Depending on which news sources you follow, Milwaukee is going through either a “renaissance” or a “reinvention.” However you want to define it, it’s safe to say that Milwaukee is currently building a lot of new and wonderful things! Here are some of them, brought to you by GTG Home Buyers!
• No matter how you feel about the issue (because of course it has to be divisive), the headlines are striking: “American Family Field parking lots eyed for multifamily housing, retail.” “One-quarter of AmFam Field’s parking lots could be developed, study says.” “Study outlines $800 million development potential for parking lots around American Family Field.” Housing and retail? One-quarter of the parking lots? Eight-hundred million? Wow!
Yes, a new study prepared by Washington D.C.-based Brailsford & Dunlavey Inc. does indeed present three different plans for converting different chunks of American Family Field’s 160 acres of parking lots into different combinations of housing, hotels, retail, office space, and shared parking. Oh, and between 1,581 and 2,958 current parking spaces would be lost, depending on the plan.
Okay, you can argue now.
Done? Great. You can read all about the various plans via the links above. However, it’s worth noting that the study was not conducted at the request of the Milwaukee Brewers. Instead, it was delivered to the Wisconsin Professional Baseball Park District, which owns AmFam Field and the surrounding land and leases them to the Brewers. What’s more, Urban Milwaukee clarifies that “the study was required [emphasis ours] under the 2023 subsidy agreement that provided more than $500 million in public funding in exchange for the Milwaukee Brewers signing a lease extension through 2050.”
Also from the same Urban Milwaukee piece: “The team has given few signals about its interest in developing the site, as Bruce Murphy reported in 2022 before the subsidy debate emerged.”
So there you go. A final report on the different plans is due December 7.
• Remember when they announced that they were building a giant professional soccer stadium near 8th and Michigan in downtown Milwaukee? Remember when they said the new stadium would be part of the new “Iron District”? Remember when we all voted on a name for the new USL Championship team that would play in the new stadium in the new “Iron District”? Remember when they said the new team was scheduled to begin playing in the new stadium in the new “Iron District” in 2026? Well, it’s almost 2026. What’s been going on with the whole soccer stadium/team and “Iron District” thing?
Turns out: nothing! FOX6 has more.
Offsite links to more new and wonderful things…
• “Demolition starts at former Komatsu complex—creating development site.” [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]
• “See photos: Interior progress at Northwestern Mutual’s $500 million North Office Building makeover.” [BizTimes]
• “HPC votes unanimously to make High Life Theater & Panther Arena city landmarks.” [OnMilwaukee]
• “Crane dismantled at site of downtown Milwaukee high-rise development.” [WTMJ]
• “Former downtown University Club being converted to a 35-room hotel.” [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]
• “Milwaukee demolished this former mall. Now it’s seeking ideas for the site.” [WPR]
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