Transportation
City Confident Couture Won’t Block Streetcar
Federal grant at risk if lakefront extension to The Couture isn't running by end of 2020.
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Federal grant at risk if lakefront extension to The Couture isn't running by end of 2020. Back to the full article.
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RE: “Milwaukee County sold the multi-acre site to Barrett for $500,000 in part because of the need to build a transit station in the building’s base or pay back the federal government.”
Jeramey, could you confirm the above? I recall price, discounted by about $9 million, was established by the Abele Administration, to make the project “feasible.” Was the streetcar even approved at the time?
RE: What happens if The Couture never gets built and no transit provisions are made on the site? Milwaukee County would owe the Federal Transit Administration millions of dollars. The integration of the transit lines into the base of the building was designed in response to demolishing the federally-funded Downtown Transit Center that was not yet 30 years old.”
So what was the rush in doing demolition before the project was actually funded? The Transit Center included an event space (Harbor Lights Room) that was generating income for Milwaukee County. That space could still be generating money and now it’s just another unsightly, highly visible vacant lot. And County taxpayers are now on the hook if the project does not get built.