Near West Side Stakeholders Reimagine 35th Street

Timothy Wolosoz (bottom right) of Engberg Anderson leads a group at the 35th Street charrette. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

What could the future N. 35th Street be?

Organized by Near West Side Partners, several dozen people gathered Thursday at Harley-Davidson‘s headquarters for an all-day event to redesign the arterial street and reenvision several key sites along it.

“What’s really cool about 35th Street is it has these bigger sites where there’s really some opportunity to think about what really could happen there,” NWSP Executive Director Lindsey St. Arnold Bell.

The street runs nearly from the southern tip to the northern edge of the city, but those gathered Thursday were focused on the most urban section from Interstate 794 north to W. Vliet Street.

“When I’m on 35th Street, I see a lot of possibilities,” said Mayor Cavalier Johnson, who lives nearby, during an appearance at the event.

Architects, planners, residents, business owners, city officials and other area stakeholders focused on creating concepts for five key sites: the full-block AT&T property at W. Wells Street, the former Mid City Shopping Center at W. Juneau Avenue, the commercial building at the southwest corner of W. Wisconsin Avenue and N. 35th Street, the “Design District” stretch between W. Park Hill (along Interstate 94) and W. St. Paul avenues and the streetscaping and design of N. 35th Street itself.

“All of the concepts that come out of today’s charrette are really seeds that we can then start planting with developers,” said St. Arnold Bell. “From here we can work with our team, with our working teams, with our neighbors, and say which of these is a top priority, and then kind of think about ‘what are those actionable next steps?’ We know it is incredibly unlikely that we will see something developed that looks exactly like it comes out of here, but we may see some key elements that influence those end products, and this work is a marathon.”

Representatives of Quorum Architects, Engberg Anderson, Galbraith Carnahan Architects, Michael Baker International and HGA helped facilitate the site designs. Carolyn Esswein, who has led dozens of charrettes, facilitated and emceed the event through her firm CE Planning Studio.

Quorum Architects principal Allyson Nemec was working on the plan for the AT&T site.

“It’s an underutilized building that we’ve heard AT&T might be interested in releasing, if their presence can stay there in some way,” she said. “We’re looking at two major options for that and a hybrid middle zone.” The proposals call for housing targeted at seniors or an advanced manufacturing facility. A smaller building at the southeast corner of the site could also be repurposed as a food hall in partnership with the Centers for Independence. “The little brick building on the corner of 35th Street and Wells is ripe for some kind of redevelopment.”

Nemec told Urban Milwaukee she has participated in at least 10 charrettes, but this was one was different: it’s her neighborhood. “I live, work and play in the neighborhood,” she said.

Quroum associate and landscape architect Jennifer Current was working at the next station over on developing a better sense of place on the street, which runs through five of the seven Near West Side neighborhoods, while representatives of Michael Baker, including former Public Works Commissioner Jeff Polenske and former city transportation planner James Hannig, worked with residents on the possible design of a dedicated bike-bus lane. Michael Baker is already working with Milwaukee County on a federally funded redesign of a longer segment of the street.

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