Northwestern Mutual Wins Key Vote To Close Cass Street
But not without derision, and the suggestion to create an open-air passageway for the public.
Northwestern Mutual‘s $500 million proposal to relocate its suburban employees to Downtown and dramatically overhaul its aging, 18-story North Building comes with a catch: the city must give up one block of N. Cass Street between E. Wells Street and E. Mason Street.
The company intends to build a glassy structure atop the street, linking its revamped tower with a rehabilitated parking structure. A plaza would be constructed along E. Mason Street, facing its 32-story Tower and Commons.
The Department of City Development (DCD) and Mayor Cavalier Johnson endorsed the request, and a $30 million subsidy agreement, when the company unveiled the deal to great fanfare in February. The Common Council concurred, unanimously adopting the agreement in March.
DCD Commissioner Lafayette Crump said the company’s investment, in an era of remote work, reinforced that Downtown was the premiere job center in the Milwaukee area and a leader in the Midwest.
“It helps send the message that those companies don’t need to locate in the suburbs to get the kind of campus, the kind of properties they want,” said Crump to the Public Works Committee on Wednesday.
But not everyone loves the street closure part of the proposal, in part because the insurance company will only let the public cross through the resulting building between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. on weekdays. Bikes will be allowed during that time, but only if someone dismounts and navigates through a series of doors.
The city’s citizen-led Pedestrian and Bicycle Advisory Committee (PBAC) formally objected to the proposal. “The City should not give up this valuable right of way without ensuring that 24/7 public and outdoor access for pedestrians and bicyclists is maintained,” it wrote in a letter.
PBAC cited the new downtown plan, which calls for discouraging street vacations. It also cited the city’s 2019 decision to vacate streets near the Master Lock campus, only for the company to announce it was shuttering the plant in 2023 and the city having no recourse to get its streets back.
But Crump said the new plan says “discourage, not prohibit” and that the impact to the grid would be minimal because N. Cass Street terminates at E. Mason St. “Does it significantly alter any trips for pedestrians or cyclists? It does not because the block is closed to the south,” said the commissioner.
Crump and DCD economic development specialist Dan Casanova said revenue from the project would pay for pedestrian and bike amenities on nearby streets, including a new protected bicycle lane on E. Kilbourn Avenue, rebuilding oversized intersections, adding a sidewalk along N. Lincoln Memorial Drive and reconstructing the Oak Leaf Trail. A separate project will build north-south protected lanes on N. Van Buren Street, the west side of the campus.
Northwestern Mutual vice president Steve Radke said the company would be upgrading E. Mason Street into an “inspiring” gateway to the lakefront and Oak Leaf Trail.
But area Alderman Robert Bauman pushed back.
“The very narrow question is: could you not achieve all of this and also allow an open-air, even covered passage down Cass Street?” he asked.
He suggested the glass lobby, which will double as a 10,000-square-foot event space, could be retracted at its western side where it abuts the parking structure.
“There is a strong connection there that we believe is very important,” said Pickard Chilton senior associate John Lanczycki, whose firm is designing the building.
“But you’re connecting to a parking lot,” said Bauman, who otherwise effusively praised the design. “I am convinced that your firm has the capability of designing an open-air passage that is just as spectacular, beautiful and functional as that.”
Northwestern Mutual vice president Rebecca Villegas, who is leading the project, said the company needs the space to host events. “We are actually at capacity for the number of the events we can host,” she told the committee of the Commons space across the street.
A 14,000-square-foot plaza would be located south of the connector space, which Radke and Villegas said would be another public space. A food-and-beverage tenant, possibly similar to Starbucks in the Commons, could occupy a space in the revamped North Building and utilize the plaza.
“Just so we’re clear, this is private property the public is being allowed to pass through 12 hours a day, five day a week,” said Bauman.
There are two parts of the deal PBAC was successful in getting DCD to modify. A clawback provision was added that allows the city to take back the right of way if the campus becomes vacant.
It also requires NM and the city to work on signage to make sure the passageway is clearly marked and labeled as publicly accessible. “We will work out the details with them,” said Crump.
Bauman, citing the lack of in-person opposition from PBAC members or other members of the public, pivoted to supporting the deal. He suggested “alternatives could be developed” by the company to nix the entire deal.
Ald. Jonathan Brostoff suggested the deal could have been structured differently and warned that the decision would be precedent-setting. Ald. Russell W. Stamper, II confirmed with Bauman that the Fiserv Forum plaza was still owned by the city, but withdrew any concerns citing the lack of in-person citizen opposition.
But PBAC vice chair Mitchell Henke told Urban Milwaukee after the meeting he still has concerns about the agreement because it’s not 24/7 access. “I am glad to see the improvements of including reversion rights and requiring the limited access going forward, though it’s subject to some exclusions like events, safety, etc,” he said.
The company representatives said Northwestern Mutual aims to be a good Milwaukee citizen and that its efforts, which will create a second glassy tower to match its first, are representative of that. Radke noted that many of the events are for nonprofit groups, while Villegas touted the company’s commitment to bicycling. “We will be having an even bigger bike room for employees going forward,” she said.
Project consultant, former city planning manager and UW-Milwaukee School of Architecture and Urban Planning dean emeritus Robert Greenstreet said it wasn’t a critical street to worry about vacating and the project would enhance the city’s connection to the lakefront.
Milwaukee Downtown CEO Beth Weirick, real estate broker Bruce Westling and restaurateur Mike Buckley all spoke in favor of the deal. Buckley, who owns and operates Buckley’s at E. Wells St. and N. Cass St., said driver behavior at his intersection is an “accident waiting to happen” and he expected that to improve with it becoming a three-way intersection.
The committee unanimously endorsed the agreement. Sending it to the full council for a vote on July 11.
For additional information on the complicated Northwestern Mutual subsidy agreement, see our earlier coverage.
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Related Legislation: File 230046
More about the Northwestern Mutual North Building Redevelopment
- See Inside Downtown’s Biggest Construction Project - Jeramey Jannene - Oct 10th, 2024
- Friday Photos: Northwestern Mutual’s Unbuilding Changes Skyline - Jeramey Jannene - Jul 5th, 2024
- Convenience Store Coming to Northwestern Mutual Campus, Starbucks Moving - Sophie Bolich - Mar 14th, 2024
- Eyes on Milwaukee: Northwestern Mutual Makes ‘Skyline-Defining’ Bet On Downtown - Jeramey Jannene - Oct 3rd, 2023
- Eyes on Milwaukee: Northwestern Mutual Names Tower Team - Jeramey Jannene - Jul 11th, 2023
- Eyes on Milwaukee: Northwestern Mutual Wins Key Vote To Close Cass Street - Jeramey Jannene - Jun 29th, 2023
- Eyes on Milwaukee: Northwestern Mutual’s Glassy Second Tower Is A Go - Jeramey Jannene - Mar 21st, 2023
- Eyes on Milwaukee: Council Strongly Supports Northwestern Mutual Deal - Jeramey Jannene - Mar 14th, 2023
- Eyes on Milwaukee: City Board Endorses $30 Million For NM’s $500 Million Tower Project - Jeramey Jannene - Feb 16th, 2023
- Eyes on Milwaukee: Northwestern Mutual To Create Second Glassy Tower With $500 Million Investment - Jeramey Jannene - Feb 2nd, 2023
Read more about Northwestern Mutual North Building Redevelopment here
Political Contributions Tracker
Displaying political contributions between people mentioned in this story. Learn more.
- October 9, 2019 - Cavalier Johnson received $100 from Beth Weirick
- May 13, 2019 - Cavalier Johnson received $100 from Beth Weirick
- April 22, 2019 - Cavalier Johnson received $50 from Lafayette Crump
- May 13, 2016 - Cavalier Johnson received $100 from Beth Weirick
- February 20, 2016 - Cavalier Johnson received $250 from Robert Bauman
- July 20, 2015 - Russell W. Stamper, II received $50 from Lafayette Crump
- October 15, 2014 - Robert Bauman received $100 from Lafayette Crump
- September 8, 2014 - Robert Bauman received $100 from Lafayette Crump
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In the annual world’s most livable city ratings, much is made
of the absence of friction.
The frustration of traffic congestion is friction.
Milwaukee has a long rap sheet of creating more places to go and fewer ways to get there (street closures).
Besides disrupting traffic flows, closures make life harder for police, fire, and rescue efforts. Not to mention the people these agencies are trying to help. And then there is traffic routing around construction, accidents, events etc.
Sooo…. What new events are we going to get, and how will they
contribute to our civic betterment?
This project involves vacating and privatizing yet-another public street in Milwaukee.
Public officials, urbanists and anyone who cares about downtowns and public spaces, would do well to consider:
Are we trying to attract suburbanites to Downtown by creating de-facto “gated campuses” where workers and visitors can be sure of interacting ONLY with self-selected others?
Downtown Milwaukee is sometimes citied as “lacking vibrancy” by wide-ranging voices. Are projects, including this one, being evaluated for how they will make Downtown even less welcoming and less inclusive?
As urban spaces tell people, whether overtly, or through various cues, that only certain people belong in that space, that space serves to support separation rather than community. That can be true even when it remains, at least on paper, a “public space.”
Jane Jacobs wrote about how “Downtowns are for people.” The Devil is in the details.
@Virginia Small –
“Are we trying to attract suburbanites to Downtown by creating de-facto “gated campuses” where workers and visitors can be sure of interacting ONLY with self-selected others?”
You hit the nail on the head. Many downtown employees from the suburbs refuse to leave their office buildings other than to get to their cars. They are too afraid to even go out to lunch. Their entire world view is the right-wing hate/fear propaganda universe.