MILWAUKEE, Wis. (SPECTRUM NEWS) -- It’s been one year since the Sherman Phoenix opened its doors to the public.  It’s more than a marketplace or string of businesses. For the Sherman Park neighborhood, the building, like its name symbolizes has risen above the ashes, above the unrest and injustice from riots back in 2016. Now customers are calling it a rebirth for a better community.

It’s the one go-to place on the Northside that offers a wide range of services to fit just about every need.

 “We specialize in Quality treats, quality, southern-style deserts, you can get your peach cobbler, your caramel cake but you can also get your gourmet candies,” said Adija Smith, Owner of Confectionately Yours Bakers in Sherman Phoenix.

This month marks one whole year of its success.

 “There’s definitely been some highs, a lot of highs, there have been some exhausting days, the support from the community has been beyond my imagination,” said Smith.

Smith, a Milwaukee native, can tell you the Sherman Phoenix isn’t an ordinary market place. Her bakery is one of the 30, minority-owned businesses inside.  

 “This is my neighborhood. I grew up here in the Sherman Park area since a little girl so it was very befitting for me to come back and bring the greatness that I had control over,” said Smith.

 “It’s a dream come true,” said, Monica Oliver, Co-owner of Sauce and Spice MKE. “I never thought from working in the corporate world for over 14 years that I would be here”.

Over the year, this 4,800 square-foot space has provided opportunities for Entrepreneurship with a significant message of hope and restoration for the city. Khalif Rainey, 7th district Alderman remembers Fond Du Lac Avenue before Sherman Phoenix existed.

 “We were a neighborhood that was kind of teetering on either moving in a positive direction or potentially moving into a negative direction,” said Rainey.

In 2016, The same year Rainey was elected, BMO Harris Bank, the building that once stood where Sherman Phoenix now stands, was nearly burned to the ground. The blaze was a result of unrest and riots after an officer-involved shooting. 

 “For me, that night was kind of symbolic of the issues we had been grappling with prior to the actual riots,” said Rainey. “The Mayor and myself, we all saw the need for something to occur here in Sherman park. Not replacing what we lost but bringing something here that we didn’t have”

 “I love the idea and the symbolism of what the Sherman phoenix represented at that point and then what it represents now in terms of ownership and people pulling themselves up by their bootstraps and making things happen for themselves and their community,” said Joanna Brooks, Owner of Embody Yoga.

“To see all of this greatness in one area is very new, it’s new to me, it's new to our community but I’m so thankful that I was able to be a part of it,” said Smith.

The building is a part of history she believes will impact many generations to come.

“They can be successful, they can be entrepreneurs,” said smith. “They can be the part of their generation that is paving the way for the ones that are coming behind them.”

The Sherman phoenix will have an official celebration open to the public on November 30th.