Oconomowoc-based Pabst Farms, yet another development named after what the bulldozers destroy, is not limiting itself to simply encouraging commercial and residential sprawl anymore. In a move that I can only interpret as desperation (in the face of the growing trend of industrial firms relocating to the Menomonee Valley), Pabst Farms developers Developers Diversified Realty Corp of Cleveland is set to begin the construction on the first of three speculative industrial buildings. The only tenant so-far (and you think they would be rumoring them if there were others) is Fastenal Corp building a distribution that will occupy almost 25% of a 30,000 square-feet building.

Speculative industrial buildings being built in what is supposed to be a “high-end” mixed-use development? The developers behind Pabst Farms are looking like they simply wish to make a quick buck with no-thought to the long-term viability of the neighborhood with more buildings surrounded by parking lots.

Logically, pedestrian-friendly, mixed-use neighborhood design is extremely efficient because it requires fewer roads and parking stalls, requires residents to use less gas, leaves more true “green space” (untouched forests and fields, not mowed grass), and allows space to be more rapidly and creatively redeveloped in the wake of a business closing because of its proximity to other businesses and people (it’s easier to open a restaurant on a busy street, etc). It’s good for business and good for residents.

Pabst Farms seems to wish to fight this logic, take what used to be a space of large undeveloped land, claim…

Our philosophy is to build to the land, not on the land, carrying on the spirit of conservation begun by Fred Pabst back in 1906″

… and then build parking-lot-centric developments. To give you an idea of their thinking, examine this photo of their “Commerce Centre.” Judging by the developments in place already, the area has yet to become a commerce center and is simply a distribution center. A distribution center gives you images of 18-wheelers rolling in-and-out at all hours of the day though, and that’s certainly not as attractive as the wealth-generation implied by the word “commerce.”

Now picture three more buildings that will be smaller (in square-footage), but similar to the Roundy’s Distribution Center. Even more attractive, right?

Is this your vision of high-end? Certainly not mine.

That’s the industrial space. How about the commercial development?

Again, clearly designed around the automobile, not conservation.

The Staybridge Suites that will begin construction shortly at Pabst Farms will certainly more closely resemble the Hilton Garden Inn pictured above, than it will the mixed-use, parking-lot-free (uses a hidden garage) Staybridge Suites nearing completion in downtown Milwaukee. Pabst Farms adds a parking lot, downtown Milwaukee builds over one, and hides one inside the building. Not to mention that long-term construction in the Park East area will further diminish the need for parking garages, while building parking lots only encourages more parking lots in the future.

Residential space? Largely the same story.

Again, all this is done under the name of conservation and high-end development.

Interestingly enough, as Pabst Farms positions itself as a new neighborhood on former farm/green space land, a similar “Neighborhood by Design” development is going on in downtown Milwaukee. The Mandel Group is developing The North End on what used to be an abandoned factory in downtown Milwaukee. The Mandel development will include condos, apartments, retail, and office space.

The difference between the two? The Pabst Farms development decreases the amount of green space and encourages driving through natural assets. The North End encourages public, pedestrian access to natural assets and actually increases the amount of green space. Not to mention extending the phenomenally successful Milwaukee Riverwalk yet further north.

Unlike the photos above, that show parking lot and after parking lot, The North End places buildings close together, and makes them multi-level. It also mixes uses within a building, instead of across main traffic arteries.

Thankfully for the Pabst Farms development, there is still time to turn things around. If the developers choose to do so, they can build a legitimate mixed-use community, instead of building sprawling, parking lot encircled buildings that are single-use and only next to buildings used for the same purpose.

There isn’t anything wrong with the idea of Pabst Farms on paper. It’s proposed as “the conveniences and amenities of an urban area in a breathtaking Lake Country setting. Pabst Farms offers a complete living experience by integrating residential, retail, and commercial environments into one thoughtfully developed master-planned community.” The unfortunate thing is that this isn’t how it’s being built to-date. Industrial, commercial, and residential land is separated, pedestrian access within even the different single-use areas is discouraged by using long, winding roads instead of short, interconnected streets that make pedestrian travel easy, and the beauty of Lake Country is turning into the beauty of grass yards.

Thanks to our friends at Ocono.com who asked for our input on the latest news at Pabst Farms. Here’s to hoping they get it right in the future.

Dick Lincoln from the Mandel Group presented resolution 071618 which is the job training program portion of The North End development that receives funding from TIF No. 48. He explained that it would be “a little bit different than traditional workforce development” in that in focuses more on mentoring and coaching of emerging businesses to “take them to the next level.” Specifically the program will help emerging business develop business and management skills so these firms can enter into larger contracts and participate in The North End project. This resolution was approved by the committee and will go before the full Common Council.

Resolution 080209 changed the operating plan and structure of Business Improvement Distict No. 41 which represents the Downer Avenue business district. The changes would enlarged the board from five to seven members and it would adjust various line items within the proposed operating plan to allow the BID greater flexibility in their future operations. Although this resolution seems inoucous enough it gives the appearance as though these changes are connected to New Lan Enterprises’ controvsional re-development efforts on Downer Avenue. It appears this way because while Alderman Kovac has worked to expand BID No. 41 both Boris Gokhman and Joel Lee have had their appointments to BID No. 41 held in committee. This resolution was approved by the committee and will go before the full Common Council.

For most of the past year Mandel Group’s $185 million The North End development consisted of demolition and remediation. A historic winter, a fire, and significant environmental issues may have slowed progress at the site but signs of actual construction can now be seen. Along the Milwaukee River a portion of a new river wall has been constructed and the process of driving piles for the foundation has started. This first phase of construction will include 83 apartments and 15,000 square feet of retail space. This summer should see this new neighborhood begin to take shape and rise out of a formerly blighted property.

Building Rubble
Originally uploaded by compujeramey

The remains of the concrete from the Pfister & Vogel Tannery are being ground up over the next month. The resulting rubble will be reused and recycled to build the foundation for the North End development on the site.

To accomplish the task the Mandel Group has brought in a 13-foot tall, 72-ton quarry grade crusher that will chew through 1,500 tons of concrete a day. Awesome.

Park East Square sign
Originally uploaded by repowers

The first phase of the development of Park East Square appears ready to begin. On Friday, Milwaukee County announced that they had completed the sale (read: RSC & Associates LLC exercised their option to purchase) of a 2.1 acre parcel of land at the western edge of the Pick ‘N’ Save parking lot and just north of Convent Hill for $2,725,000. To be exact, that’s the plot of land bordered by Lyon St, Jefferson St, Ogden St, and Milwaukee St.

Nothing I can find indicates when construction will start, but since they purchased the land I would imagine it’s imminent.

The development will include a 122-room Hyatt Place, 102-room Hyatt Summerfield Suites, along with 105 apartments and retail space.

Back in March there was talk of the first phase of the development (this parcel) including 126 high-end apartments, a 148-room boutique hotel and 80,000 square feet of office, retail, restaurant and entertainment space if RSC & Associates LLC could get $9.2 million in a TIF from the city. Typical of developments of this scale in the Park East neighborhood, the TIF request was not granted. President Richard Curto said he would drop the hotel if that was the case, but clearly he thought better of that idea. He instead dropped a significant amount of retail space and went with more hotel rooms, which dropped costs significantly by eliminating the need for a massive parking structure.

The final value of the development will be around $65 million, and as reported in September will include 6,900 square feet of retail space.

Construction was originally supposed to begin in November, but financing hasn’t been easy to come by for anyone lately, and explains the delay. The plan in September called for construction on the hotels to begin first and take 14 months, followed by construction of the apartments (which includes 5 town houses), which will take another 15 months. I would imagine this is the same today, but with a pushed back start-date.

According to the September Journal Sentinel article about the current development.

The development will pay $21.5 million in property taxes over 10 years, RSC estimates, and would create 230 construction jobs and 64 to 74 hotel and retail jobs.

The original plan, which the city favored

…called for no public cash. That smaller project would pay $10.7 million in property taxes, and create 250 construction jobs and 50 to 75 retail jobs.

The plan RSC wanted that included city financing

…would generate $21.6 million in property taxes over 10 years, create 310 construction jobs and provide 150 to 200 retail and hotel jobs. The property taxes would pay back the city’s loan.

RSC & Associates and the city both deserve applause for creating a development that will not only avoid the creation of an expensive TIF district, but will generate nearly the same amount of property tax revenue for the city. On top of that, the smaller retail space is more consistent with the rest of the area and encourages the continued development of pedestrian-friendly retail shops in every building.

Urban Milwaukee looks forward to tracking the construction of the Park East Square and the North End as they together reshape the east side of the Park East neighborhood.

From time to time Urban Milwaukee will feature a collection of links we think are worth your time to read, but don’t merit us spending the time to fully summarize and insert our viewpoints yet.

• "Neighbors fed up with vandals, lack of patrols" - A story of chaos and vandalism ensuing in a northwestern Milwaukee neighborhood that the police don’t seem to care to fix.  If I lived there I would be scared for my life judging by the stories told and the police departments unwillingness to monitor things.
• "City ranks at bottom of health categories" - This shouldn’t come as a huge surprise to you, but being host to most of the people that experience severe socioeconomic problems in this state means the city’s health ranking will be pretty low.  In other news, keep your pants on.
• "Experts say ‘most dangerous city’ rankings’ twist numbers" - Clearly, it’s disgusting how they glorify Detroit, St. Louis, Cleveland, and company as such dangerous places.  Offer a solution, not an insult.
• "All routes lead to Amtrak Station" - A summary, more or less, of the status of all transit projects in the Milwaukee-area.  If you’re short on time just know that the story ends with Scott Walker killing everything in favor of a weak express bus plan.
• "Developer completes Park East financing" - Mandel Group Inc. has all the money it needs for the first phase of the North End on the site of the former Pfister & Vogel tannery.  I’m excited to watch the progress of this and enjoy the results.

Last Days of the Pfister & Vogel Tannery
Originally uploaded by compujeramey

I updated my Flickr set of photos of the Pfister & Vogel Tannery decontruction/The North End construction. They’re older images, and I still have more to add, but they’re a start for those of you that can’t see it in person. I still have more to add, which I will in the next day or two.

In case you’re wondering the tannery is now more or less gone (there is rubble left). Once the deconstruction workers get done pulling apart all the pieces to be recycled construction will start.

I’m going to try and swing by today to get some pictures of their latest progress.

The Mandel Group’s North End development is easily the most exciting project under development in Milwaukee. The first phase alone will include 109 condos, 88 apartments and 25,000 square feet of retail space. Work has begun on the demolition of the Pfister & Vogel tannery in preparation for construction. The water tower was removed from the roof as it is being saved and will eventually be located near Water and Pleasant.

To follow this development I’ve started a flickr set, The North End that I will update with new pictures to keep track of the progress.

Articles
Park East project hits construction phase
City funding for North End backed