Feature
CatalystMilwaukee.com
In recent weeks Ghazi Co. has been building momentum for the Catalyst. They announced Big City Lanes as the first secured tenant. Afshin Ghazi spoke at the fifth annual Small Business Times Commercial Real Estate and Development Conference promoting both Catalyst and a return to the city. And today Catalyst took yet another positive step forward with the launch of CatalystMilwaukee.com. Hopefully this momentum is truly sustainable, so that one day the surface parking lot at 4th & Wisconsin will be Milwaukee’s newest entertainment district.
Nov 20th, 2007 by Dave Reid
Milwaukee Intermodal Station To Open November 26th
Milwaukee Intermodal Station Originally uploaded by pear52 The Milwaukee Intermodal Station grand opening will be Monday, November 26th. While you probably have visited the station during the reconstruction phase, the 26th will mark the first day that the station will be free of construction equipment. If you haven’t stopped by Milwaukee’s newest and nicest gateway to the city, make time to. It’s an amazing improvement. free slots
Nov 20th, 2007 by Jeramey Jannene
Could The Potawatomi Casino Help Pay For Light Rail in Milwaukee?
My new Palace Expansion Originally uploaded by marcosparco Here’s a radical thought, let’s leverage casinos to build a transit system in Milwaukee. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer (as reposted by the biglittler blog here), Atlantic City casinos are getting together to fund the operating deficit of express train service between New York City and their boardwalk to appeal to 25-34 year olds who don’t like sitting in traffic. The casinos are contracting with NJ Transit to operate the trains. Read more… Could Milwaukee leverage the Potawatomi Casino in the Menomonee Valley to grease the wheels on funding for a light rail system? Connecting the casino with the new Milwaukee Intermodal Station, Miller Park, the companies in the Menomonee Valley, State Fair Park, and the new UWM campus on the County Grounds (along with the Zoo) would provide a smooth route that connects many major landmarks and a decent amount of jobs. The rest of the central city (the folks who need the system the most) should still be connected with a route that runs up Fond du Lac Avenue from the Intermodal Station (thereby linking up almost all of downtown). Much like Michael Cudahy’s vision.
Nov 19th, 2007 by Jeramey Jannene
Free Public Showing
Rooftop figure Originally uploaded by johndecember MSOE’s new Grohmann Museum will be open to the public for free on Saturday, December 1st from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. I had class in the building all last trimester (there are a couple classrooms in the building), and would recommend you stop in to check it out if you’re in the area. It has a wonderful roof-top sculpture garden, which you’ll be able to get on weather-permitting and take a couple pretty pictures. On the note of the building itself, it’s a wonderful addition to Milwaukee. It’s a renovation of a previously underused and fairly ugly building, and for the first time creates an entry and exit point for the MSOE campus with the Kern Center. Admission is available any other day of the week for $5.
Nov 19th, 2007 by Jeramey Jannene
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
