Washington Court Apartments (Racine, Wisconsin)

Washington Court Apartments is an apartment building located at 5101 Wright Avenue in Racine, Wisconsin, on the southwest corner of Wright and Perry Avenue. Located directly north of the Perry Avenue Water Tower, the three-story apartment building offers 90 one-bedroom apartments with rent subsidies for elderly and disabled people. The location for the building was chosen in part because of the convenience of Westgate Mall Shopping Center, located on the opposite corner.

History
With the construction of the Perry Avenue Water Tower in 1930, the city of Racine purchased a large area of land that was then located outside the city in the town of Mount Pleasant. In 1977, the city water utility offered three acres of surplus land north of the tower for sale, specifically looking for real estate developers that would construct an 84-unit apartment building for the elderly there. The Reilly-Joseph Company of Milwaukee won the city's bidding process against Van Susteren and Associates of Racine.

In January 1978, the Reilly-Joseph Company applied for permission to construct an apartment building on the site with fewer than the required number of parking spaces. Construction on the building began in May of that year, with an expected cost of $910,000 for the 91-unit apartment complex for the elderly. In July, the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development stated that it was earmarking $698,112 in rent subsidies for residents of Washington Court for the coming fiscal year. At that time, the complex was planned to include 15 units for families and 78 units for the elderly.

In 1984, Racine aldermen John Eilers and William Duchac asked the city to install sidewalk curb ramps at the nearby corner of Wright and Perry avenues, primarily for the benefit of senior citizens living at Washington Court and wanting to shop at Westgate Mall Shopping Center across the corner.