The $11 million Hide House project was the most hotly debated development project at the July 28th meeting of the Common Council, though the most significant action in terms of dollars was the approval of the Rivianna. Additionally, the $10 million mixed-use Villard Square project, which will include space for 47 rental units and the Villard Avenue library, was approved for construction.

At the Thursday July 23rd meeting of the Zoning, Neighborhoods & Development Committee the appeal of he interim historic designation of the Hide House complex in Bay View was heard. The Hide House complex is made up of a series of buildings constructed over decades with the earliest buildings dating to 1898. At earlier meeting of the Historic Preservation Commission Alderman Zielinski’s nomination of the complex for interim historic designation was approved

The development team of General Capital Group and Joseph Development was before the Historic Preservation Commission to request a certificate of appropriateness which would allow them to demolish a portion of the Hide House complex, a former tannery at 2625 S. Greeley St. in Bay View.

On Monday July 20th, General Capital will go before the Historic Preservation Commission and request permission to demolish a portion of the Hide House complex. This demolition would allow for the construction of a 60-unit affordable housing apartment building.

Saving and restoring historic buildings is vital to any city. The mixture of styles, ages, heights, and character helps to create an interesting vibrant urban environment. Further, it is useful to have a mix of buildings with differing ages, because this allows for a variety of rental prices which allows new businesses to grow in old buildings. Unfortunately, these goals and ideals are far too often not why historic designation of buildings is implemented in Milwaukee.

Following the veto of Milwaukee County transit sales tax by Governor Doyle, Representative Christine Sinicki, Senate Jeff Plale, and Representative Jon Richards held a listening session at the South Shore Park Pavilion.

Good news. The City of Milwaukee has been growing over the past decade, albeit slowly, but this recent trend is better than the decades long slide from a high point of 741,324 in 1960 to a recent low below 596,974 in 2000. Since 2000 Milwaukee has seen a small, but significant increase to 604,477 residents. Yes, a growth rate of just 1.3%, but it is a start.

Like the temperature outside, the Hoan Bridge reconstruction debate will heat up over the next few weeks. Alderman Robert Bauman, who represents downtown Milwaukee and the north end of the bridge, recently issued a press release that details how the city will likely position itself on the issue with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT).

Traditional Neighborhood Development Partners was one of the seven firms that submitted a proposal for Bay View’s Solar Village project. Although they were not selected by the City of Milwaukee to develop the site the renderings by Grenfell Architecture, PLLC are shown below. The plan included a mix of single family housing, multifamily housing, as well as green features such as solar panels, public green space, and three wind turbines.

Recently I moved my mother from a single family home into a low-income subsidized senior housing development. It wasn’t fun, or easy, but it was necessary. It’s vitally important that all of our communities have facilities like these, as imperfect as they might be, to allow our aging population safe and clean housing to live in. Unfortunately, there is a severe shortage of affordable units, not just in Milwaukee or the Bay View neighborhood, but nationally.