A couple years ago, Bader Philanthropies, Inc., renovated a beautiful old King Drive building into its new headquarters and now the foundation has announced that it will renovate a former bank across the street into a home for a new restaurant/cafe and holistic wellness center.
The 1910 building at 3338-3446 N. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. will get an extensive renovation and a roughly 3,000-square foot addition.
Sam's Place, operated by jazz drummer and City.net Cafe owner Sam Belton, will occupy the first floor and Shalem Healing will be on the second floor.
The cost of the project, including purchase of the property and construction, is $4.6 million.
Sam’s Place will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner, and will be available for private events, meetings and catering. Like City.Net Cafe, 306 E. Wisconsin Ave., it will have a jazz theme and will roast its own coffee.
"Sam’s Place is all about community," said Belton in a news release Wednesday. "People from all walks of life can gather here, meet a friend or neighbor, and connect for a meeting in a great eatery while experiencing the sounds of classic jazz. Patrons can also enjoy freshly roasted coffee on site and expect live performances from local and national artists. Our roots are deep in Milwaukee and we are dedicated to rebuilding our community."
Shalem Healing will move from its current Riverwest location, where it offers a range of integrated medical and holistic care, serving more than 3,000 patients each year at reduced rates, using a sliding scale based on patient income.
"Shalem Healing's commitment to holistic wellness, especially for people living in the underserved areas of the city, is the core of what we do," said Dr. Robert Fox, Shalem's founder, in the release. "It is simple – we want to make holistic care such as herbal medicine, acupuncture, food as medicine, stem cell treatment, nutraceuticals and proper education on seemingly chronic diseases as accessible to the residents living in Harambee and many others who will travel from around Milwaukee."
JCP Construction, LLC is the general contractor and American Design, Inc. (ADI) is the architect for the project.
"Bader Philanthropies moved to Harambee to deepen our commitment to Milwaukee," added Daniel J. Bader, president and CEO of Bader Philanthropies.
"We wanted to be in a place where we could truly live our mission by putting down roots and embedding ourselves in a neighborhood. Harambee residents are giving a voice to ideas that have the potential to enhance the quality of life, the health and wellbeing of our neighbors. Sam’s Place and Shalem Healing are examples of what our neighbors would like to see present in their neighborhood."
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
