ThriveOn King Aims to Transform North Side
‘The stars aligned’ for collaboration of medical college, Greater Milwaukee Foundation and others.
The Greater Milwaukee Foundation and a handful of Medical College of Wisconsin programs are gearing up to move into a new home together on the North Side.
The organizations will share part of the 455,000 square-foot building that was formerly a Gimbels-Schuster’s department store in a community outreach partnership they’re calling the ThriveOn Collaboration.
The collaboration will be housed in ThriveOn King, at 2153 N. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr., near where the Halyard Park, Harambee and Brewers Hill neighborhoods meet.
COVID-19 has complicated the anticipated timeline for construction at ThriveOn King, but the organizations hope to begin renovations on the $100 million project sometime this spring and are looking to open its doors in spring 2022.
Kenneth Robertson, executive vice president, chief operating officer and chief financial officer of the foundation, said the partnership between the foundation and the Medical College began about three years ago when the organizations recognized their similar desire to work more closely with the community.
“The stars aligned,” Robertson said.
ThriveOn King will be home to the foundation’s headquarters and a handful of Medical College programs, including the Center for AIDS Intervention Research, the Institute for Health and Equity, offices of Epidemiology, Community Engagement, Cancer Center Outreach and the Center for Advancing Population Science.
In addition to housing the organizations’ independent operations, the foundation and the Medical College will work with Royal Capital Group, the owner and developer of the six-story building, to provide a space for community engagement.
The ultimate goal? To use “a range of strategies to invest in the health, equity and economic well-being of people across Milwaukee,” the website says.
The building will also include office spaces for other potential partners and over 70 mixed-income housing units ranging from one bedroom to four bedrooms.
Meeting people where they are
The Greater Milwaukee Foundation is currently at 101 W. Pleasant St. in Schlitz Park. The motivation behind moving operations to the North Side, Robertson said, is to better connect with the people the foundation seeks to serve.
“If we want to meet people where they are, we have to be in the communities they’re in,” he said.
Robertson said that the organizations have made efforts to include community voices throughout the planning process, including forming a Community Advisory Council. The council is made up of 15 individuals living in the surrounding neighborhoods who are tapped to give input on grant-making decisions and other program initiatives.
Dalvery Blackwell, a resident of Harambee, has been a member of the Community Advisory Council for about a year. Blackwell has long been an advocate for her neighbors as a co-founder of the Historic Third Street Residents Council. The council formed to discuss the concerns of residents in and around the eight-block rectangle formed by North First Street, West Center Street, North King Drive and West North Avenue.
Blackwell said she is glad community voices are being included in the decision-making process.
Most recently, the Community Advisory Council helped the ThriveOn Collaboration decide which four neighborhood organizations would be awarded grant money totaling $30,000.
“For me, the priority is to continue to engage the residents so they feel that they have a voice and that they can contribute to this opportunity that’s available in our neighborhood,” she said.
Tell them what you think
The project’s community engagement team hosts two virtual office hour sessions per week: from 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Mondays and from 2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Tuesdays through April 27. To share your thoughts about the partnership or to be added to the ThriveOn Collaboration mailing list, email communityengagement@greatermilwaukeefoundation.org.
This story was originally published by Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service, where you can find other stories reporting on fifteen city neighborhoods in Milwaukee.
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More about the Schuster's redevelopment
- Plats and Parcels: ThriveOn King Project Grows By $20 Million - Jeramey Jannene - Nov 14th, 2021
- ThriveOn King Aims to Transform North Side - Caroline White - Feb 20th, 2021
- Eyes on Milwaukee: Former Gimbels Will Be “ThriveOn King” - Jeramey Jannene - Jan 26th, 2021
- Foundation makes new impact investments of more than $11 million - Greater Milwaukee Foundation - Dec 18th, 2020
- Eyes on Milwaukee: $85 Million Bronzeville Project Now “ThriveOn Collaboration” - Jeramey Jannene - Sep 10th, 2020
- Eyes on Milwaukee: City Subsidy for Schuster’s Project Okayed - Jeramey Jannene - Nov 19th, 2019
- Eyes on Milwaukee: RACM Approves Deal for Schuster’s - Jeramey Jannene - Oct 17th, 2019
- Eyes on Milwaukee: City Contributing Up To $15 Million to Schuster’s Project - Jeramey Jannene - Oct 4th, 2019
- Eyes on Milwaukee: $100 Million Will Transform Old Schuster’s - Jeramey Jannene - Mar 26th, 2019
Read more about Schuster's redevelopment here