Milwaukee’s urban dwellers may love being in a downtown apartment or a well-maintained condo, but those places may not have a space where you can fire up a table saw or plug in a welder. So, if you’re looking for a space to work on your projects or a group of people you can learn from and collaborate with, consider stopping by Milwaukee Makerspace.

Are Milwaukee’s historic preservation laws too strong or too weak? Should the entire ordinance be re-written, or is just a revision in order? Alderman Witkowski’s proposed overhaul to Milwaukee’s historic preservation ordinance sparked these very questions.

As the US economy continued it slow recovery from the Great Recession, Milwaukee was left with a couple of failed development projects to complete or redefine, a changing real estate market, the opportunity to make small infrastructure changes, and questions about the future of transit.

Due in large part to a reduction in state aid starting in 2012, the Milwaukee County Transit System had planned for a massive reduction in service. Thanks to some last minute creative planning by those at MCTS, the vast majority of those cuts are on track to be avoided thanks to the use of CMAQ funds. The CMAQ funds, allocated out of a competitive bidding process, will provide funding to institute “express service” for two years along a number of key corridors which will replace segments of a number of routes. A public meeting, hosted by Supervisors Marina Dimitrijevic, Jason Haas, and Patricia Jursik, on the proposed Bayshore – Airport Express service was recently held to present the service to the community and answer any questions on the upcoming questions.

HKS Holdings LLC. proposal for a $12 million mixed-use apartment building in Bay View was recommend for approval at the December 6th, 2010 City Plan Commission meeting.

What apartment projects are currently proposed, under construction, or have recently opened in Milwaukee? A little over a year ago we did a similar exercise, so it will be good to take a look and see what has changed in the past year.

HKS Holdings, LLC is proposing a $12 million 5-story mixed-use building, which would be located on the southeast corner of Kinnickinnic Ave. and Conway St. in Bay View.

Alterra Coffee Roasters Inc. recently dropped plans to retrofit the Maritime Bank building, located between Kinnickinnic Ave. and Howell Ave., in Bay View, opting for new construction.

Alterra Coffee, through a partnership with Mars Drinks, will now be available worldwide for the Mars FLAVIA single-serve system. Mars purchased the global rights to the Alterra brand and will market and produce the single-serve coffee. Alterra will remain a local, independent company that Milwaukeeans have come to know and love and plans to continue to expand in Wisconsin and Illinois.

Milwaukee Alderman Tony Zielinski will announce his candidacy for the position of Lieutenant Governor on Friday. Zielinski had been rumored to be interested in the Attorney General position, but appears to have loftier goals with the announcement that Jim Doyle will not run again.