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 and wonderful things.

• A previously announced big, expensive expansion of the riverwalk near Komatsu Mining’s South Harbor Campus has become bigger and more expensive. The now-$14.5 million project (up from $11.4 million) will extend the riverwalk by 4,300 feet, and has been further beefed up to “add a bathroom structure, extend utility infrastructure to the structure, construct ‘The Node’ as an accessible landscape where visitors can touch the water, fully design a bridge that honors the historic residents of Jones Island, and deal with a number of engineering and permitting issues related to the dockwall on the site.” Construction of the project is expected to begin in spring 2023. Touch the water! [Urban Milwaukee]

• The Associated Bank River Center—a.k.a. the building next to Saint Kate at 111 E. Kilbourn Ave.—is getting a new publicly accessible bar, a new publicly accessible coffee shop, and other new publicly accessible goodies. The bar is going to be called Vault; it will be on the building’s second floor and will overlook the Milwaukee River and the riverwalk. A first-floor River Center Market, along with KnockBox Coffee & Market, will offer coffee, tacos, sandwiches, and breakfast sandwiches. The new additions are set to open in spring 2023. [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]

• Milwaukee has won a $3.2 million U.S. Economic Development Administration grant to prepare a 10-acre Menomonee Valley site—located beneath the Marquette Interchange and known as the Kneeland Properties—for future development. “The city,” reports the Milwaukee Business Journal, “anticipates the Kneeland Properties, once redeveloped, could bring 140 jobs and $10.5 million in private investment.” [Milwaukee Business Journal]

• The Louisville, Kentucky-based Woody Williams Foundation wants to build a monument to “Gold Star families” (families who have lost a family member or loved one in service) along Milwaukee’s lakefront. The circular, 35-foot monument would be paid for by the foundation and would be donated to the War Memorial Center when completed. It’s proposed location? That recently redeveloped prairie to the north of the War Memorial Center, near Veterans Park. [Urban Milwaukee]

• Following numerous meetings and hilarious complaints from neighbors, that proposed four-story, 55-unit apartment building on the East Side near Downer Avenue received final Common Council approval. [Urban Milwaukee]

• That proposed 31-story apartment tower at Water Street and St. Paul Avenue, kind of across the street from the Milwaukee Public Market? Still a go. [Milwaukee Business Journal]

• Grassroots efforts to tear down the Lake Interchange near the Summerfest grounds instead of repairing it? Still a thing. [Milwaukee Business Journal]

• Milwaukee is once again asking someone to redevelop the old Wildenberg Hotel at 3774 S. 27th St. The two-story building (“constructed around 1850”) and its surrounding lot are currently listed for sale by the city for $200,000. A previous plan to turn the site into apartments fell through. [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]

• South Side bar Dale Z’s On Tour, 3585 S. Howell Ave., has an outdoor pickleball court now. [OnMilwaukee]

• And what did we learn this week? Well, they’re always building something. Isn’t that right, old song from my old band?

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Matt Wild weighs between 140 and 145 pounds. He lives on Milwaukee's east side.