Feature
Word on the Street (12.17.2007)
Links from the Milwaukee-informationsphere Mary Louise Schumacher is yet another art person doesn’t think it’s a good idea to build a recognizable landmark that will increase pedestrian traffic in downtown Milwaukee. Hofbrauhaus Milwaukee, a proposed German beer hall and restaurant, is likely coming next The Brewery development at the old Pabst brewery in Blue Ribbon Hall after the settlement of a lawsuit involving Brew City Redevelopment LLC with the complex’s former owners, WisPark LLC. The article makes no mention of the existing Old German Beer Hall and how urban Milwaukee is delightfully reinventing itself more in the fashion of a city like Munich, Germany. Robert Kern, of Generac fame and fortune, is powering a change in the way the state handles engineering education through his foundation (Kern Family Foundation). Two urban Milwaukee schools are at the center of this in MSOE and Marquette, through the recruitment of Project Lead the Way students form high schools and their participation in KEEN (Kern Entrepreneurship Education Network). Urban Milwaukee would like to applaud the efforts of Robert Kern for his visionary leadership in truly investing in the future of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and the entire Fresh Coast economy and education system. The Journal Sentinel takes a look at how you can reduce your power consumption and what effects it will have. Absolutely worth your time to read. Dave Reid takes a look at the Kane Commons development and gives us a construction update of the Breakwater Condos and The Residences on Water.
Dec 17th, 2007 by Jeramey Jannene
The Valley Is Linking Up With The Silver City Neighborhood
Hank Aaron State Trail 5K Run/Walk Originally uploaded by carrier Yet another sign that logic is prevailing and the city of Milwaukee is improving, the Menomonee Valley Partners have announced the construction of a pedestrian tunnel and bridge to link up the Menomonee Valley with the bordering Silver City neighborhood to the south. While the sides of the valley are not unreasonably steep, they’re lined with pedestrian barriers. On the north side of the valley you have Interstate 94 blocking access for pedestrians, and on the south side you have the Menomonee River and railroad tracks. Jobs exist in the valley and more are coming, but getting people that don’t own cars to the jobs has been a challenge so far. Previous attempts included the idea of attaching an elevator to the 35th Street viaduct that crosses the valley and having people use the small staircases attached to the 35th and 27th Street viaducts. While the idea of a massive elevator sounds exciting, it doesn’t seem logical to have people standing out on the middle of a bridge in the winter waiting for an elevator when they could be walking along a path on the valley floor. In short, this is the information you need to know about why this development makes sense… “For the people who are living in the neighborhood right around the (Menomonee) Valley to access the jobs or recreational value of the valley, it’s about a three-mile walk,” said Menomonee Valley Partners Executive Director Laura Bray. “This will make it less than two blocks.” Linking central city residents with jobs through public/private development partnerships is just one of the many reasons that I believe that urban Milwaukee is on the right track. You can see this kind of “intelligent design” with developments like the 6th Street Viaduct, the Canal Street extension, and perhaps most impressively the Marsupial Bridge under the Holton Ave Viaduct. Construction won’t actually start until 2009, which is unfortunate, but the connection will undoubtedly be of benefit to both ends of the connection. CSA Commercial is renovating a building on the Silver City neighborhood-side of the tunnel to be turned into an office building, which will help kick-start development in the area.
Dec 15th, 2007 by Jeramey Jannene
New Alterra Opening
Alterra Spring Originally uploaded by MilwaukeeMark A new Alterra Coffee Roasters is opening today at 2999 N. Humboldt Blvd. near the intersection of Humboldt and Locust just over the river into Riverwest. According to Alterra… On Saturday, December 15th, the Alterra café on Humboldt Boulevard will open its doors, joining neighbors Loop Yarn Shop and Alterra Baking Company in our new building across from Pumping Station Park. In addition to freshly brewed coffee, the café will serve soups, salads, and sandwiches, and a wide selection of teas, espresso-based drinks and baked goods made daily from scratch. The Alterra will make a welcome addition to the neighborhood over a Starbucks. I’ll have to drop by once it’s warmer, venturing that far in the cold for a cup of coffee isn’t quite in the card for me yet. Please feel free to leave any feedback you have on the new location.
Dec 15th, 2007 by Jeramey Jannene
Kane Commons a “Green” Development
The Kane Commons project located at 1142 to 1158 East Kane Place is another of many Milwaukee area projects utilizing green building concepts. Recently projects such as The Brewery announced various green building components such as capturing and processing all of the rainwater within The Brewery complex. The Edison Green project will feature many green features such as solar panels, wind turbines, and car-sharing. And the Kane Commons project will utilize straw bales as a key building material and geothermal heating throughout the buildings. The green features in the Kane Commons project should reduce utility bills, generate less of a carbon footprint and offer additionally quality of life benefits. The straw bales construction has an insulation R-factor in the range of R30 to R50 which significantly outperforms typical home construction. Unlike typical construction materials, straw bales are highly renewable which reduces the lifelong carbon footprint. Additionally it offers additional advantages such as improved fire resistance and sound proofing. The geothermal heating system will utilize the Earth’s natural warmth to heat the buildings requiring less generated energy thereby reducing bills and pollution. This project’s green efforts, much like the Edison Green project’s green efforts, may influence future developments in Milwaukee to look for new green ideas. Articles Long-awaited Kane Commons moving ahead Building homes with a purpose Kane Commons: Green Development on Lower East Side Proposed “Green” Development to Overlook the River at E. Kane Place Pragmatic Construction: Kane Commons
Dec 15th, 2007 by Dave Reid
Metropolitan Areas Ranked for Walkability
Marsupial Bridge Originally uploaded by compujeramey The Brookings Institution recently ranked America’s most walkable big cities. Milwaukee didn’t crack the top 25 unfortunately, but consider this… However, the Brookings report itself has some major flaws. I know I’m going to sound like a major hater here, but somehow out of 30 metropolitan regions nationwide, the Miami-Ft Lauderdale-West Palm Beach metro ranked 8th place – above metros like New York and Philadelphia! For anyone who knows anything about cities and metropolitan regions, this should immediately raise a red flag. So how is such a ranking possible, you ask? It comes down to Brookings’ flawed methodology for calculating walkable areas in each metro. Instead of calculating the percentage of area that is walkable in each metropolitan region, the Institution instead chose to go by arbitrary districts or neighborhoods, which vary considerably in size and functionality. For example, both Center City, Philadelphia and Coconut Grove, Miami were chosen as walkable locales within their respective metros. However, despite Center City being much, much larger than Coconut Grove, the two areas count the same…. Read more from Transit Miami Milwaukee, while far from the ranks of Chicago and New York in terms of walkability, has made significant strides in the past few year. Things like the Marsupial Bridge, Oak Leaf Trail, and Riverwalk are significant and growing assets that signal the emergence of a pedestrian culture in urban Milwaukee. It’s hard to find developments today in Milwaukee that aren’t pedestrian friendly. Developments like The Residences on Water, The Catalyst, and Edison Green will all replace parking lots or underused gravel lots with intelligently-designed, sustainable towers that only will increase the pedestrian-centric transformation underway in Milwaukee. Plus, it’s hard to ignore a city that has willingly removed an urban freeway to replace it with pedestrian-minded buildings. So yeah, Milwaukee isn’t on a flawed list today, but the community at-large is working to set the standard for tomorrow.
Dec 9th, 2007 by Jeramey Jannene
Say Hello To Skybus
Discount airline Skybus entered the Milwaukee market on Wednesday. The airline offers $10 flights to Columbus, Ohio once a day and from there to a lot of other destinations (again starting at $10). The ticket prices work on a sliding scale where the first few tickets are sold for $10 and eventually sliding up to higher prices. The system might seem vaguely familiar to you because the upstart bus company Megabus uses the same system with rides starting at $1 dollar.
Dec 9th, 2007 by Jeramey Jannene
Word On The Street (12.8.2007)
A random collection of links from the internets. St. John’s plans 20-story senior apartment tower. The building will be a welcome addition to the lakefront on Prospect Avenue. Move-in is expected to occur in late 2009 or early 2010. Haven’t heard word on this biodiesel refinery lately, is it under construction? UWM is unveiling a grad program in Freshwater Sciences Developer Robert Schultz has failed to repay a $230,00 loan accord to SHS Capital. Schultz helped develop the Teweles Seed Tower Apartments and the River Renaissance condos.
Dec 8th, 2007 by Jeramey Jannene
Construction Continues Despite Snow
As the city slipped and slid around from multiple inches of snow and ice dumped on it in recent days, construction crews continued building our city. Down on Water St. at The Residences on Water site men scrambled to remove snow from the roof while a crane lifted large beams into place. It appears the ER Post Structural System does allow them to build quickly as had been indicated. In fact fast enough that a line of semi’s sit with their engines running across the street from the site waiting their turn to unload the next beam. Over at the Breakwater site they have been busy as well. A second crane which is the largest crawler crane in the state has recently been assembled and will have a reach of up to 400 feet. The snow may have slowed some work but workers continued building the foundation and with second crane it’s clear that shortly we will see this project begin to rise out of the ground.
Dec 8th, 2007 by Dave Reid
Milwaukee’s Biodiesel Co-op Has Winterized Biofuel
Biodiesel Originally uploaded by GrammarGirl OnMilwaukee.com points to a little known gem in Milwaukee, we have a biodiesel co-op. Not only that, but they have winterized gas for sale. Sadly, my bike does not need gas, but maybe you do? Check on out the Milwaukee Biodiesel Co-op.
Dec 7th, 2007 by Jeramey Jannene
The Word On The Street (12.6.2007)
From time to time Urban Milwaukee will feature a collection of links we think are worth your time to read. “Neighbors fed up with vandals, lack of patrols” – A story of chaos and vandalism ensuing in a northwestern Milwaukee neighborhood that the police don’t seem to care to fix. If I lived there I would be scared for my life judging by the stories told and the police departments unwillingness to monitor things. “City ranks at bottom of health categories” – This shouldn’t come as a huge surprise to you, but being host to most of the people that experience severe socioeconomic problems in this state means the city’s health ranking will be pretty low. In other news, keep your pants on. “Experts say ‘most dangerous city’ rankings’ twist numbers” – Clearly, it’s disgusting how they glorify Detroit, St. Louis, Cleveland, and company as such dangerous places. Offer a solution, not an insult. “All routes lead to Amtrak Station” – A summary, more or less, of the status of all transit projects in the Milwaukee-area. If you’re short on time just know that the story ends with Scott Walker killing everything in favor of a weak express bus plan. “Developer completes Park East financing” – Mandel Group Inc. has all the money it needs for the first phase of the North End on the site of the former Pfister & Vogel tannery. I’m excited to watch the progress of this and enjoy the results.
Dec 6th, 2007 by Jeramey Jannene
Last Days of the Pfister & Vogel Tannery
Last Days of the Pfister & Vogel Tannery Originally uploaded by compujeramey I updated my Flickr set of photos of the Pfister & Vogel Tannery decontruction/The North End construction. They’re older images, and I still have more to add, but they’re a start for those of you that can’t see it in person. In case you’re wondering the tannery is now more or less gone (there is rubble left). Once the deconstruction workers get done pulling apart all the pieces to be recycled construction will start. I’m going to try and swing by today to get some pictures of their latest progress.
Dec 6th, 2007 by Jeramey Jannene
Portland To Have “Sunday Parkways”, Can Milwaukee Join The Party?
Powells Originally uploaded by compujeramey Portland, Oregon is getting on-board with a program I would love to see Milwaukee jump on in the near future. Slated to happen on June 22 (in conjunction with the International Carfree Conference), Sunday Parkways will offer Portlanders a chance to stroll, pedal, and play on a six-mile loop of streets that will be closed to motor vehicle traffic from 8:00 am to 2:00 pm…. reports BikePortland.org They’re linking the route up with parks and live entertainers, to offer a little more than a unique place to ride your bike. As far as Milwaukee goes, it would be amazing to have a loop available on a Saturday or Sunday during the summer for people to just play in the absence of dangerous cars everywhere. Linking up with parks for entertainment value I think is huge, along with having a view of the lake. A potential route starting at Cathedral Square Park might include heading north on Van Buren Street, east on Brady Street, south on Prospect Ave, and west on Wells or Kilbourn to come back to the starting point. This is really a tool the Third Ward, East Town and West Association’s could use to market their neighborhoods as safe places for both fun and work by drawing people in from other areas who are otherwise intimidated by the speed and noise of the cars on city streets. I would imagine businesses would be behind this and traffic on Saturday or Sunday mornings is next to nonexistent anyway, so it would bring business in, not chase it away. The only thing that I can think of that compares on a scale basis is the Bastille Days Run through downtown with Jazz in the Park going on afterward. Milwaukee needs to convert that to an open day-time event for everyone to enjoy in a non-competitive environment. Any thoughts? Support? Yays or nays? Special thanks to the Streetsblog for pointping the Portland event out to me. I can’t find anything, but I think they have something like this in Manhattan too.
Dec 3rd, 2007 by Jeramey Jannene
