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 (hold on to your monocles, everyone who complains about this column every other week) new shit.

• A new pedestrian plaza! A new pedestrian bridge! A new mural! A new loading dock! Those are just some of the NEW! things coming to Schlitz Park. The NEW! owners will spend a cool $6 million to renovate the downtown business campus, with special attention paid to the NEW! Crossroads Plaza. The plaza “will be between the RiverCenter and the Bottlehouse office building and will energize what is now underused space.” Renovations have already started; work is expected to be completed by next March. [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]

• Two adjoining Walker’s Point buildings at 145 and 149-153 S. 1st St. are gonna be turned into a mixed-use complex called the Sofi Lofts. [Urban Milwaukee]

• So long, former auto repair shop at 1726 W. Lloyd St.; hello, Urban Garden Center at 1726 W. Lloyd St. Neighborhood activists Sharon and Larry Adams will buy the foreclosed property from the city and spend $90,000 to transform it into a business that “will sell plants and gardening supplies to both individuals and commercial accounts.” [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]

• So long, former Edison Middle School at 5372 N. 37th St.; hello, apartments. [Urban Milwaukee]

• The fog is getting thicker, and Brothers Bar & Grill at 1213 N. Water St. is getting laaaaarger. [Urban Milwaukee]

• Milwaukee Public Library’s new Good Hope Library is open and it looks great and everyone was invited to take a tour except us. [OnMilwaukee]

• The new 17-room Dubbel Dutch boutique hotel at 817 N. Marshall St. is open and it looks great and everyone was invited to take a tour except us. [BizTimes]

• The city will kick in a cool $1 million to help Jeffers & Co. transform the former Milwaukee Journal Sentinel complex at 333 W. State St. into Milwaukee Area Technical College student housing “and other new uses.” [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]

• The Michigan Street Bridge is open again. [Urban Milwaukee]

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Co-Founder and Editor

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