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.
• An ambitious, long-term plan to develop Milwaukee’s 1,000-acre Harbor District received a thumbs-up from the city’s Plan Commission. New light industrial buildings, mixed-use residential and commercial buildings, office buildings, and a waterfront park have all been floated as possible developments for the area. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
The projects presented in the plan are conceptual, and lack specific developers, cost estimates and time frames.
However, such plans are typically the first step toward large developments eventually occurring. That was the pattern for the Menomonee Valley, the downtown RiverWalk and the Park East corridor.
Per the Journal Sentinel, the Harbor District “is bordered roughly by S. 1st St., the lakefront, the Milwaukee River and Bay St./Becher St., covering a big piece of the Walker’s Point neighborhood.” [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]
• Speaking of water, the old riverside firehouse at 105 N. Water St. in the Third Ward may be transformed into a home for multiple generations of the family behind Wimmer Brothers Realty Inc. “What we’re looking to do is create a home for us that is like a Wimmer retreat,” says Mark Wimmer, president of the company. [Milwaukee Business Journal]
• Big changes may be in store for 27th and Wisconsin. A nonprofit group called Near West Side Partners Inc. is buying several properties in the area, and is hoping to eventually build a “$65 million, 163,400-square-foot state office building, and a Medical College of Wisconsin office building with up to 150,000 square feet and an undisclosed cost.” [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]
• Local developer Kalan Haywood is eyeing up the former Sears department store at 2100 W. North Ave.—a.k.a. the building that houses the long-underused Milwaukee Mall—for some new, to-be-determined commercial uses. [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]
• That six-story, 88-unit “Contour” apartment building at 2214 N. Prospect Ave.—a.k.a. the old Qdoba/Prospect Mall parking lot; or, if you’re old, Smithkin the Printer—is coming along nicely, and Urban Milwaukee has the pictures to prove it. [Urban Milwaukee]