Contentious Downer Ave. Parking Garage Rises
New Land Enterprises‘ $55 million Downer Ave. development project is going up quickly despite pending legal action. The first phase consists of a parking garage, designed by Scott Kindness of Workshop Architects, that includes first floor retail and has undergone numerous redesigns in an attempt to better fit the neighborhood. Despite the changes some neighbors felt these concessions didn’t go far enough and filed a lawsuit against the City of Milwaukee and DAPL LLC seeking to stop construction . The results of today’s hearing is unknown at press time but it is seems New Land Enterprises and the City of Milwaukee believe this case will be dismissed as development has moved ahead at a brisk pace. Despite the contentious nature of the project the overall goal of adding density and new business to the Downer Ave. district should have the long run impact of bringing vibrancy and business back to this urban commercial district.
Related Links
Historic Preservation Commission Meeting – Monday, May 14, 2007
Hmm… that structure doesn’t look too bad. What will go next door to it? It looks like there’s still quite a bit of space to the North. Do you know the # of parking spots vs. what was there before?
Well that’s only the first half of the structure it will essentially fill the entire lot. Though on the corner directly across from Cafe Hollander will be a retail space and I believe a second retail space will be located along Downer as well. I think the old lot had 29 spots and this will have around 130 of which 29 spots will be allocated to public parking. And the other 100 or so going toward parking for the new offices on Downer. NOTE The exact numbers maybe slightly off as it has been tweak many many times.
Gotcha… hopefully the retail portion is not too tall and dominating… it’s too bad there are not a few extra public parking places in there. All in all though, its looking better than I thought it would.
Yea I’m still undecided on if I think it will come out looking ok but I believe it is worth it despite the neighborhood issues because of the rest of the development that you get with it. Further I think the garage itself is a bit better than normal garages as it will have some retail to keep the street activated.
Further this development will include curb bump outs, pocket parks and many other streetscape improvements paid for by the developer so all in all it could come out a big plus for Downer.