It was recently reported that UWM is considering the Reed Street Yards as a potential site for the School of Freshwater Sciences. Although. I still think the lakefront site offers the most prominent location which would have played well with the re-branding of Milwaukee but, the Reed Street Yards site does have many positives that make it a suitable location. Simply put, if UWM were to build on the Reed Street Yards it could play a significant role in the revitalization of a neighborhood.

The proposed improvement of S. 2nd Street, in Walker’s Point, was up for approval at the December 22nd meeting of the Milwaukee Common Council. The improvement would involve a complete street reconstruction, narrowing the street to 50 feet from 58 feet, reducing the street to one travel lane in each direction, widened sidewalks, bike lanes, street trees, improved lighting, and other amenities designed to make the street more appeal to pedestrians.

For over a year business owners, property owners, and residents in Walker’s Point have worked to have S. 2nd Street rebuilt with people in mind. The plan, as UrbanMilwaukee.com has covered in past, includes narrowing the street from 58 feet to 50 feet, removing travel lanes, and adding bike lanes, street trees, and new lighting with the goal of creating a street conducive to multiple modes of transportation, be it walking, biking, or driving.

“The right of way doesn’t just belong to cars,” he said. “It belongs to pedestrians and bicyclists as well.”

– U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood

Regardless of what neighborhood it is, the development of new apartments is a growing trend in Milwaukee. Currently there are two prominent projects vying for City of Milwaukee financial support in one form or another, the Bookends and The Moderne. Outside of the two proposed towers there are numerous other projects at various stages around urban Milwaukee.

“It has been vacant for decades,” said Dan Casanova, of the Department of City Development.

The 17-acre property known as the Reed Street Yards is located between South 6th Street and South 3rd Street just across from the Harley-Davidson Museum in Walker’s Point. This property has been targeted by the City of Milwaukee as the potential epicenter of Milwaukee’s water industry. The property itself, despite being centrally located, has sat vacant for years, and currently has no infrastructure, such as roads and sewers that are necessary to support future development.

This past Friday a public meeting was held to discuss the reconstruction of S. 2nd Street in Walker’s Point from National Ave. north to the train tracks. As had been proposed here at UrbanMilwaukee.com, and more importantly fought for by business owners in Walker’s Point, the reconstruction will now include many features of a complete street.

Milwaukee Talkie, the blog of the Public Policy Forum, examined the urban retail market and how to best utilize the hiring of Deanna Inniss as a business recruiter by BID #21, Milwaukee’s Downtown Business Improvement District. They noted that one large thing wasn’t on her task list, the inside of Grand Avenue Mall.

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.

Harry Drea, one of the developers of the Rivianna project, was before the committee to request an amendment to the previously approved General Planned Development, and approval of the Detailed Planned Development. The change to the original General Planned Development was to include the building’s parapet, it was an increase of four feet three inches to the buildings height, but overall the massing of the project stayed essentially the same.