Depending on which news sources you follow, Milwaukee is going through either a “renaissance” or a “reinvention.” Or maybe it’s a “reboot” or a “reimagining,” like that crappy Tim Burton version of Planet Of The Apes. However you want to define it, it’s safe to say that Milwaukee is currently building a lot of new shit.
• The Milwaukee Common Council gave a thumbs-up to the design of a 21-story, 201-unit apartment tower to be located at the corner of N. Van Buren Street and E. Kilbourn Avenue. Neat! And oh yeah: the tower will be constructed with man-made mass timber, and will be the tallest wood building in the Western Hemisphere. Really neat! New Land Enterprises is behind the project, and plans to follow it up with a seven-story mass timber office building along the Milwaukee River. Construction for the first project is being projected for the fall. [Urban Milwaukee]
• A new banquet hall and cocktail lounge is coming to the ground floor of 770 N. Milwaukee St. Owner Sean Pliss is remaining mum on details of the unnamed business, but a license application notes it “would be rented out for events such as weddings, receptions and corporate gatherings.” Pliss previously owned and operated Oak Lounge and Matador Taco + Tequila. The new joint is aiming for a July opening. [BizTimes]
• A vacant building at 1920 N. King Dr. is being transformed into a “co-working space, a shared commercial kitchen, and the new headquarters for the African-American Chamber of Commerce of Wisconsin.” [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]
• Milwaukee developer Scott Genke has purchased the former home of Bay View’s Alchemist Theatre, and plans to “restore the 1927 building’s exterior and preserve its current appearance.” The first floor may eventually house a restaurant, while the second floor will be converted to to four “contemporary” apartments. The building, along with a vacant lot next door, will be known as BV+, or “Bay View Addition.” [Milwaukee Business Journal]
• Wrinkles and/or updates in the financing of the long-in-the-works 44-story, 322-unit Couture building continue to make news. [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]
• Was the $4.75 million condo at the University Club Tower at 825 N. Prospect Ave. a little out of your price range? If so, you’re in luck, because the price has dropped to $3.75 million. [Milwaukee Business Journal]
• A hotel is now an apartment building. [Milwaukee Business Journal]
• Construction of Milwaukee Ballet’s new home—a.k.a. the Baumgartner Center for Dance—is coming along nicely, and Urban Milwaukee has the pictures to prove it. [Urban Milwaukee]
• Ditto the Milwaukee School of Engineering’s new Dwight and Dian Diercks Computational Science Hall, where they’re gonna do some A.I. stuff. [Urban Milwaukee]