The Moderne

As the US economy continued its slow recovery from the Great Recession, Milwaukee was left with a couple of failed development projects to complete, a changing real estate market, the opportunity to make small infrastructure changes, and questions about the future of transit.  In 2011, some of these ‘failed projects’ moved towards becoming successes, while the developers in town shifted from condominium development to apartments and hotels.  Small changes to the built environment came in the form of new bike infrastructure, and the conversion of streets to two-way traffic.  Although the Milwaukee County Transit System once again faced budget cuts, there was movement in bringing new modern transit service to Milwaukee in the form of express busing.

First Place on the River, Park Lafayette, and The Residences on Water all ended up in serious financial trouble, and in some cases in drawn out legal battles.  Park Lafayette, which had been considered by many a failure, became a turnaround success under the guidance of the Mandel Group in 2011 as it was converted from high-end condos to luxury apartments, and today it is 93% occupied.  Equally as impressive of a turnaround story is The Point on the River (formally First Place on the River).  The developer had run out of funding, and once the lending bank took over they brought in the  Mandel Group to complete the project.  Ever since, Mandel Group and Garrison Partners have been steadily selling units in the project, and while there were over 45 units available this time last year there are only 11 available for sale today.  The one significant project that has yet to be resolved is The Residences on Water, but signs indicate that the drawn out legal battle surrounding it is coming to a close.

The apartment market saw continued development through a strong reliance on WHEDA tax credits and other forms of  government financing (due to the weakened financial industry).  The construction of the Beerline B Apartments, which is being funded with WHEDA tax credits, nears completion.  Another WHEDA funded project, the 73-unit National City Lofts in Walker’s Point, began accepting tenants in October.  Although Mercy Housing Lakefront’s East Side apartment proposal received various city approvals, and appeared on the verge of moving forward, it failed to obtain WHEDA tax credits to support the funding of the project.  The second phase of The North End development, which will include two buildings and 155-units, gained approval for a $4.6 million loan from the City of Milwaukee and will utilize $26.9 million in WHEDA bonding to construct the project.  The most visible development in 2011 has been the construction of  the 30-story 203-unit apartment building, The Moderne.  It was financed with a $42.4 million loan from the AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust (HIT), a $9.3 million loan by the City of Milwaukee, and $5 million private equity, and expects to be topping off in early 2012.

Hotel development became a hot area of development and controversy in 2011.  The controversial Marriott Hotel project was approved by the city, and in part because of the debate more of the historic buildings than originally proposed will be saved.  Unlike the Marriott project, two other downtown hotels are being developed within historic structures without significant demolition.  A proposal that would develop a Hilton Gardens Hotel within the Historic Loyalty Building in downtown Milwaukee worked through legal issues allowing for construction to get underway.  At The Brewery, Gorman & Company has started the redevelopment of the former brewhouse building into a boutique hotel.

Alterra's On-Street Bicycle Corral

The built environment saw small, but important improvements in 2011.  Wells Street was finally converted to two-way traffic and carmaggedon didn’t follow.  The streetscaping of Broadway in the Historic Third Ward, which will tie the district together, is finally being completed.  Bay View saw Milwaukee’s first raised bike lane built, and on-street bike corrals began popping up on streets around the East Side.  S. 2nd Street, in Walker’s Point, re-opened with the new street redesign, and quickly saw numerous establishments add cafe seating, and a the construction of a new building, the Milwaukee Fix, get underway.

Transit both made steps forward and steps backwards in 2011.  As we believed would happen, cuts to mass transit funding were deep at the state level, and threatened to push MCTS off the cliff.  Although new County Executive Chris Abele worked to maintain transit service by converting some routes to express routes to save money, this still represented a net reduction in service.  At the same time, the Milwaukee Streetcar project was approved by the Common Council on a 10-5 vote this year and has now proceeded into final engineering.  Though as we feared a challenge is being made to Milwaukee’s local control.  Brett Healy, of Oconomowoc, has petitioned the Public Service Commission to rule that, despite local ordinance, the City of Milwaukee must pay the cost to re-locate utilities operating in the public rights-of-way necessitated by the streetcar construction.

In 2011 Milwaukee continued to face a difficult financial and political environment, but managed to move forward on improvements to the built environment, transit, and many significant development projects.

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.

Reed Street Yards Site Plan

At the November 22nd, 2011  meeting of the Zoning, Neighborhoods & Development Committee funds for the construction of new infrastructure within the Reed Street Yards were approved.   The 17-acre property, known as the Reed Street Yards, is located between South 6th Street and South 3rd Street, and has been targeted by the City of Milwaukee and the Water Council as the future center of Milwaukee’s water industry.  The project will be broken into two phases and include the construction of public improvements such as 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.

The financing for this project comes from TID #75, which was created in 2009 for this very purpose.  The funds to payback the TIF, will be generated through the redevelopment of a 88,000 square foot warehouse at 3rd St. and Pittsburgh Ave.  This building will become the home of the Water Council, and will house research facilities for Badger Meter and A. O. Smith, a $500,000 lab paid for by Badger Meter that will be available for tenants use, space for startup water businesses, a Viola water, energy, and transportation accelerator, UWM’s School of Freshwater Sciences, and a multitude of other entities in the water field.  According to Dean Amhaus, Water Council Executive Director, this combination of public-private partnership, in combination with startup space and the lab will make the this a “one of a kind building, from a global standpoint”.

Living Building. 538 S. 2nd Street, Milwaukee, WI

Not only is there a planned ground breaking ceremony this Thursday, May 19th, for the Milwaukee Fix, but also a ribbon cutting for the redesigned S. 2nd Street.  Both of these developments are groundbreaking events for Milwaukee.

The Milwaukee Fix, a four-story, 30,000 square-foot building, is being developed by Kaufmann LeSage, and is the first new development along this stretch of road in quite some time.  The building itself is groundbreaking as it was designed to meet the Living Building Standard which includes requirements such as the building needs to be net zero energy, operate carbon neutral, and seeks to reach zero waste.  Additionally, the building has a long list of tenants lined up including the Clock Shadow Creamery, Aurora Walker’s Point Community Clinic, The Healing Center, and CORE El Centro.

The celebration will also feature a ribbon cutting of the newly redesigned S. 2nd Street, which again is groundbreaking in its own right because the redesign represents a shift from old ideas in traffic engineering to new ones.  In particular from concepts that always favored traffic speeds and flow, to ones that considers walkability, the role that the built environment plays in creating value, and to value other modes of transportation.  It took the combined efforts of local business and property owners, with the vital assistance of the Department of Public Works to accomplish this change, and here at UrbanMilwaukee.com we applaud this effort.

These efforts celebrate the continuation of economic development, and positive momentum in Walker’s Point, in particular on S. 2nd Street. Stop by the event on Thursday, May 19th, at the SE corner of Bruce and S. 2nd Street. and at the Milwaukee Brewing Company, to help the neighborhood, and the city, celebrate this progress.

Event Activities:

4:30 pm … Milwaukee Fix groundbreaking on the SE corner of Bruce and 2nd.
5:00 pm … Milwaukee Brewing Company doors open for celebration.
5:30 pm … S. 2nd St. ribbon cutting ceremony and speeches.
6:00-9:00 pm … Local music, food, beer, spirits and businesses.

Mercy Housing Lakefront's Walker's Point Project - Preliminary Rendering by Korb Tredo Architects

Mercy Housing Lakefront is proposing a five-story apartment building, which would be located at the Southeast corner of 1st St. and Pittsburgh Ave. in Walker’s Point.  This 55 unit apartment building is intended to serve independent adults 55 and older with incomes ranging between 30% and 60% of the area median income.  The units will be one and two-bedroom apartments, 31 of which will be one-bedroom units, with the remaining 24 as two-bedroom units. The units will have rents as low as $400 per month and high as $960 per month for a two bedroom.

Similar to the other Mercy projects, the building will contain amenities and services for the tenants as well as green features.  The project will include a green roof, above the parking garage, with access for tenants to use as a public space, solar panels for heating water, and may obtain LEED certification.  The first floor will include visible uses such as workout rooms, possibly an open space for an art gallery or a salon/barbershop, and community rooms.

If Mercy Housing Lakefront is successful in gaining tax credits for the project construction would begin in late summer or early fall 2011.

INdustry Cafe's location close to proposed Milwaukee Fix.

Momentum, development, and a touch of new life on South 2nd Street in Walker’s Point?  Yes.  The complete street redesign for S. 2nd St., was just the start.  Although there is still work to be completed, the street has re-opened to two-way traffic, the bike lanes have been painted, the grass has been planted, and the wider sidewalks are in place.  And now there are signs of new life on the street.

Three new businesses are preparing to open or have opened recently on S. 2nd St., including two restaurants, and a bike shop, all of which are establishments that could take advantage of the new street improvements.  The first business to open, a new restaurant, INdustri CAFE, recently opened in the former Fuzion Cafe location, and of note, the owners included concepts for the street redesign in renderings for the new facility, indicating a desire for cafe seating on the street.  Aytan Luck is working to open a second location for Truly Spoken Cycles at 219 S. 2nd St. Luck told UrbanMilwaukee they hope to “make it easier for people who live near to downtown to get their bike serviced,” and explained that they wanted a location that people from the neighborhood could walk to if they needed repairs.  He added that “certainly the bike lanes made a difference” in regards to choosing a location.  And yesterday Molly Synder, of OnMilwaukee.com, reported that Zak’s Cafe is soon to open at 231 S. 2nd St.

In addition to the new businesses opening, a green development project is being planned just down the street from these ventures.  The Milwaukee Fix development continues to receive approvals from the city and could become a new anchor on the street in the near future.  This project has a solid list of tenants lined up, including Clock Shadow Creamery, Aurora Walker’s Point Community Clinic, The Healing Center, and CORE El Centro.

UPDATE:  Milwaukee Fix should break ground this Spring… more on this soon.

CIty of Milwaukee Police Department

Bradley Tech, a fight, gangs, guns, and more squad cars than you can count.  And no news.  Why?  What happened?

For years much of the crime reporting on the evening news worked like this:  Listen to scanner, put out news story.

But today with the Milwaukee Police Department’s move to OpenSky radios, and more importantly to digitally encrypted communications, the days of scanner based reporting are coming to an end.  Maybe that’s a good thing, because having officer communications listened to in real time could possibly impact their security.  But somewhere between MPD and MPS, a press release, statement, or a news conference should of been held to notify the public of the events.  It didn’t happen.

Representatives from MPD responded to complaints that the public wasn’t notified by pointing out that the calls for service were visible on the City of Milwaukee’s website, at least for awhile.  And yes, a close look at the page might have clued a very astute, and likely bored, reporter to notice something big had happened.  But even this would only have been possible within a short window of time, and only with very careful monitoring, as after 90 minutes the data is no longer available from the website.  Removing the data after 90 minutes is hardly open, accurate, or easily monitored.

The impact of this lack of communication has Alderman Donovan calling out Milwaukee Public Schools for a cover-up and there are citizens that think there is a MPD cover-up as well, but what is clear is there has been a lack of transparency.  Cover-up or not, what needs to be learned is that openness of public information makes for good government.

Alderman Donovan has suggested allowing certain news agencies access to the radio communications, and although that is one solution, another is to work towards providing the dispatch log in an open machine readable format.  This would offer developers and news agencies the opportunity to build mashups, a web application that combines data from multiples source, to monitor the activities of MPD.  These applications could include mapping tools, alert systems, and even monitoring applications to start, but with the addition of other data, such as liquor licenses or violations, citizens would be better prepared to work with the city in improving their neighborhoods.

This may never replace the level of detail that officer to officer communications once provided, but it could be a small step towards open government in Milwaukee and hopefully a big step away from conflict and disenfranchisement.

Living Building. 538 S. 2nd Street, Milwaukee, WI

Kaufmann LeSage, led by Juli Kaufmann, plans to develop a four-story, 30,000 square foot, environmentally-friendly commercial building, located at 538 S. 2nd Street in the Historic Walker’s Point Neighborhood.  The project, known as the Milwaukee Fix, will take green development to the next level, going beyond LEED standards.

The design calls for the building to obtain a Living Building certification, which is more difficult to obtain than LEED certification and looks at the building as an organism with a life cycle to manage.  To achieve this high level of recognition, the building will be designed to be net-zero energy, carbon neutral, and have zero storm water discharges. The building will incorporate a rooftop urban farm, on-site food composting, on-site water treatment, a greywater system to reduce water usage by 80%, and will capture rainwater with a cistern located under the building.  To meet the energy requirements it will utilize daylight harvesting, passive cooling, renewable energy, on-site geothermal, and off-site wind turbines.  Materials used to construct the building will include salvaged structural steel from local sites, and all materials will be acquired from within 500 miles of the site.  Further, during construction the goal will be to eliminate 95% of construction waste.

When asked why build a Living Building?  Juli Kaufmann responded, “On the one hand, it’s just a building.  On the other hand, it’s an opportunity to contribute what we want to our shared culture, environment, and community.  Why would we do anything less than the very best we can for Milwaukee?  It may not be perfect, I am sure people will quibble over this or that, but in the end, we can say we cared, we committed to make a difference, and we did not create just any building.  We transformed a place for our neighborhood.”

The financing of the project is a a collection of environmental and energy grants, tax credit, loans, social investors., and tenant investment.  Specifically, the project has been awarded grants from Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District, and a $900,000 Redevleopment Authority of the City of Milwaukee brownfield remediation loan.  The project was eligible for brownfield funds as the site was a former scrap yard and will require a level of environmental cleanup.  The project’s likely tenants, make up 75% of the building’s available space for rent, and include Clock Shadow Creamery, which would make cheese on the first floor of the building, Aurora Walker’s Point Community Clinic, The Healing Center, and CORE El Centro.

Related Articles:

• Rural staple coming to the city
• Cheese-making coming to Walker’s Point

Bookends North (Proposed)

Odds of New Land Enterprises project getting off the ground in the next twelve months are slim to none. Probably worse with the recent announcement that New Land satisfied a potential foreclosure by surrendering their Transera/Goll Mansion property.

Brewer’s Hill Lofts (Proposed)

Commonwealth Development Corporation received $1,313,568 in WHEDA tax credits to help finance the proposed 45-unit Brewer’s Hill Lofts on the corner of N. Holton Street and E. Brown Street. No other public details have emerged on this project yet.

Mercy Housing Lakefront – North Avenue (Proposed)

Perhaps the most active of any proposed project in the Milwaukee-area. After a number of revisions by Korb Tredo Architects and Mercy Housing Lakefront, this $8.5 million, 5-story, 54 unit project finally appears ready to seek full Common Council approval.

Mercy Housing Lakefront's proposal

North End Phase Two (Proposed)

The speed at which this $39 million second phase leaves the drawing board and breaks ground appears largely in the hands of the city at this point. Despite the eagerness the city had to finance The Moderne and the Bookends North proposals, the city to-date has not yet pushed through any type of financing the second building at The North End. The project would include two six-story buildings at 1551 N. Water Street. The Mandel Group had hoped to break ground in the spring of 2011.

Park East Commons (Proposed)

This project seems unlikely to move forward in the next twelve months, and may be dead all together. CommonBond Communities had agreed to buy a portion of the Park East block (bordered by Milwaukee, Jefferson, Lyon and Ogden) that RSC & Associates bought from Milwaukee County. CommonBond’s proposal was for 87 apartments, 61 underground parking spaces, and street-level retail (11,000 square-feet, owned by RSC). CommonBond was placed “on hold” by WHEDA for the $1,672,644 in federal affordable housing tax credits for which they applied. Prior to the CommonBond deal, RSC was approved for a $30 million bond issuance by RACM in January. To-date RSC has been unable to develop anything on the land.

The Moderne (Proposed)

The Moderne has had more false starts in the past year than the Chicago Bears. Initially, with financing from the city they hoped to break ground in November of 2009. That didn’t happen, so it was on to a planned December 2009 ground-breaking after the city awarded the proposal financing in early November. December didn’t happen, which led to Developer Rick Barrett believing February would see shovels in the ground, but due to a delay at HUD that didn’t happen. Next up was a September or October groundbreaking, which again didn’t happen because of HUD even though they awarded the project final loan guarantee approval in late August. Technically it could still happen in November, but now it looks like The Moderne will finally break ground in December of 2010 with HUD expected to finally close on the deal.

Nighttime rendering of The Moderne

Wangard Properties (Proposed)

Wangard’s proposal to develop an apartment building next to the HighBridge Condominiums on North Water Street received zoning approval in January of 2010. Wangard, as of August, was seeking a loan guarantee from HUD for the proposed 68-unit building, and had hoped to break ground in October 2010. Similar to the The Moderne, this project is still waiting on HUD to move forward.

Beerline B Apartments (Under Construction)

General Capital Group broke ground on the Beerline B Apartments in November of 2010. The project is financed in part by $2,345,310 in WHEDA tax credits. The project includes 140 units, and will occupy the long vacant corner of Commerce Street and Pleasant Street in Milwaukee’s Beerline neighborhood.

Beeerline B Apartments Rendering

Jackson Square Apartments (Under Construction)

Nearing the completion of construction in the Third Ward is Robert Joseph’s 81-unit Jackson Square Apartments.  When finished the project will feature 100+ underground parking stalls, and 9,000 square feet of retail space.  Rents will range from $800 to $1,600 with units split between one and two bedrooms.

Jackson Square Apartments Construction

National Lofts (Under Construction)

Dixon Development (Tim Dixon, Iron Horse hotel, Kramer Lofts) has begun demolition of the former Barry Trucking facility on the northeast corner of National Avenue and 1st Street. This development will be the first on the site, and will be placed at the back of the lot. It is being financed through $1.5 million in federal affordable housing tax credits.

South Water Works – Building Three (Under Construction)

Lighthouse Development is in the process of building an additional 52-unit apartment building at the South Water Works development. Construction is expected to be completed by March of 2011. Average unit size in the new development will be smaller than the neighboring Bridgeview apartments (800 vs 940 square-feet).

Corcoran Lofts (Open)

Mandel completed the Corcoran Lofts in the spring of 2010. The building is connected to the existing Gaslight Lofts, and includes 76 apartments and 3,400 square feet of retail space.

Corcoran Lofts Construction

Hide House Lofts (Open)

The Hide House Lofts were completed in November of 2010. The Bay View development features sixty units on four floors. General Capital Group and Joseph Property Development built the apartments after a contentious battle with area residents in 2009, which largely centered around the building’s use of WHEDA tax credits to finance part of its construction. The Hide House Lofts replaced the portion of the Greenebaum tannery complex built in the 1940′s, the portion built in 1898 still stands.

Hide House Lofts Construction

Latitude Apartments (Open)

The Latitude Apartments were completed in August 2010. Originally a project of New Land Enterprises, the Latitude Apartments won full zoning approval from the Milwaukee Common Council in December 2008 and was sold to Dermond Property Investments for $2.1 million in January 2009.  The project is located at the intersection of Kenilworth Ave. and Farwell Ave. just across from the Kenilworth Square Apartments.  The $13 million project features 90 units, and 7,500 square feet of street-level retail.  The units are broken down into 71 one-bedroom units and 19 studios.  Units range in size from 650 to 1,000 square feet.  The project includes 90 underground parking spaces, with 13 reserved for retail tenants.

Latitude Apartments

Water

Much like cities around the world, Milwaukee owes its existence to water.  Access to fresh water allowed it to become the Brew City, fueled its development, and was quite literally why it is located where it is, at the gathering of waters.  This history has given the Milwaukee area a firm foundation in water technology and research that can be applied to water issues facing the world.

The reality that 38,000 children die each week because of the lack of clean drinking water is devastating, but it also speaks to the need for simple affordable clean water technology. The fact that a cotton t-shirt requires 1,514 liters of water to produce, again calls for advanced water technology in this case to make the manufacturing process more efficient, while helping the environment and the bottom line. And knowing that almost half of America’s river and lakes are too polluted for activities like fishing, and swimming calls for improved runoff handling, improved filtration, and enhanced treatment plant operations.

The M7 has recognized this world wide crisis and has been pushing to make Milwaukee into a key player in the water revolution, through its M7 Water Council initiative. The vision, quite simply, is to bring industry, universities, local government, and public policy together, working towards the common goal of providing the research and technology helping to solve the world’s water problems.

Already, there is tangible progress being made on this initiative.  Marquette University has expanded its law curriculum to include water rights legislation, UWM is moving forward on its new School of Freshwater Sciences, the City of Milwaukee has begun working towards turning the Reed Street Yards in to water industry hub, and American Micro Detection Systems Inc. is planning a move to Milwaukee.  These are just a few of the ongoing efforts involved in the M7 Water Council, and hopefully just the start.

Certainly, there are other regions and cities well poised for this opportunity, but why not Milwaukee, Wisconsin?

Sabbatic

After years of working with the Department of Public Works, neighborhood residents, property owners, and business owners were able to convince the City of Milwaukee to redesign S. 2nd Street to fit the needs of the neighborhood.  To look beyond building freeways through our city, and instead to focus on people instead of cars, walkers instead of speeders, neighbors instead of commuters, and active businesses instead of boarded-up warehouses. The plan included ideas such as wider sidewalks, street trees, bike lanes, and the removing a lane of automobile traffic.

While construction has been on-going for several months now, the first stage of construction is complete and the second stage is underway.  The second stage includes the reconstruction of the eastern section of the roadway and sidewalk, and installing new grass, trees, and lighting.  Although the time during construction is difficult for local business, and is certainly an on-going struggle, the redesign was widely supported in the neighborhood.

Here at UrbanMilwaukee.com we’re happy to see these kind of quality of life, urban improvements moving along and want to do our part to help businesses through the construction. So please join us for our first UrbanMilwaukee.com S. 2nd Street Happy Hour.  We’ll be having it at Sabbatic on Friday, October 15th, 2010 starting at 5 pm.  Stop in for one before you head out for Gallery Night.