Music school opens as part of neighborhood revitalization

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) – Many Milwaukee neighborhoods are filled with blighted buildings. One developer is on a mission to change that by rehabbing buildings in areas that may be overlooked.

Ryan Pattee has developed several buildings into art-centered business across the city. He says he wants his developments to have a social mission and hopes to give local artists affordable places to create work in Milwaukee.

A once dilapidated building in Washington Heights is now a music school called the West End Conservatory. It will have six rooms for kids as young as four to come and learn how to play music. Mayor Tom Barrett and Alderman Mike Murphy toured the facility on Tuesday and praised the new development in the area.

Pattee says Milwaukee has a lot to offer and his company likes to think outside the box when it comes to the geographical areas they develop.

"I think it's our responsibility to come into some of these neighborhoods and highlight the good of these neighborhoods. Milwaukee has hundreds of different neighborhoods and each neighborhood has their own vibe and their own things that come with it,” said Pattee.

Music lessons began at West End Conservatory at the beginning of May. Patee says his company just closed on a city tax foreclosure property on the south side where the plan is to build an art space.