Looking at Minneapolis, Melissa Kovach, observes that even with a light-rail line, nearby downtown sporting events, and anchor tenants, the urban mall, Block E, still has a vacancy rate equivelant to Grand Avenue’s (30%).

The way to a healthy urban retail environment proposed by the Public Policy Forum is to focus on unique, indepdent retailers at the street-level.  Words of wisdom that sound similar to what we concluded when we explored the idea of rebuilding the Shops of Grand Avenue.

It’s great to see more and more people coming around to the idea that an urban shopping center that is simply a clone of the suburbs will fail.

What survives?  Look at the Delmar Loop in St. Louis.  An urban neighborhood served by a light-rail line, with good urban, street-level design.  Every time I visit the area, it seems to grow bigger and healthier.

What do we have to look at locally? The Third Ward.  No fixed transit connections, but it is served by two bus lines.  Most importantly though is the extensive network of street-level retail establishments with offices and condos above.  Good urban design grows upon itself, unlike a stationary mall.  This is no more evident than in the growth of the Fifth Ward where retail, offices, and condos are spilling over from the Third Ward.  The Fifth Ward, officially known as Walker’s Pointer is located just south of the Third Ward, and has seen projects like South Water Works spring up over the past year, and now Riviana appears to be moving forward again even in a down economy.

There is also the East Side concept of dorm-oriented development that appears to be taking hold.

By bringing in Deanna Inniss as a recruiter and taking the inside of Grand Avenue off of her plate, she is poised to build off the success of the Third Ward and spread that unique urban shopping experience to the rest of downtown. Godspeed to Deanna, and kudos to BID #21 for bringing her in and not saddling her baggage of bad ideas past.

Both the General Planned Development, and the Detailed Planned Development for the Rivianna project were approved at the Common Council meeting.  The $80 million Rivianna project consists of three 15-story towers that will include apartments, a hotel, and first floor retail. The developer, Rivianna Development Group, intends to break ground soon after obtaining financing, and has pledged to meet the requirements of the M.O.R.E. ordinance despite not requesting any city financing as of this time.  The associated file for the project were approved with only Alderman Bauman being recorded as a no vote.

At the recent meeting of the Zoning, Neighborhoods & Development Committee the committee overruled a interim decision by the Historic Preservation Commission which designated the entire Hide House Complex as historic .  The ZND Committee found that only the buildings built in 1898 were historic, and removed the more recent buildings from protection.  Alderman Zielinski, who has been working with neighbors to stop the Hide House proposal, made a motion to amend the ZND Committee’s decision and restore the historic preservation to the entire Hide House complex.  Despite the matter at hand specifically regarding only the historic designation of a property, not the proposed development, AldermanZielinski continued his line of discussion regarding the lack of a public meeting saying “I think that just about every alderman here would want a public meeting.”  It is important to note that the proposed low-income apartment building is legally allowed under its current zoning.

Oddly, Alderman Zielinski pointed to Empowerment Village as a positive example of his intervention in development projects saying “we defeated that proposal for development along the river.”  He indicated that he helped the developer of the Empowerment Village find another site, and that the developer was content with the new site.  Although Empowerment Village was eventually able to be built, albeit as a smaller project than originally planned, in that case the property owner was the City of Milwaukee, whereas General Capital Group currently owns the Hide House property and has invested significant funds into the sites redevelopment.

Weighing in on whether or not the process use to split the historic designation was proper Alderman Bauman compared the Hide House complex to a single home saying, “it’s one address, one building,” and made the analogy that the home had various additions added to it after its initial construction.  He argued that “we’re saying part of the house is historic, part of the house isn’t historic.”  Because of this he argued that the motion made at the Historic Preservation Commission was the appropriate motion and added that “I didn’t think it was legally appropriate to split a parcel.”  This argument seemed to be a response to Assistant City Attorney Gregg Hagopian’s statements at the ZND Committee meeting that indicated the designation of an entire complex wasn’t within the bounds of interim designation law, and that the law only allowed a single structure to be designated.

Alderman Witkowiak explained that “we had this debate for three hours at committee,” and asked the council to vote against Alderman Zielinski’s simple amendment.  The motion to approve Alderman Zielinski’s amendment failed on a 4 to 10 vote.  This vote upheld the decision of the Zoning, Neighborhoods & Development Committee which will allow General Capital Group to begin the demolition of the existing structure and start work on the 60-unit apartment building.

The Rivianna, at 236 S. Water St., will be made up of three 15-story towers, have up to 186 residential units and 236 hotel rooms.  As had been pointed out at the City Plan Commission meeting theRivianna project no longer includes helipads, or the waterfall feature.  The designed has been further defined since it was last before the committee.  The balconies are now inset into the building, the loading docks are hidden in the bulk of the building, and the Riverwalk will feature an elevator to insure ADA compliance.  It was also indicated that the proposal will still contain some affordable units.  The construction itself will create about 1,000 jobs of which 100% will be union labor, and the project will adhere to standards of M.O.R.E. ordinance.

Alderman Bauman, and residents from the Marine Terminal Lofts, which is located across the river, spoke in opposition to the project, generally due to the building’s height being taller than buildings in the Third Ward.  AldermanBauman stated his opposition saying that “the built environment is very important,” and that in his opinion “this is an example of bad urban planning.

Alderman Witkowiak responded to the concerns of the residents of the Marine Terminal Lofts saying that “most of the people on the south side of the river don’t feel that way.”  He explained that his constituents don’t think it should be consistent on both side, and he added his constituents believe “let’s be a little more creative,” and “let’s be different than they are in the Third Ward.”  Both approvals being requested at this committee meeting regarding theRivianna project were approved and will now go before the full Common Council.

Gorman & Company, and the Northwest Side Community Development Corporation were before the committee seeking an amendment to the Detailed Planned Development known as Villard Square.  The proposed mixed-use building will have space for the new the Villard Avenue Library as well as 47 apartments.  Although the library has yet to sign a lease for the space all intentions are to open the library in the Spring of 2011.

Alderman Witkowiak spoke in strong support of the project saying that “this maybe a model of libraries in the future,” and added “I’m looking forward to seeing this project.”  Paula Kiley, the Director of the Milwaukee Public Library, explained that this mixed-use concept is being explored, and that “other libraries have been identified for similar treatment.”  This file was approved and will now go before the full Common Council.

A Riverwalk Development Agreement with Schlitz RiverCenter LLC was before the committee to layout the terms regarding the redevelopment of the Riverwalk at 1505 North Rivercenter Drive.  The second amendment to the District 22, Beerline B, TIF was also before the committee.  This amendment would expand the boundary to include five additional parcels.  It also would fund 70% of the cost to bring the portion of Riverwalk, at 1505 North Rivercenter Drive, into compliance with the Riverwalk guidelines, and complete additional repairs.  As this section was built in 1998, prior to the guidelines, this agreement will also grant the City of Milwaukee a permanent public access easement.

This amendment also cleared the way for funding if a new section of Riverwalk is constructed at intersection of Brady St. and Water St.  The development would be eligible to receive a grant from the expanded TIF.  It was noted that with this expansion the TIF would still fully recover its costs by 2015, which would be five years prior to the statutory limit.  Both of these were approved and will now go before the full Common Council.

Three residents spoke in opposition to the project, primarily due to the buildings height, its perceived negative visual impact, and typical concerns of parking and traffic.  Richard Koenings, of the Marine Terminal Lofts Condominium Association, stated “I’m hugely in favor of development,” but went on to say that he opposes this proposal.  In addition to the residents Alderman Bauman spoke in opposition to the project saying “frankly I do think this is a mistake.”

The City Plan Commissoin voted in support of the proposal with only one vote in opposition.  This proposal will now go before the Zoning, Neighborhoods & Development Committee.

If approved by the Common Concil, the project would be approved for an 19-story building with 186 residential units, 236 guest rooms, and first floor office/retail.

Even with approval construction is not imminent.  Approval will allow the project to finalize its financing and move towards fruition.