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.
• It’s a perennial Milwaukee headline: “A proposal to redevelop the long-vacant former Northridge Mall has surfaced—but it appears to be a longshot.”
This time, an Ohio-based group wants to take the site of the old mall (closed in 2003) and put up a “mix of new buildings, including several hundred apartments and houses; stores, restaurants and other businesses, and incubators for musicians, artists and entrepreneurs.” The catch? Well, the group would have to raise a cool $700 million for the first phase alone, and they’d have to make a deal with the owner of Northridge, U.S. Black Spruce Enterprise Group Inc. (“an affiliate of a Chinese investment group”). Black Spruce, as you may recall, has been sitting on the old mall while the City of Milwaukee has been trying to condemn and demolish it. [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]
• Also, remember when Black Spruce responded to Milwaukee’s attempts to raze the mall by suddenly claiming they were going to turn it into an “Asian Merchandise Market”? And remember when they even whipped up some renderings to make it sound legit? lol. [Urban Milwaukee]
• There are (early) plans to add a wheel park to Emigh Playfield at 495 E. Morgan Ave. The wheel park would be for “those using BMX bikes, skateboards, scooters, inline skates or roller skates.” [Urban Milwaukee]
• The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources’s former regional office at 2300 N. King Drive is for sale. [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]
• ManpowerGroup Inc. wants to build a small office at 2574 N. Downer Ave.—a.k.a. a vacant space within the first floor of that big parking garage across from the Downer Theatre where the popcorn wagon used to be. [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]
• Work is coming along on a two-story commercial/apartment building on the corner of Brady and Marshall. The project comes courtesy of Three Leaf Development—a.k.a. the firm of Milwaukee Bucks guard Pat Connaughton. [Urban Milwaukee]
• A long-closed East Side grocery store is gonna be fancy apartments. [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]
• The big Century City building where Good City Brewing is located is fully leased. [Milwaukee Business Journal]
• And what did we learn this week? Well, they’re always building something. Isn’t that right, old song from my old band that’s reuniting December 19 at Cactus Club?
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• Full “New And Wonderful Things” (formerly called “New Sh*t”) archives