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.
• Remember that crazy plan to install a ton of LED lights on the Daniel Hoan Memorial Bridge? No, not the plan from 2015 that went nowhere; the plan from 2018 that appears to be going…somewhere? Yes, the Light The Hoan crowdfunding campaign has already raised $500,000 from private donors. A mere $25 gets you your very own light that you can dedicate to a person or organization that has “made Milwaukee’s future brighter.” Neat!
Sure, the campaign is still looking for another $1 million from private donors, and an additional $3 million from corporate donors and extremely rich people, but still. (The campaign is now entering that corporate-focused “quiet period.”) Organizers are optimistic the project will be lit in time for—say it with us!—the 2020 Democratic National Convention. [BizTimes]
• Speaking of extremely rich people, Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele has received permission to demolish his extremely expensive Shorewood home and build an extremely expensive new one. Other extremely rich people in Shorewood are still mad about this for some reason. [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]
• Plans are once again in motion to convert the Charles A. Koeffler, Jr. House, 817-819 N. Marshall St., into a 15-room boutique hotel named the Historic Koeffler Inn. Previous plans called for the downtown mansion to be converted into an 18-room boutique hotel named the Art House Hotel. [Urban Milwaukee]
• A vacant office building at 433 E. Michigan St. is currently being knocked down in order to make way for a trio of new downtown hotels. [Urban Milwaukee]
• The Forest County Potawatomi tribe has spent more than $50 million to redevelop the former Concordia College campus on the Near West Side of Milwaukee. One of the buildings on the new Wgema (“chief”) Campus is home to the Indian Council of the Elderly’s All Nations Senior and Cultural Center, United Indians of Milwaukee, and Lisa Kaye Catering. Other buildings are leased out to tenants like the Milwaukee Police Department and Woodlands School. [OnMilwaukee]
• Milwaukee’s first hostel, Cream City Hostel, is open. The hostel-looking hostel is located at 500 E. Center St. [Urban Milwaukee]
• Wanna buy an empty corner lot in Walker’s Point and maybe put something there? The city is selling one for a cool $59,000. [Urban Milwaukee]
• Not really “new shit,” but THERE’S A NEW DELIVERY-ONLY COUSINS SUBS THAT SERVES DOWNTOWN AND THAT SOUNDS GREAT. [Milwaukee Business Journal]