Milwaukee Opens First Half of Major Harbor District Riverwalk

Harbor View Plaza (right) and Harbor District Riverwalk. Photo by Urban Milwaukee staff.

Milwaukee officials celebrated the opening Wednesday morning of the northern half of a major new riverwalk through the Harbor District, unveiling a public space intended to reconnect Near South Side residents with the city’s waterfront.

The newly completed segment extends south from Harbor View Plaza, at the eastern end of E. Greenfield Avenue, alongside Komatsu Mining’s South Harbor Campus.

“This is about opening access,” said Komatsu Mining Chief Operating Officer John Koetz. “This is connecting people to Milwaukee’s waterfront and creating a place that belongs to everyone.”

The segment is the first completed portion of a planned 4,300-foot riverwalk extension that will ultimately stretch south to S. Kinnickinnic Ave. It is Milwaukee’s largest one-time expansion of its riverwalk system.

Construction began in June 2025 on the approximately $30 million project, which combines city financing with a $14.7 million federal grant awarded through the Wisconsin Department of Transportation.

Mayor Cavalier Johnson said the riverwalk represents a larger effort to transform the Harbor District while preserving public access to the waterfront.

“This is a project that is already creating new opportunities for residents,” Johnson said. He described the riverwalk as part of “a larger vision to reconnect Milwaukee to its waterways with lasting public spaces, not just for now, but really for generations and generations to come.”

The completed segment is at least 15 feet wide and includes landscaping, seating areas and access points along the water. Water-safety equipment was also installed along the route through a partnership with Komatsu.

Fire Chief Aaron Lipski said the life rings could be critical for bystanders attempting to help someone who falls into the river.

“As we expand and we grow along these waterways, we must always be advancing the concept of safety and the capability of self-rescue or bystander rescue in a safe manner,” Lipski said.

Council President José G. Pérez, whose aldermanic district includes the Harbor District, praised the project but said the riverwalk would not be finished until its northern and southern segments are connected across Union Pacific railroad tracks.

“This next leg will not truly be complete until it crosses the railroad tracks,” Pérez said. “In the spirit of this celebration, I call on the railroad to honor that trust and help us finish what this community has worked so long to build.”

The line, used a handful of times per week, divides what will, at least initially, be two separate segments. Unlike other riverwalk segments, the Harbor District riverwalk will not serve a transportation purpose until the tracks can be crossed.

The city has initiated discussions with Union Pacific about establishing a crossing. City officials said Wednesday that completing the connection would require cooperation and partnership with the railroad.

The potential revival of commuter rail service between Milwaukee, Racine and Kenosha could complicate those discussions. The proposed Milwaukee Area Racine Kenosha, or MARK, service would use the Union Pacific tracks and could affect the design and approval of any pedestrian crossing.

The disconnected southern portion of the riverwalk remains under construction. A city official estimated that it would be complete next month.

The riverwalk was envisioned as part of the Harbor District Water and Land Use Plan and Komatsu’s redevelopment of the former Solvay Coke property. The manufacturer opened its South Harbor Campus in 2022.

Department of City Development Deputy Commissioner Sam Leichtling said the project was intended to demonstrate how environmental cleanup, economic development and public waterfront access could work together.

“Big, impactful projects are hard,” Leichtling said. “But today, when you look around, you say, ‘Wow, this is why we do hard things.’”

Leichtling and the mayor praised Alyssa Remington, DCD’s riverwalk project manager, for her years of work on the project.

Harbor District CEO Tia Torhorst said the project was also designed with nearby residents in mind, including the hundreds of new affordable housing units that are under development nearby. “Part of that water and land use plan was really to ensure that people who weren’t millionaires could afford to live by the water and enjoy resources like this,” she said.

Officials described Wednesday’s ribbon-cutting as the completion of the project’s first phase, but additional amenities remain under development as part of a future second phase. A building with restrooms was initially planned near the plaza and is still under consideration, said a DCD official.

Torhorst said she hopes officials will return in approximately a year for another celebration marking the next round of improvements.

Koetz said the project’s ultimate success will not be measured by Wednesday’s ceremony, but by how residents use the space in the decades ahead.

“Years from now, no one’s going to remember who cut the ribbon today,” he said. “They’ll remember the walks that they took here. They’ll remember the sunrises that they watched over here. They’ll remember the memories their family made here at the waterfront.”

The project was initially planned as a $14.5 million effort, with funding coming from incremental property tax revenue generated by Komatsu’s development, but rising construction costs and community feedback on desired features pushed the cost higher. The city secured a $14.7 million federal grant in 2024 from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation to fund the project. Unlike other riverwalk segments that rely on a cost-sharing agreement and easements, the city maintains full ownership of the river frontage and riverwalk.

Described in 2022 as “one of the more complicated slices of land you can deal with,” in addition to the railroad, a portion of the riverwalk needed to wrap around a small industrial parcel. Earlier plans call for the resulting diversion to be known as “the backyard” and contain natural features. “The node” is also planned nearby, with a portion of the dockwall removed to create a terraced area where individuals can get close to the water that is otherwise located a dozen feet below.

The southern leg will include “the inlet,” which will leverage a leftover car ferry slip to create an interaction point. A bridge spans the inlet. Fish habitats and other nature-focused improvements, developed in partnership with Harbor District Inc., are planned throughout.

The riverwalk segments are being designed by SmithGroup.

Riverwalk

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Ribbon Cutting

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2022 Conceptual Renderings and Project Budget

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