City Building New Street in Third Ward

A tricky-to-pronounce Historic Third Ward street is to get a block longer under a proposal pending before the Common Council.

The city would extend E. Corcoran Avenue one block east to N. Harbor Dr. The proposal would still leave the street as one of the shortest in the city at three blocks, but extend the street grid of the Third Ward east to Henry Maier Festival Park. The city is to expend $3.56 million on the project, which includes bicycle improvements on the existing street as well as improving another nearby roadway, using funds from an overperforming tax incremental financing district.

The street extension is an idea that can be traced back to a 1986 Third Ward plan, but it’s become a pressing issue now that a developer is proposing to build an apartment complex on an adjoining site.

Kaeding Development Group is pursuing the construction of a 258-unit, five-story apartment building on a mostly-vacant lot just east of N. Jackson St. and the Milwaukee Ballet‘s Baumgartner Center for Dance. The new street will form the northern border of Kaeding’s building and host its front door. It will also cause the intersection of N. Jackson St. and E. Corcoran Ave. to become a T-intersection with crosswalks and sidewalks instead of a curved road on the urban fringe.

The space the new street will inhabit has spent most of its time during Milwaukee’s history as a site of a railroad yard. Known as The Coachyards, the Italian Community Center acquired the larger property from Milwaukee County in 1986 for $1.3 million. The ICC is to sell the southernmost three acres to Kaeding for $5.5 million.

The new street will have separated, raised bike lanes next to the seven-foot-wide sidewalk, similar to what the city recently constructed on W. Becher St. in Bay View. The two blocks to the west, according to a presentation Tuesday from the Department of City Development, would receive a painted bike lane.

N. Harbor Dr., to which the new street will terminate, would also receive substantial upgrades. The west side of the roadway currently has only a ditch. It would receive a true sidewalk and street trees. The east side, which borders parking lots used by the festival grounds, already has a sidewalk.

The DCD presentation did not mention if the project budget includes fixing the typo on the Corcoran Ave. street signs. The Historic Third Ward Association installed new signs in recent years that display the logo for the neighborhood, but label Corcoran a “street” instead of an “avenue.”

The Zoning, Neighborhoods & Development Committee unanimously endorsed the extension proposal Tuesday.

Committee chair Alderman Michael Murphy said he was happy to see that Corcoran, in particular, be extended. Why? Cornelius L. Corcoran, for whose father it is named, shares much in common with Murphy. Corcoran was the son of Irish immigrants and the longest serving Common Council member in history at 44 years (30 years as president). Murphy is also the son of Irish immigrants and has served on the council for 33 years (two years as president) and counting. DPW engineers might want to start thinking about what street on the city’s far west side is due for a name change.

Future development of the ICC property could include the eastern extension of E. Menomonee St. to the north of Cocoran. It runs parallel to Corcoran today, but extends much further west.

But the city might need to find a new funding source if and when that comes to pass. The TIF district being tapped for the Corcoran extension has retired all of its expenses other than the street extension after paying for the nearby riverwalk extension, construction of Trestle Park, $12 million in donations to underperforming districts and $18.3 million for the streetcar’s construction. The district includes the condominium and apartment complexes along the Milwaukee River east of N. Young St.

For more on the history of Corcoran Ave and its namesake family, see our 2016 City Streets column by Carl Baehr.

Photos and Site Plan

Kaeding Building Plans