STORY COVER
One of the greatest opportunities for Milwaukee to make a statement is on its lakefront, according to Rinka. He pointed to two sites that are now vacant: the site at the southwest corner of Michigan Street and Lincoln Memorial Drive, and another site just south of it, across Clybourn Street. The first site is where the Couture, a 44-story luxury apartment high-rise, is being proposed. But that project hasn’t yet moved forward. As of late October, the development firm for the project, Barrett Lo Visionary Development, was still working to secure the final piece of equity in order to begin construction. The second site, known as the Lakefront Gateway site, was freed up after the Wisconsin Department of Transportation reconfigured the I-794 freeway ramps there. No formal plans are in place for the site to be purchased and redeveloped. Rinka’s firm designed the Couture and also recently drew up conceptual renderings depicting a 50-story office tower on the Lakefront Gateway site. “We need to get the Couture over the finish line,” Rinka said. “I think the Lakefront Gateway site, where we did a conceptual design for the state – what other city has such a prime location on the lakefront? I can’t think of one … To attract a major corporate headquarters to that location to really create a signature project there would be critical.” Uhen said there are also holes to be filled at the Deer District around Fiserv Forum, continuing southward around the Wisconsin Center and stretching to the existing Post Office building on St. Paul Avenue. Earlier this year, the Bucks outlined their ideas of how the remaining available sites within the eight-block Deer District, which the team owns, should be developed. These ideas include more retail, residential, a full-service hotel, entertainment and office, specifically a corporate headquarters project. Nearby, Wisconsin Center District officials are moving forward with plans to expand the convention center. Just across the street is the city-owned parking lot at the southwest corner of Wisconsin
and Vel R. Phillips avenues, where the city has tried for years but failed to attract a signature development project. A Chicago-based developer owns the Post Office building and has plans to redevelop the site with offices, residential, shopping and entertainment. There is vacant land near that building and the Milwaukee Intermodal Station. “Once we fill these holes in, then you start to create this connectivity where Milwaukee becomes a little more walkable of a city than it is today,” Uhen said of redeveloping that whole stretch of downtown. “One of the things that people like about the Third Ward and Central Business District is they’re very walkable.” Haywood highlighted the area west of the arena district as a place in need of more attention. The chief obstacle impeding investment and development there is I-43. He noted the distance between Fiserv Forum and the freeway is the same as the distance between the arena and Walnut Street. However, there is more investment and development activity happening in the areas north of the arena than anything to the west, save for the redevelopment of the former Pabst Brewery complex. “If that expressway wasn’t there, believe me, people would be building on 13th, and 14th and Vliet (streets) now,” he said. Kaufmann, meanwhile, spoke more broadly of the main commercial corridors in the city’s neighborhoods. “If we could think differently about main streets in our neighborhoods, it could radically transform real estate at a small scale, which would have a big impact,” she said. Reinvestment in these corridors will require a rebuilding of the city infrastructure. The key, she said, is to slow the flow of traffic and to make the streets friendlier to pedestrians. She pointed to Second Street in the Walker’s Point neighborhood. It was transformed from just a street to get vehicles out of downtown quickly, into a slower, more pedestrian-friendly “complete street” by reducing a driving lane, adding a bike
lane and planting trees within the sidewalk. The changes helped spark the redevelopment of buildings along the street, Kaufmann said “You started to see those old, historic buildings that really represent what Milwaukee’s all about come back to life with all this activity,” she said. Kaufmann said streets like North Avenue and Fond du Lac Avenue on the city’s north side need similar treatment. They are currently designed to move cars out of town as fast as possible, and about half the historic properties along those corridors are vacant, she said. “The power collectively of redeveloping 50% vacancies along North Avenue, Fond du Lac (Avenue) would be very interesting to calculate, but I bet it approximates any of these larger-scale developments,” she said. “Imagine the ripple effects in each of these neighborhoods.” Speaking on a broader scale, Uhen said Milwaukee should look to compete with other regions in the Midwest, such as Indianapolis, Kansas City and Minneapolis. In particular, it has to become a better alternative to Chicago. “Chicago still continues to be the major draw in the Midwest for venture capital dollars and business growth,” he said. Doing that requires Milwaukee to sell itself on things like its friendlier business climate, easier movement in the area and a better cost of living. “I think we want companies to be saying … ‘If we’re going to move to Chicago, why don’t we look at Milwaukee? Look what they have to offer.’” he said. Palec said this can be measured not just with big deals like a headquarters move. It also includes when companies that have dozens of offices around the U.S. start taking a serious look at Milwaukee. “When that happens in Milwaukee, that’s when I’ll know people are noticing,” he said. With challenges still ahead and lofty goals set, now has never been a better time for Milwaukee to achieve them, Palec said. “I don’t have the panacea, but I have a lot of optimism because for the first time in 35 years, in the last five years, I have felt a generational shift in attitude for this city,” he said. “Now, if we can embrace that positive attitude that’s happening, that’s where things start to change.” n
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