates there is a very strong real-estate market in the city. You can have beautifully designed buildings and surroundings, but none of that matters if people don’t believe this is a great place to live.”

Prior to forming his own company in 1991, Mandel was the division partner for the Milwaukee division of Trammell Crow Residential, a national real-estate services firm. Mandel has developed and constructed more than $200 million in residential and retail developments in the greater Milwaukee area, including Gas Light Condominiums, Library Hill, Marine Terminal Lofts and Trostel Square. His development group has won several awards for design excellence.

Mandel Group’s influence extends throughout the metropolitan area, where it has provided new and different housing choices for suburbanites. In Brookfield, the Norhardt Crossing development, with 139 apartments and 72 condominiums, is a neighborhood-style development with sidewalks, street lamps and pedestrian-friendly roads. It was another challenging situation for Mandel, said Kathryn Urban Bloomberg, mayor of Brookfield from 1986 to 2002.

“Norhardt Crossing is a project that sits right in the center of Brookfield,” she said. “Barry had to work with politicians, business and property owners, the Department of Natural Resources and others, and he managed to get it done without alienating anyone.

“Barry does a wonderful job of listening to what others want. He is very respectful of the values of the communities he works in.”

Marcoux agreed.

“Barry understands his market; in fact, he helps to create it,” he said. “That has really been his story. He excels at being in the right place at the right time.

“More importantly, he is an engaged civic leader. He has taken downtown development and made it his cause célèbre. He is tireless in promoting the area and what makes this city a great place to live.”