Feature
Cream City November Photowalk A Success
Federal Building Photographers Originally uploaded by compujeramey I attended my first Cream City Photowalk this past Saturday with a bunch of other members of the Cream City (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) photo group on Flickr. If there a measure of photowalking success, where when photos get taken things are a success and when photos don’t it’s not, this event was a success. We walked from John Hawk’s Pub in the 100 East Wisconsin building to the Milwaukee Federal Building, down to Cathedral Square and then back. The cold and the slight drizzle were only to keep some of us back. My photos from the walk are tagged with “creamcityphotowalk2007november“
Nov 19th, 2007 by Jeramey Jannene
Urban Outfitters To Open December 14th
Kenilworth Originally uploaded by Volá Berlín OnMilwaukee.com reports that Urban Outfitters will open on the east side of Milwaukee on December 14th. The store is located in the bottom of the Kenilworth Square Apartments (one UWM’s new dorm buildings) on the corner of Prospect and Kenilworth. This should help give UWM students yet another excuse to avoid driving out to Mayfair Mall and instead walk or ride the included-in-their-tuition bus to yet another developing east side location.
Nov 19th, 2007 by Jeramey Jannene
The Brewery Kickoff Video
Old Machines Originally uploaded by compujeramey I was poking around The Brewery website after writing the last post on Mark Chmura and friends purchasing Building 14 and found that Towne Realty has released a video synopsis of the coverage surrounding the initial groundbreaking of the development. It’s a neat little video to watch about the start of the redevelopment project. NOTE: I suggest right-clicking and watching the video in full screen. The viewing size they give you is really small and has some annoying broken HTML surrounding it.
Nov 19th, 2007 by Jeramey Jannene
Mark Chmura and Company Buy Building at Pabst
Pabst Brewery Originally uploaded by compujeramey Former Green Bay Packer Mark Chmura, his brother and real estate broker Matt Chmura, and, developer and son of former Milwaukee Brewer Sal Bando, Sonny Bando through their development firm BC Pabst Holdings have purchased a three-story, 28,000 square foot building at the former Pabst Brewery on the edge of the Park East neighborhood. The building previously known as Building 14 was used for Pabst research and development. Chmura and company are already lining up tenants for the office building and may open a conference center in the 1,200 square foot penthouse that has skyline views. The tenants are apparently interested in the access the building provides to traffic from Interstate 43. We at Urban Milwaukee hope someday it’ll be able to leased based on the vibrancy of the neighborhood it’s in. I was surprised to learn that not only does the sports-supported triumvirate own this building, but they also together own the Germania Building at 135 W. Wells St. and the Iron Block Building at 200 E. Wisconsin Ave in downtown Milwaukee. So much for jock stereotypes, these three appear dedicated to urban redevelopment of historic developments. I’m happy to see their on-board with the Pabst Brewery redevelopment, which is undoubtedly going to serve as a catalyst for redevelopment of the rest of the Park East neighborhood. The Small Business Times and the Journal Sentinel each have stories on the purchase. NOTE: The building purchased is pictured in the attached image. It is the short building partially cut off on the left-hand side. If you have a better image, let us know.
Nov 19th, 2007 by Jeramey Jannene
Friend of Milwaukee’s Rivers To Sue Heartland Development Group, Ltd
From a Riverkeeper News email I received… Last Thursday, Friends of Milwaukee’s Rivers, through its attorneys at Midwest Environmental Advocates, sent a notice of intent to sue under the Clean Water Act to Heartland Development Group, Ltd. and their contractor, ACT Planning and Development, LLC for their recent clear-cut of approximately five acres of vegetation adjacent to the Milwaukee River at Estabrook Falls in Glendale. This clear-cut of vegetation and disturbance of soil was an obvious violation of the Clean Water Act as the companies failed to obtain a proper stormwater discharge permit from the Wisconsin DNR, and neglected to create an approved Erosion Control Plan or install erosion controls in a timely manner to limit stormwater runoff. To complicate the matter, the area of disturbance contains wetlands and habitat for the State threatened Butler’s Garter Snake, which would have required the developer to obtain several other permits. FMR is very concerned about stabilizing this site and getting seed established this late in the year, as well as the effects on water quality and the wildlife habitat of the Milwaukee River. FMR is also advocating to ensure public access for paddlers that use this property to portage around Estabrook Falls and access for fishermen that have been using this site for decades to fish in the Milwaukee River. For our press release, media, and other information, please visit the FMR website. While I’m definitely a champion of urban development, it’s absolutely essential to have respect for the natural environment and that doesn’t appear to be the case here. Best of luck to the Friends of Milwaukee’s River (disclaimer: I am a member) and more importantly their legal team at Midwest Environmental Advocates. The Journal Sentinel has an article about the ordeal.
Nov 16th, 2007 by Jeramey Jannene
Plan to Bring Major League Soccer to Milwaukee Fails
It appears the effort to bring Major League Soccer to Milwaukee is dead. I felt the project had merit as MLS is on the rise in the U.S. and the project was more than a soccer stadium. It had been planned as a mixed use development that would of included retail, residential and office purposes. Additionally the 20,000 seat stadium would of been design to support live concerts as well as soccer. Unfortunately, it appears the effort has lost its key leader, as CEO Peter Wilt is officially stepping down. And in my mind if anyone had the ability to accomplish this project it would havee been Peter Wilt. I say this because he is the popular former general manager of the Chicago Fire, a true Milwaukee native, and well respected in the soccer world. Further he genuinely believed this could be a successful and positive venture here in Milwaukee. In short he was the driving force behind this project. I hope Milwaukee Professional Soccer, LLC carries on but it appears Milwaukee’s chance for MLS has passed.
Nov 12th, 2007 by Dave Reid
No Interchange Until Developer Is Lined Up
Heading East on I94 Originally uploaded by compujeramey The project I love to hate, the Pabst Farms development, won’t be the recipient of a new interchange with Interstate 94 anytime soon. The state won’t be building a new interchange until there is a new developer lined up. This is a positive sign of some restraint on interstate spending by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation. A department who appears to have no problem building a massive, remodeled interchange on the edge of downtown, planning to rebuild the Zoo Interchange in a few years, and then diverting traffic away from those new interchanges at the drop of a hat by building a new interchange on the edge of the Milwaukee-metro area. Wisconsin continues to build out this massive network of highways by simply expanding the number of lanes and expanding the size of interchanges. The Pabst Farms interchange is yet another sign of a state that doesn’t have a strategy to deal with transit except for throwing more money into the wind, while state’s like Colorado build out efficient, modern mass transit networks and Illinois looks to continue to expand the Metra system and improve the L. For now it looks like the battle will continue. Urban visionaries will continue to campaign for the destruction of urban freeways (see Norquist and the Park East Freeway), while suburbanites campaign for the development of new interchanges on the edge of the metro area. This back and forth is going to continue until the state of Wisconsin is able to come up with some kind of people-moving strategy that doesn’t involve continually building massive concrete structures that eventually fall under disuse.
Nov 12th, 2007 by Jeramey Jannene
Thoughts on Milwaukee University Crime
Yield For Pedestrians ? Originally uploaded by slowpokeiv Public perception of Milwaukee’s university campuses is that they’re a step shy of being a war zone at night. Unfortunately for fear mongers everywhere, they’re not. The latest shooting on the UWM campus has again brought about discussion about how dangerous Milwaukee’s urban college campuses are compared to the rest of the state. Milwaukee undeniably has more crime than other cities in the state, however, it does not have to be that way. What’s going on that creates random robberies on Milwaukee’s campuses? The issue is two-fold. First, Milwaukee has a crisis level of unemployment when it comes to African-American males. This has the trickle down effect of creating a central city that has a crime problem. It’s hard for unemployed parents to be good parents. It’s also hard for those people to be good neighbors and members of society. It’s certainly not solely an African-American issue, as the issue affects everyone. It’s also not just a Milwaukee issue, it’s a Wisconsin and nationwide problem. Those without jobs are trapped within inner cities as they are even more rejected as members of society in smaller towns. It’s an issue that starts with one group of people and spills over to affect everyone. The Fourth Street Forum from two weeks ago touched on this. No one has a good solution to end it currently other than to end racism, which despite being the 21st century seems to be easier said than done for a large part of America. So you need to understand that there is a structural problem that creates this mob of teens with a lack of true role models and a feeling that they’re trapped in a never ending situation. They instead turn to crime and prey on those that are the weakest, unsuspecting college students. The second part of the issue is the lack of pedestrian density in many areas surrounding UWM, MSOE, MIAD, and Marquette. These campuses are populated with students who come from all over Wisconsin and the Midwest and have primarily grown up with a lifestyle of riding in “Lexus cages.” They’re not sure what to look for when it comes to potential robbers and prefer to ride everywhere in automobiles. Students aren’t forced to deal with this change in scenery when they go to a college like UW-Whitewater and are accustomed with how to avoid bad situations. It’s not that residents of Milwaukee are hostile towards college students and seek to rob them once the sun sets compared to boring (yes, I said it) “college towns” like Whitewater or Menomonee, it’s that those that struggle to get by in Wisconsin ultimately end up in Milwaukee where there are supposedly more jobs. They don’t find that when they get here and ultimately contribute in some way, shape, or form to what is a higher crime rate. How do we fight this problem? First off, it’s crucial to acknowledge that it is not one problem of schools […]
Nov 8th, 2007 by Jeramey Jannene
The Residences on Water Are Rising Fast
The Residences on Water Originally uploaded by compujeramey The Residences on Water are rising fast, leading me to believe that the building actually will make its spring 2008 opening date. I walked by the building tonight on the way home from dollar burger night (every Tuesday) at Bar Louie. I was impressed at how quickly the building is rising. A couple quick facts… The building has 31 condos ranging from $234,000 to $2,300,000, of which 8 have been sold. The condos will occupy the top four floors. The Staybridge Suites hotel will occupy the middle six floors and include 128 rooms There will be a rooftop garden for residents and hotel guests. There will be 14,000 square feet of retail space The building is being built using the new ER Post Structural System that enables alternate floors to remain column free and allows for rapid build times from the use of precast trusses, the fact that it can be assembled in all weather conditions, and the requirement for fewer pieces. If you buy the penthouse of penthouses in the development for $2,362,100 you get a private 2,400 square foot root-top green space. Apparently there are two roof-top green spaces, presumably divided by some kind of massive HVAC unit. Developer Development Opportunity Corp of Fort Myers, Florida purchased six parcels of land for the development. Five of the parcels and a city-owned alley were purchased from the Milwaukee Redevelopment Authority for $443,340. The other parcel was a 13,000-square-foot parking lot purchased from the 1101 North Market Street Partners for $1.2 million. The 1101 North Market Street Partners also had previously sold the former Blatz Wash House located adjacent to the new development at 1101 North Market Street to SSG Properties Inc. of Pewaukee for $4.2 million in 2003. SSG Properties is too say the least, excited. The Blatz Wash House might finally get the attention it deserves with the increased foot traffic in the area. No word yet on who might be occupying the retail space. I don’t think it will take long to find a tenant for the site because there isn’t much else in the way of retail space in that area on Water St. coupled with thousands of drunk people at bars every weekend, MSOE dorms just around the corner, and a growing number of condos being developed in the area. The most important aspect of the development is that it replaces a surface parking lot with a large building that increases neighborhood density, which makes everything around the new building better and continues to expand upon a growing downtown area. The visual perception of downtown used to end at the 1000 North Water Street building, but will now continue north one more block to The Residences on Water. Dave Reid of the Milwaukee Development Update has a Flickr photo set up already and a blog post.
Nov 6th, 2007 by Jeramey Jannene
Committee Approves Minor Modification to Downer Avenue Redevelopment Plan
Just a couple of quick items of note from today’s ZND meeting. File number 070873 was a report on the redevelopment of the 440th Airlift Wing’s land. The consulting firm, RKG Associates, provided three proposed alternatives noting that they all include the airport’s plan of building a new runway in the future. Basically the plans break down as aviation re-use for entire site, split aviation with commercial, and non-airport use. Comments allude to the fact that the most likely outcome will be the aviation re-use for the entire site. File number 070964 was approved and authorized a “minor” modification to the DPD known as the Downer Avenue Redevelopment. Unfortunately this file isn’t truly minor as it is response to a lawsuit brought against the city claiming the city shouldn’t of issued a building permit and that the city didn’t take the state’s historic recommendations into consideration. Oddly, the changes to the DPD came about in attempt to further “appease” the neighbors. And I believe Alderman Willie Wade summed it up by saying “basically we are in this position because we were trying to be accommodating.” File number 070844 was approved and authorized the sale of a city owned vacant lot at 530 West Florida St to Rider Hotel, LLC. It will be sold for $1 as it has environmental challenges and will be capped to create a parking lot for the $23 million Iron Horse Hotel. File number 070935 was approved and authorizes the Land Disposition Report which basically allows HSI Development Partners, LLC. to acquire the land and construct a building for Derse, Inc. Derse, Inc. was founded in Milwaukee and originally made signs for Miller, Schlitz, and Pabst. They now specializes in tradeshow exhibits and have expanded throughout the U.S. and internationally. Mike D’Amato commented saying, “Now that you’ve expanded everywhere else let’s talk about Milwaukee,” and he’s right on point as this project bring 125 jobs back into the city.
Nov 6th, 2007 by Dave Reid
Chicago Spire
Chicago Spire Originally uploaded by *Gary* I did quite a bit of reading on the Chicago Spire last night. As you may or may not be aware, the Spire is Santiago Calatrava‘s new building being built in Chicago that will be the tallest building in North America and the tallest all residential building in the world. What’s most impressive about the building, however, is the fact that it’s designed as a LEED Gold building. Sustainable features include recycled rainwater, river water used for cooling, ornithologically-sensitive glass to protect migratory birds, intelligent building and management systems, waste storage and recycling management, and monitored outdoor air delivery. Learn more. To think that at a building this big will achieve the highest certified sustainability measure is truly impressive. The only LEED Gold-certified building within the city of Milwaukee is the Johnson Control’s Brengel Technology Center.
Nov 5th, 2007 by Jeramey Jannene
The Residences on Water
The Residences on Water is beginning to rise out of the ground. The building utilizes a new development method, called the ER Post Structural System, that should allow for the pace of work to dramatically pickup in the coming weeks. This acceleration is possible because this method allows for all-weather erection, has fewer pieces and lets other trades begin work earlier in the process. The $20 million project is being developed by Fort Myers, FL based Development Opportunity Corporation. Once complete it will include a 128-room Staybridge Suites, 31 condo units, ranging in price from $234,000 to $2.3 million of which 8 have been sold so far, and 14,000 square feet of retail space. I believe this project will have long lasting positive impacts on the Water St district. First it finishes the corner by removing a surface parking lot which adds to the urban fabric. Secondly the new activity created by the residents and hotel guests will continue to fuel neighborhood business. Further this project is clearly connected to Manpower’s move to downtown and should support their business travel needs. Overall this is one of the most intriguing projects to watch considering the potential long term affects it will have on Water St.To follow this development I’ve started a flickr set, The Residences on Water, that I will update with new pictures to keep track of the progress. Articles Ready to rise Downtown Staybridge hotel, retail project to finally begin New Precast Building Product from Spancrete Speeds On-site Construction Time
Nov 3rd, 2007 by Dave Reid
