Sydney Hih

The historic Sydney Hih building, which city officials had intended to tear down, may have been saved for another day, due to a legalistic maneuver by alderman and attorney Bob Baumann at a Tuesday meeting of the Common Council’s Zoning, Neighborhoods & Development Committee.

As part of a joint city-county effort to bring Kohl’s corporate headquarters to downtown Milwaukee, the Milwaukee Economic Development Corp., an affiliate of the City of Milwaukee, had quietly purchased the Sidney Hih, in order to ensure site control for the project. But Kohl’s decided not to move Downtown, and no other viable project has arisen for the site, yet the City recently issued an order to raze the Sydney Hih, seemingly sealing its fate.

So things stood when the Zoning committee took up the issue of an “obsolete” file (091436) that normally would have been summarily dismissed. The file was a citizen’s request to save the Sidney Hih, filed back in February, 2009, and approved by the city’s Historic Preservation Commission.

Jim Owczarski, City of Milwaukee Clerk, explained that the historic preservation ordinance required the council to act within two years of an application for preservation, and that the two years had already passed, making the file obsolete, and eliminating that impediment to razing the Sidney Hih. But Alderman Bauman objected, noting that the Zoning committee had acted to hold the file back in the Spring of 2010, which effectively “tolled” the process and stopped the clock from continuing to run on the historic preservation proposal.

Given the differing viewpoints on the status of the file being offered by the City Clerk and Bauman, Ald. Michael Murphy made a motion to hold the file, keeping the issue open. The committee approved the motion.

Frankly, by the time the Committee concluded its business the status of the file, and the Sydney Hih wasn’t entirely clear.

Eyes on Milwaukee

Eyes on Milwaukee this week focuses on the committee appointments by Milwaukee Common Council President Willie Hines, Supervisor Haas’ efforts for a Milwaukee County attraction pass, the restaurant coming to The Moderne, and more.

Zielinski to Chair Licenses Committee

Common Council President Willie Hines committee appointments have been released. In a surprising twist, Alderman Zielinski has been appointed Chairman of the Licenses Committee. His appointment comes as a surprise given the number of controversial licensing issues Zielinski was involved in over the past four years (A.K. Food Mart being the most prominent). Zielinski could certainly get by all of that to become a good Licenses Committee chair (as his predecessor Alderman Jim Bohl was), but he’ll need to remain cool in the hot seat during the committee’s notoriously long meetings. Conduct similar to that exhibited by Zielinski during the Community & Economic Development Committee on September 13th, 2010 during the Zielinski – Davis “I’m the chair” debate (see the 108:30 mark in the video) won’t get the job done.

Bohl to Chair Zoning, Neighborhoods & Development Committee

My predictions for the Zoning, Neighborhoods & Development Committee chairmanship to go to Alderman Willie Wade were incorrect. Wade will remain the Vice Chair of the committee, with Alderman Jim Bohl apparently executing a successful horse trade to end up as the new ZND chair. Bohl was previously chair of the Licenses Committee. Despite representing one of Milwaukee’s most suburban districts, Bohl will likely make a good chair of the powerful zoning committee. His experience as Licenses Committee chair, showed that he controls the meeting, and is fair and pragmatic.

Donovan Removed as Public Safety Chair, Witkowski Appointed

Alderman Bob Donovan will no longer serve as the chair of the Public Safety Committee. Donovan, who is well known by the local media for his frequent press releases, has historically been one of the Milwaukee Police Department and Milwaukee Fire Departments biggest allies on the Council. Replacing Donovan is long-time public servant Alderman Terry Witkowski, who was a City of Milwaukee employee for 31 years. According to his official biography Witkowski was the “longtime Safety Director for the Milwaukee Safety Commission and the Milwaukee Police Department.” Most recently, Witkowski has attempted to rework Milwaukee’s historic preservation laws and rename the Milwaukee Fire Department to Milwaukee Emergency Response Services to better reflect the work of the department.

Milwaukee County Attraction Pass

Supervisor Jason Haas, through public meetings and his blog, has begun leading the charge for the “SuperPass.” Originally a campaign idea, the pass would create a single form of admission for multiple venues around Milwaukee County. While the idea is already done in many cities, Milwaukee County has yet to see a coherent strategy to encourage people to attend many of the County-owned attractions. Here’s to hoping the Supervisor is able to find a way to improve the bottom lines of many of Milwaukee’s cultural amenities, while at the same time driving greater and more frequent attendance by visitors and residents alike.

The Moderne Lands Carson’s Prime Steaks and Famous BBQ as Tenant

Unlike many new mixed-use buildings constructed in Milwaukee, The Moderne won’t be subject to an empty first floor for the first couple of years. According to a story broke by BizTimes this morning, Carson’s Prime Steaks and Famous BBQ will open their third location on the first floor of The Moderne. The restaurant will seat between 125 to 150 people, with about two-thirds of the 8,000 square foot space being used for the kitchen. Rinka Chung Architecture, who designed The Moderne, will also design the restaurant space.

According to Carson’s owner Dean Carson ”Rick is a persistent person in every sense of the word.” This certainly accurately reflects Rick Barrett’s struggle to convert his model unit in orange shipping containers into an actual building.

Development News

An industrial building at the northern end of the Riverwest neighborhood has been sold to Johnson Bros. Beverages Inc.

Chris Abele announced at his inauguration that one of the primary focuses of his first full term will be on the development of the Park East and the underutilized Downtown Transit Center.

Sciortino’s expansion was recommended for approval by the City Plan Commission. The Brady Street bakery intends to tear down and expand into the house immediately south of the current facility on Humboldt Avenue.

University of Wisconsin Milwaukee’s lease at 223 W. Pittsburgh Avenue for the School of Freshwater Sciences and College of Engineering and Applied Science has been approved by the state Building Commission. With that the Water Council’s efforts to develop a water cluster at the Reed Street Yards site are one step closer to reality.

Openings and Closings

Pop-up stores are set to come to the Shops of Grand Avenue.

The Triangle, 135 E. National Ave, will close on Friday according to Michael Horne.

Yo Factory has finally opened at 2203 N. Farwell Avenue. Stop on in for some frozen yogurt.

Photo of the Week

Windows on the Milwaukee River by John December

Wisconsin Ave. & 27th St. Rendering

WIS27 LLC’s proposal to develop a 64,000 SF office building at the corner of 27th Street and Wisconsin Avenue was approved by the Milwaukee Common Council today.  WIS27 will purchase the vacant lot from the city for $1, and intends to lease the new building to the State of Wisconsin Department of Children and Families.

The $10 million project has been heavily debated within City Hall, as the design deterred the ability for tenants of the building to interact with the street.  Previously, there were no operable doors along the building, and all access to the building was to be through the secure parking lot, creating the potential for a dead zone along Wisconsin Ave. and 27th St.  As Alderman Bauman emphatically stated numerous times during a committee discussion on the project, “[it] basically violates every urban design principal that this city has been advocating for the last 20 years”.  Despite these concerns the city, led by Department of City Development Commissioner Rocky Marcoux, pushed to accept the proposal.

At that meeting Alderman Bauman was successful in holding the project to allow for more time for the city to work with WIS27 to incorporate changes that would better facilitate the building’s interaction with the street.  At meeting held just before today’s Common Council meeting, new designs by Korb Tredo Architects were approved despite earlier insistence by the development team and Marcoux that no new changes were possible.  Although, the building still lacks access on 27th Street, the Wisconsin Avenue entrance was enhanced for future use, and a 26th Street door was made operable.  With these improvements in place the proposal was approved.

Potawatomi Hotel Rendering

At the April 4th, 2012 meeting of the Zoning, Neighborhoods & Development Committee, two requests for zoning changes were approved, which will allow Potawatomi’s luxury hotel proposal to move forward.  The 20-story, 377 room facility, which will be located at the corner of West Canal Street and West Potawatomi Circle, will have a mix of standard rooms and large suites, and include a full service restaurant, lobby bar, a retail store, meeting rooms, exercise facilities, a bowling alley, spa, indoor pool, club room and a nightclub located at the top of the hotel.  The design features a pedestal base, off white metal panels, an illuminated feature on the roof, and floor to ceiling windows that will be tinted green to match the existing casino’s color scheme.

If all goes as scheduled, construction should begin in July 2012, and will be finished by June 2014.  Construction of the hotel will generate 980 jobs, 20% of which will be reserved for minority contractors, and 25% of which will be reserved for workers from Milwaukee.

The proposal was approved, and will now go before the Common Council.

1601 N. Jackson St. Approved Design

Back for a second time, Dermond Property Investments’ request for a change in zoning for the properties 1601 N. Jackson and 522 E. Pleasant, the former Joey’s Restaurant location, from Local Business (LB2) to a Detailed Planned Development (DPD) was once again in front of the Zoning, Neighborhoods & Development Committee.  In an attempt to address concerns raised by citizens and council members at previous meetings, the developer made numerous changes to the design, which included an increase in the number of rental units in the proposal, prompting the city process of approvals to started over.

1601 N. Jackson St. Original Design

The design changes addressed issues such as setbacks, massing, and parking.  To accomplish this each apartment unit became 10% smaller, and the building was set back 18 feet on the north side, and five feet on the east side.  Project Designer, Joel Agacki of Striegel-Agacki Studio, explained that they had “really made an effort to scale the building a bit better,” and soften the building with landscape around the entire perimeter, facade articulation, the use of poured cement panel, and setting the fifth floor back three feet to make the building appear as a 4-story building.  The  five-story building will have 36 apartments, up from 34-units, 38 parking spaces, 36 spaces for resident to rent at $110 per month, and two spaces for guest use.  Speaking about the neighborhood concerns over the potential of new traffic in the neighborhood, Todd Ferris, from Dermond Property Investments, explained that the new apartment building (according to the ITE manual) would generate substantially less traffic during the PM rush hour than the former restaurant did while it was in operation.

Alderman Kovac explained that his support for the project wasn’t, “because I was steam rolled”, referring to an earlier debate on the proposed 27th Street project, but that the developer had worked to make it an acceptable project.  Alderman Bauman followed up adding that, “I have to say, the developer and the architect were most accommodating… and frankly it was quite refreshing”.

The project was approved by the committee, and will now go before the full Common Council.

Milwaukee's Next Potential Mayor Willie Hines, Jr. stands in front of Former Mayor John Norquist

Welcome to the seventh installment of Eyes on Milwaukee. This week the focus is all on City of Milwaukee elected officials following yesterday’s election. I explore the likelihood that Willie Hines runs for Mayor, how the new Common Council will resemble the old Common Council, the wide disparity in vote totals between districts, Bob Donovan winning the war, the shocking number of votes Johnny Thomas got, and Spencer Coggs’ new job.

Willie Hines for Mayor

There’s no question that Common Council President Willie Hines, Jr. was considering a run for Mayor in 2010, predicated on the idea that Mayor Barrett would become Governor Barrett and Hines could win a special election. When Barrett lost in the general election, the talk of Hines throwing his hat in the ring for Mayor started to dry up, but not before Hines held a large, out-of-district fundraiser at Whiskey Bar on Jackson and Wells.

Now that Mayor Barrett has officially thrown his hat back into the ring (for the third time) to become Governor, it seems likely that we will hear rumors about “Hines for Mayor” again.

All of this is of course made all the more likely by the fact that Hines defeated challenger (and County Supervisor for less than one year) Eyon Biddle to retain his seat on the Milwaukee Common Council, and most likely his position as Council President.

A lot stands in the way of Hines becoming Mayor at this point, but it’s something worth following. First up? Barrett needs to lock up the Democrat’s nomination for Governor in the recall election.

Senator Spencer Coggs Wins Large Pay Increase, Shorter Commute, Likely Position for Life

Congratulations are in order for State Senator Spencer Coggs, the City of Milwaukee’s Treasurer Elect. Not only did the Democratic State Senator win a job that will net him a much shorter commute, he also now holds a job that pays $114,040, an amount he claims he was “shocked out of my socks” about. It is worth mentioning that the position of Treasurer was up for being converted from an elected position to an appointed one, less than a year ago, and to which the former top heads claimed would run fine without their presence.

Outgoing Treasurer Wayne Whittow had held the post since 1976 (and previously served in the Wisconsin State Assembly), and all signs point to Coggs now being able to hold the seat as long as he would like.

What Will Johnny Thomas’s Jury Look Like?

One surprise out of the election results last night was the number of votes Johnny Thomas pulled in for Milwaukee Comptroller. Despite being charged with a felony for accepting a bribe, suspending his campaign for Comptroller, and being stripped of his Milwaukee County Board committee appointments, first-term Supervisor Johnny Thomas still managed to bring in 34% of the votes (18,457)  in the Comptroller race yesterday.  Thomas, who accepted an envelope filled with $500 cash from another Milwaukee County employee at Dunkin’ Donuts new location on West Wisconsin Avenue in December. Had he won, Thomas could have assumed the office of City of Milwaukee Comptroller, and it appears that without this whole felony bribery thing lingering, he would have won in a landslide.

Thomas’s ability to draw more than 33% of the vote indicates one of the following possibilities is true, the influence of the media (of all mediums) is declining, there was a belief by a large number of voters that he’s innocent, or he has an usually high amount of name recognition for a first-time Supervisor.

Assuming the case goes to trial, it will be interesting if any of the potential jurors are excused for voting for Thomas in the Milwaukee Comptroller race.

Meet the new Common Council, largely the same as the old Common Council

If you’re grown comfortable over the past four years with the Milwaukee Common Council, you can likely rest easy about the next four. Voters re-elected 14 (out of 15) Common Council members, with the only change happening in Walker’s Point with incumbent James Witkowiak falling to Jose Perez.

Witkowiak, likely much to his own displeasure, has now established a pattern of winning two elections in a row, and then losing the third. Being first elected in 1992, re-elected in 1996, losing in 2000, being elected again in 2004, re-elected in 2008, and now falling short in the Common Council’s closest 2012 race.

Witkowiak chaired the powerful Zoning, Neighborhoods & Development Committee during his past term (a post previously held by former Alderman Michael D’Amato, who represented the East Side and Riverwest), and his departure leaves open a fairly significant post in the Common Council hierarchy.

Being that it is rare for an Alderman to hold two chairmanships (last done by D’Amato likely as a result of Hines’ rise to President), who is the likely next Chair of ZND? All signs point to Alderman and Milwaukee Bucks season ticket holder Willie Wade. Wade is currently the Vice Chair of ZND, and also serves on the Community and Economic Development Committee.

Who are the other likely ZND chairs? The Common Council’s most senior Alderman Murphy (who trounced his opponent, Richard Geldon, by a 4-1 margin for the second time in a row) seems likely to stay put as Chair of the Finance and Personal Committee. The other likely candidate for the job, Alderman Bauman seems likely to maintain his Chairmanship of the Public Works Committee.

Jim Witkowiak’s departure leaves open one slot on the Zoning, Neighborhoods & Development Committee. Given that Council newcomers seem to often enough end up on Licenses Committee (and are therefore subject to its marathon hearings), it is likely that Perez will not end up on ZND at this point. My guess for the newest member of ZND goes to Alderman Nik Kovac, who is entering his second term on the Common Council and represents the East Side, Riverwest, and the north side of Downtown (an Aldermanic District that sees a significant number of proposals come before ZND).

As far as the Milwaukee Streetcar project goes, the project appears set to remain on track at the Common Council level. Jim Witkowiak was a supporter of the project and had voted in favor of the project in the past. It remains to be seen if Alderman-Elect Perez will continue that support, but he hadn’t campaigned against it.

Bob Donovan Wins the War

Alderman Robert Donovan held onto his seat on the Milwaukee Common Council by a wide margin following yesterday’s election. Donovan defeated challenger Ben Juarez by over 500 votes, registering 60.5% of the vote total (1,463). As discussed last week’s “War on Donovan” section, the Juarez campaign had increasingly focused on Donovan’s 20-year-old disorderly conduct ticket. Those in the district have spoken with their ballots, and it appears that issue alone isn’t enough for them to replace Bob Donovan.

District Disparity Evident in Common Council Races

Voter turnout in Milwaukee’s various Common Council districts is disturbingly varied. Looking only at the competitive Milwaukee Common Council races, the vote totals for each candidate were as follows.

• District 8 – Bob Donovan (1,463), Ben Juarez (955) – 2,418
• District 9 – Robert Puente (2,959), Ray Harmon (2,183) – 5,142
• District 11 – Joe Dudzik (4,614), Daniel Plumb (2,826) – 7,440
• District 13 – Terry Witkowski (3,905), Richard Pfeiffer (1,922) – 5,827
• District 12 – Jose Perez (1,290), James Witkowiak (1,204) – 2,494
• District 14 – Tony Zielinski (4,556), Jan Pierce (3,390) – 7,946
• District 15 – Willie Hines (2,587), Eyon Biddle (1,735) – 4,322

Generally, the Milwaukee RiverWalk has been funded with a 70% contribution by the city and a 30% contribution by properties owners as they develop property along the river.  This portion has from the beginning of the riverwalk system been planned to be developed by the city, as made evident by the easement obtained from Hoffman in 1998.  Further, city staff determined that the 80-foot stretch is unlikely to see new development in the foreseeable future.  Alyssa Remington, from the Department of City Development, once again explained the situation stating that, “there is no anticipated development here in the future”.

The Committee held the file at a previous meeting of the committee with the purpose finding a way to have the property owners participate in the cost of the project.  While Hoffman’s 1998 easement was contingent on not participating in riverwalk costs, General Capital, which owns a 40 foot section, committed to contribute their 30%, approximately $50,000, of the project costs at the time they connect to the riverwalk.

The file was unanimously approved, and will now go before the full Common Council.

MSOE Soccer Parking Facility

MSOE’s $28 million, 750-stall parking garage proposal received approval at the February 22nd, 2012 meeting of the Zoning, Neighborhoods & Development Committee meeting.  In addition to the parking ramp, the building will include an athletic field that will be used by two soccer teams during the fall, a lacrosse team during the Spring, and will be available for community use similar to how the Kern Center is open to the community for basketball on the weekends.  The development will include first floor retail space, and 26,000 square feet of green space that MSOE will develop and maintain in perpetuity.

The parking garage is proposed to be used for a variety of parking needs.  In particular, Dr Viets, President of MSOE, explained that the garage is “not just for students that are commuters, it’s also for those that need to get home on the weekend”.  Additionally, Dr. Viets explained that “we could provide overflow parking” for a potential theater proposal, and events during the summer.  During the first first five years of operation MSOE has agreed to lease 200 parking spaces to BMO Harris, but it appears that after five years it is likely MSOE will fully utilize the garage.  Dr. Viets made this clear saying, “we want to develop the campus”, and “we anticipate there will be some motion from surface parking lots into this development”.

The committee’s questions indicated that the most problematic part of the deal for them to accept was BMO Harris’ requirement to replace their 220 slot surface parking lot, a portion of which MSOE is acquiring to construct the parking garage.  To replace the parking BMO Harris made it clear that they needed to acquire what is a prime piece of real estate from Milwaukee County located along Water St. for a potential surface parking lot if the deal was to happen.  As part of the deal BMO Harris did agree to not build the surface parking lot for at least five years, and instead will rent 200 stalls from MSOE. But as Vanesa Koster, Planning Director explained, after five years BMO Harris, “can construct the permanent parking area”.  Alderman Murphy expressed his view of the deal saying “to me this seems like a great deal for BMO”, and added that “they just won the lottery”.

As he has said multiple times in the past, Alderman Kovac stated, “if this lot get built, we’ve made a mistake“, and then he summed up the committee’s actions saying that “it does put us in an awkward position, voting to approve something [the surface parking lot], that we all hope doesn’t happen”.  All five files associated with the project were approved, with Alderman Murphy abstaining because he is a shareholder of BMO Harris.  These files will now go before the full Common Council.

The project would utilize $420,000 from TID #34 and construct a new Riverwalk section and dockwall.  The 80-foot section is comprised of two properties, and both owners, General Capital and Hoffman, have provided the city with appropriate easements to allow for the new Milwaukee RiverWalk segment. Further, a draft agreement with the Historic Third Ward Association was drawn up to handle maintenance of this section.  If approved the construction would start in April to be finished in August.

The project prompted questions and concerns from committee regarding the apparent change in city policy for this project.  Normally, the local property owner would fund 30% of a riverwalk segment’s construction, whereas in this case the city was planning to 100% fund the construction of the riverwalk segment.   Alderman Murphy asked “Why are we changing our practice?”  Remington answered that “we [the city] don’t want to wait for that development to take place.”  She also explained that there will be no direct connection to the property from the riverwalk, indicating that the adjacent property will received no direct benefit.  Alderman Witkowiak wondered if the city could assess the property owners much like the city does with sidewalks, and stated that this action would be “kinda sorta precedent setting.”  Alderman Bauman, explained that “I support this project,” but pushed to hold the project to work out details regarding a possible assessment or the possibility of requiring the property owners to buy the section if they choose in the future to connect to the system.  The file was held, and will be taken up at the next Zoning, Neighborhoods & Development Committee meeting.

1922-38 West Fond du Lac Avenue - Design

A proposal from Nafiz Efe, owner of EFE Building and Remodeling, LLC, to purchase the city owned lots at 1922, 1924-26, and 1932-38 West Fond du Lac Avenue will go before the  January 31st, 2012  Zoning, Neighborhoods & Development Committee.  If the $15,000 purchase is approved, the city lots will be assembled, with an adjoining property, to create an 18,000 square foot development site.  Nafix Efe plans to construct a $3 million three-story mixed-use building on this new site.   The building will include 6,600 square feet of first floor retail space, 16 apartment units, and a 29-space surface parking lot behind the building.

• Land Disposition Report
• Fiscal Impact Statement
• Public Hearing Notice

1601 N. Jackson St. Apartment Proposal

Dermond Property Investments’ request for a change in zoning for the properties 1601 N. Jackson and 522 E. Pleasant St. from Local Business (LB2) to a Detailed Planned Development (DPD) was held at today’s Zoning, Neighborhoods & Development Committee.   The change in zoning is needed to allow a 34-unit apartment building to be developed on the site.  The site’s current zoning would only allow for 12-units to be developed, though the massing and height of the proposal is consistent with the current zoning.

Max Dermond, principal of Dermond Property Investments, explained that each unit in the five-story apartment building would include balconies, underground heated parking, and in-unit washer and dryers.  Additionally, he recognized that residents had brought up a list of concerns including parking, height, architectural style, traffic, and density, but that they were working to alleviate many of these issues.

Alderman Bauman echoed the concerns regarding size saying “as an infill project this is totally out of scale.”  The Project Designer, Joel Agacki of Striegel-Agacki Studio, pointed out that “by right someone could even do something bigger”, and that “there are similar residences within eye-shot of the site”.  Also weighing in on the project, Alderman Murphy added “I’m a little concerned about the size of the building and the number of units.”  A few residents showed up to oppose the project, all echoing the same points “it doesn’t fit”, and it will create parking issues .

Alderman Kovac, who represents the area, explained that “this is certainly a completely unique street”, in that while it has a variety of single family homes and duplexes it is also just on short block away from the Park East redevelopment area.  And that depending on which way one is facing there are vastly different building styles and heights in the near neighborhood.  He summarized saying,  “there’s a mix”, and indicated that despite neighborhood opposition, which he pointed out was primarily about parking, that he believes this project “is right on the border”.

At Alderman Kovac’s sugestion, the request was held to allow for the developer to revise the design to make it more appealing to the neighborhood and the committee.

Proposal Links

• Five-Story Apartment Building Proposed on Jackson Street
• Map
• Description
• Drawings

Reed Street Yards Site Plan

At the December 13th, 2011  meeting of the Zoning, Neighborhoods & Development Committee, a zoning change and a proposed Development Incentive Zone (DIZ) overlay were approved to allow for future development of the Reed Street Yards.   The 17-acre property, located between South 6th Street and South 3rd Street, is being redevelopment into a water research and development park in a collaborative effort between City of Milwaukee, the property owner Peter Mead, and General Capital Group.  With this approval the property’s zoning will be changed from Industrial Heavy to Industrial Mixed to allow for a greater range of development opportunities.  The DIZ includes the public connections to the river, the new street configuration,  accommodates phasing in the development, and allows standards to be applied that are compatible with the context of the area.  Additionally, the change creates a requirement for approximately 70% building frontage to the street, 40-foot easement along the river, the requirement of pedestrian access points generally no more than 500 feet apart, and does allow for some interim surface parking on the lots south of the extended Pittsburgh Avenue.

This was just another step in the process toward redeveloping the Reed Street Yards.  The property recently received approval for a tax-incremental financing district that will fund the construction of public infrastructure, including the $3.6 million extension of Pittsburgh Ave., new water mains, new sewer connections, 2,700 feet of riverwalk, an extension of the Hank Aaron State Trail, 300 feet of dock wall that is in need of being repaired, and site remediation.

These changes will now go before the full Common Council for approval.

To see renderings of the possibilities for this site, click here.