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.
• A five-story, 70-unit, $12 million apartment development is coming to a vacant lot in Walker’s Point. Along with four floors of one- and two-bedroom apartments (average rent: $1,500), the development will include “1,200-square-foot retail space on the ground floor, which will likely be filled with a coffee shop or other local vendor.” Linden Street Partners will break ground at the site—located at the northeast corner of Florida Street and South 2nd Street—in August. Oh, and they’re already on the hunt for another site for another apartment development. [BizTimes]
• The historic home of Paul Weise Furniture may be demolished to make way for—you’re never going to guess—a new apartment development. The owner and operator of the furniture store, along with Weise’s great-grandson, are seeking a demolition permit for the three-story, 15,300-square-foot building at 1534 N. Farwell Ave. Ald. Nik Kovac opposes the plan, and wants the building to be deemed as historically significant. [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]
• Mike Eitel, owner of the Nomad World Pub, recently gobbled up properties on a 0.65-acre site in Walker’s Point. The properties (618, 620, 622, 628, 636 and 640 on South 6th St.) include an existing bar, which, yes, will be turned into a soccer bar. [BizTimes]
• Some asshole may have killed the whole Milwaukee-Madison high-speed rail line a few years ago, but the company that was set to build the trains, Talgo Inc., is back in town. The Spanish train maker will soon set up shop in Milwaukee’s Century City facility to overhaul up to 74 rail cars for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. [BizTimes]
• A Jet’s Pizza is landing in the old Melthouse Bistro on the East Side. [Milwaukee Business Journal]
• The former Pabst brewery complex is getting a lot of new shit these days, including four apartment buildings, two new breweries (natch), and a Hyatt Place hotel. Urban Milwaukee has plenty of hot pics. [Urban Milwaukee]