County Threatened With Lakefront Lawsuit
County committee okays negotiations with The Couture developer, despite a casual threat of lawsuit.
The Couture Rendering
At the Monday special meeting of the Milwaukee County Economic and Community Development Committee, the plan to start negotiations between Milwaukee County and developer Rick Barrett to purchase the Downtown Transit Center received approval. Barrett plans to develop a 44-story, $125 million high-rise known as The Couture. The building would include a hotel with 80 rooms and 179 apartments if built.
Despite supporting Sup. Patricia Jursik‘s efforts to block this measure from being heard in July, County Board Chairwoman Marina Dimitrijevic actually brought the resolution to open the negotiations forward. The resolution includes various conditions that must be met before the county board would approval a land sale. These included: getting a fair market value price for the land, signing a development agreement that includes parts of the Park East Redevelopment Contract, which includes minority and resident participation requirements, and gaining assurances that the site isn’t in violation of the Public Trust Doctrine.
Despite the information provided by the DNR, John Lunz, President of Preserve our Parks, spoke in opposition to the project, insisting that this is a protected site. Lunz warned the committee members that “there’s always the possibility that someone is going to take them to court.”
The resolution was unanimously approved and will go before the full County Board of Supervisors on Thursday, July 26th.
More about the Couture
- Plats and Parcels: NBA Player Plans Downtown Apartments - Jeramey Jannene - Oct 13th, 2019
- Transportation: Couture Streetcar Extension Decision Pushed to June 2020 - Jeramey Jannene - Oct 2nd, 2019
- Transportation: City Struggles on Couture Streetcar Extension - Jeramey Jannene - Sep 12th, 2019
- MKE County: Supervisors Question Couture Project - Graham Kilmer - Sep 11th, 2019
- Plats and Parcels: The Couture Getting New Signage - Jeramey Jannene - Aug 25th, 2019
- Plats and Parcels: The Couture Changes Financing Plan - Jeramey Jannene - Jul 28th, 2019
- Transportation: City Confident Couture Won’t Block Streetcar - Jeramey Jannene - Jun 5th, 2019
- Plats and Parcels: The Couture Gets Financing Extension - Graham Kilmer - May 27th, 2019
- Plats and Parcels: The Couture Gets Financing Extension - Graham Kilmer - Mar 10th, 2019
- MKE County: County Committee Mollified on Couture - Graham Kilmer - Dec 4th, 2018
- Eyes on Milwaukee: The Couture Cleared for Takeoff - Jeramey Jannene - Nov 2nd, 2018
- Plats and Parcels: The Couture Still in Limbo - Graham Kilmer - Oct 21st, 2018
- Plats and Parcels: County Officials Suggest Taking Back Couture Site - Graham Kilmer - Sep 16th, 2018
- Eyes on Milwaukee: Multiple Tower Groundbreakings in 2018 - Jeramey Jannene - Apr 11th, 2018
- Eyes on Milwaukee: Couture Seeks Commercial Tenants - Jeramey Jannene - Dec 4th, 2017
- Eyes on Milwaukee: Council Okays Couture Sewer Subsidy - Jeramey Jannene - May 31st, 2017
- Eyes on Milwaukee: Couture’s Surprise Sewer Being Moved - Jeramey Jannene - May 23rd, 2017
- Eyes on Milwaukee: City Approves The Couture - Jeramey Jannene - Apr 18th, 2017
- Changes Made to Couture’s Design - Graham Kilmer - Apr 10th, 2017
- Eyes on Milwaukee: Second Lakefront Tower Coming? - Jeramey Jannene - Mar 3rd, 2017
- Photo Gallery: Transit Center Tower Demolition - Jeramey Jannene - Jan 8th, 2017
- Friday Photos: Goodbye Downtown Transit Center - Jeramey Jannene - Dec 30th, 2016
- Eyes on Milwaukee: The Couture is Finally Happening - Jeramey Jannene - Aug 11th, 2016
- New Front Door for Lakefront - Jeramey Jannene - Mar 11th, 2013
- County Threatened With Lakefront Lawsuit - Dave Reid - Jul 24th, 2012
- Photo Gallery: The Couture Press Conference - Jeramey Jannene - Jul 16th, 2012
- The Chatter: Abele vs County Board — Again - Bruce Murphy - Jul 12th, 2012
- 44-Floor Tower Proposed for Lakefront - Jeramey Jannene - Jul 11th, 2012
What an unbelievably stupid waste of time. Shame, shame, shame on these people who cannot see the forest for the trees. They humiliate themselves and everyone else in Milwaukee by totally misunderstanding what is quality development and what is not. No one is taking away parkland here. This is an enhancement to the lakefront, not a hindrance.
Everything planned for our lakefront is an “enhancement of the lakefront” – everything – in the eyes of its planner. There is a map of many dots, of all the things – even a “Clown Museum” – that could have been located on the lake front had there been no rules about usage.
@Bill Right we do have rules about usage. And from what I can tell (this is my understanding) it is about lakebed grants, not simply lakebed or filled land as otherwise that could apply to the Menomonee Valley, much of downtown Milwaukee, and all sorts of sites in Wisconsin. And the line for the protected lakebed grants is in the middle of Lincoln Memorial, which is what the DNR informed the County in 2011.