Wasting no time, the Department of Public Works has already began work on the conversion of Wells Street to a two-way street throughout downtown.

With the announcement that Target is opening a CityTarget store on State Street in Chicago’s The Loop Neighborhood, the idea of a downtown Milwaukee Target has been generating a considerable amount of buzz in the past few weeks. Unfortunately for those wishing to shop at a downtown Target, none of that buzz has come from Target. Assuming Target was interested though, what location and store format would best match the desires of Target-loving shoppers with the needs of the city to continue to develop a healthy urban core in and around downtown? Let’s explore.

Downtown Milwaukee is blessed with four full-service, affordable fitness centers. The Wisconsin Athletic Club, Downtown YMCA, Bally Total Fitness, and newcomer Gold’s Gym most of which are located along the Wisconsin Avenue corridor that is the heart of the central business district. They vary in size and services, but all are large gyms that provide personal training services. Given that downtown is well served by three full-service gyms, is there a market for a small, no-frills 24-hour gym?

Department of City Development staff presented the Downtown Plan Update at the September 15th 2010 Zoning, Neighborhoods & Development Committee meeting. Similar to the City Plan Commission meeting staff presented the overall themes and the eight catalytic projects, which are geared towards increasing density and connectivity throughout downtown, whiles creating a sense of place.

Cities across the country are in the process of constructing or exploring ways to turn freeways into public space. The most notable example of this freeway-to-park transition is Boston’s Big Dig project, which turned the elevated Central Artery freeway (Interstate 93) into a 3.5-mile tunnel and replaced it with the Rose Kennedy Greenway. The Boston project was incredibly expensive, but it’s hard to imagine downtown Boston and The North End with a freeway dividing them today. Turning freeways into parks appears to be a wise solution when a city’s central business district (many of which are encircled in freeways) run out of land that can be easily developed or when the freeway serves as a barrier between two successful urban neighborhoods. Would it be wise to implement such an idea in Milwaukee?

Daniel Burnham famously said “Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men’s blood and probably will not themselves be realized.” Burnham, co-author of the famous 1909 Plan of Chicago, had a vision for a much grander Chicago. What he probably didn’t forsee was Chicagoan’s fulfilling that vision 100 years later by building massive pieces of public art. The latest iteration of Chicago’s fascination with large public art is located across the street from the iconic Harold Washington Library in Pritzker Park just northwest of the intersection State Street and Van Buren Street. What is it? A three-story tall eye balll, dubbed the EYE.

The single greatest week of eating in Milwaukee starts tomorrow. The fifth edition of Downtown Dining Week will kick off on June 3rd and run through June 10th. Lunch meals are available for $10, and dinner is available for $20 (or $30 at a handful of places) at numerous downtown restaurants. If you’re looking to sample a lot downtown eateries, this is your week. All meals are three courses.

The Frontier Airlines Center performs an important function for the Milwaukee region as a whole, bringing thousands of people to Milwaukee for conventions both big and small. It helps inject life into downtown by filling hotel rooms, restaurants, and bars. The convention center building itself though lacks that vitality.

Fast forward a few years and assume that the Bucks were able to land a new arena in Milwaukee. Let’s assume that arena was built in the Park East lot north of the Bradley Center (what today is a large piece of gravel where a freeway once stood), and that the tenant list includes the Milwaukee Bucks, Marquette men’s basketball team, huge concerts, and Milwaukee Admirals. Milwaukee enters into a unique situation of having three arenas in a row. Being that Milwaukee doesn’t have the need for three facilities in excess of 10,000+ seats in the region, let alone next to one another, which do you get rid of?

Could indoor gardens be in store for The Shops of Grand Avenue future? It could happen if the mall follows in the steps of a similar mall in downtown Cleveland, the Galleria at Erieview.