Real Estate
Historic Preservation is a Good Thing
Historic preservation is a good thing, when for example it is used to restore City Hall or re-purpose the Grain Exchange because it adds value to Milwaukee.
Feb 9th, 2009 by Dave Reid
Who Lives in Milwaukee’s Condos?
The UWM Center for Urban Initiatives and Research (CUIR) undertook the first comprehensive study on Milwaukee's "condo boom" to understand who was actually living in the condos stretching from the northern part of Walker's Point up to North Avenue on the East Side.
Feb 5th, 2009 by Jeramey Jannene
Committee Welcomes New Commissioner
Martin Collins‘ retirement left the Department of Neighborhood Services with a significant leadership gap. Art Dahlberg, from Richmond, VA has been tabbed as the person to replace Mr. Collins as the Commissioner of Neighborhood Services and clearly the committee was cautiously optimistic. He expressed his understanding of the position he’s walking into saying that “I recognize I’m filling some very big shoes here”. Alderman Bob Bauman asked about his philosophy regarding the demolishing of older housing stock and if he felt this was a good or bad choice. Mr. Dahlberg indicated that it was to be used as a last resort saying “it is not a broad solution, it is a fine tool that we have to use”. The committee approved his appointment and it will now go before the full Common Council. Another item of note was the potential city land sale of 3427-3429 West Villard Avenue. This land sale would allow the Northwest Side Community Development Corporation to move forward on a four-story mixed use development that would include the Villard Library moving in to the first floor of the new building. In addition to the library the upper floors would include 47 affordable housing units targeted at “grandfamilies”. The project will be developed by Gorman & Company utilizing low-income housing tax credits and new market tax credits. This item was approved and will now go before the full Common Council.
Feb 4th, 2009 by Dave Reid
BreakWater Fiasco
A column in Milwaukee Magazine criticizing the design of Renner Architect's soon-to-be completed BreakWater Condominiums spurred a response from Renner's firm that was in very poor form.
Jan 29th, 2009 by Jeramey Jannene
Green Initiatives Stalled by City Committee
In the name of cost savings two green efforts were stalled during today’s meeting of the Public Works Committee. The first item to run into issues with the committee was the Central Library’s resolution that would of allowed them to apply for a $250,000 Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District Stormwater Best Management Practices Partnership grant. This grant was to be used in conjunction with $950,000 of city funds in the construction of a green roof on the Central Library. The existing roof is in disrepair and will be in need of replacement in the near future. Although it was presented that this green roof could potentially double the lifetime of the roof, concerns were raised over the cost of construction. Additionally it was estimated that the green roof was would save $3,500 in energy costs per year. Lost on the conversation regarding the increased cost was that this grant has an education component that goes above and beyond the building of a new roof. Alderman Bob Donovan expressed his thoughts on the costs when he said “everybody likes green, well we’ve gotta have the green money”. This file was held at the call of the chair which opens up the possibility that the City of Milwaukee could miss the deadline to request the grant. The second resolution of importance that was held up proposed having the State of Wisconsin paint bike lanes on to West Forest Home Avenue between South 68th Street and South 45th Street after completing a road construction project. In reference to problems experienced with recently painted lane markings Alderman Robert Bauman complained that “what we’re painting doesn’t last even in months”. Alderman Joe Dudzik argued that if the City of Milwaukee can’t keep the roads painted properly for drivers, then the City of Milwaukee can’t add the additional burden of new markings to maintain. This file was also held to the call of the chair.
Jan 28th, 2009 by Dave Reid
Palomar or Streetcar?
Tom Daykin did some digging and was able to uncover that the final request from Gatehouse Capital Corp. was $18 million in public money for the Palomar.
Jan 22nd, 2009 by Jeramey Jannene
Committee Plans to Lobby UWM to Expand Downtown
In April 2008 Alderman D'Amato, as one of his last acts in office, brought forward a resolution that stated the City of Milwaukee's position that the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee should locate its College of Engineering and Applied Science, as well asUWM's other satellite campuses, within the City of Milwaukee.
Jan 22nd, 2009 by Dave Reid
What is the Problem in the Park East?
Changes proposed to lure developers to Park East lots.
Jan 19th, 2009 by Dave Reid
Northeast Side Area Plan Held at Committee
The Northeast Side Area Plan which will lay out the vision and guidelines for development within this a large portion of the city was brought forward for approval. ‘ Alderman Bob Bauman proposed two amendments both of which impacted the location of future University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee expansions. One amendment would of made it part of the plan that the City of Milwaukee wouldn’t support construction of new UWM dormitories on the East Side with the possible exception of the former Columbia St. Mary’s Hospital site. The other amendment would suggest that UWM build future dormitories in downtown Milwaukee. Alderman Bauman added that “they should re-double their efforts to locate these dormitories in the central business district”. Alderman Tony Zielinski felt the plan didn’t included enough of the proposed Milwaukee River Overlay District, saying that “I was hoping to see something more concrete”. Further discussion explained that the plan included a high level summary of the overlay district and that the specifics are still being worked out between property owners and neighborhood residents. This file was held to allow for more discussion regarding the possible amendments and to add additional content to the Bronzeville section of the plan. Also of note was Neighborhood House’s appeal of the Historic Preservation Commission’s denial of approval to demolish a pre-1850’s home in the Historic Concordia neighborhood. Neighborhood House had purchased the house to add parking spots and build a bus turnaround. Numerous community members spoke out in opposition to this proposal and the committee seem to recognize their concerns. Alderman Wade stated that “I’m probably not looked at as a friend of the historic preservation folks, historically” but went on to explain that he was glad to be on their side on this issue in this case. Other committee members indicated they were swayed by the citizen reaction and felt there were other options that could be explored to facilitate the bus. This resolution was denied.
Jan 14th, 2009 by Dave Reid
The Park East Park? Absolutely Not
In response to the announcement of the failing of The Residences of Palomar, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ran an editorial talking about the idea of building a temporary park in the Park East land reclaimed from the former freeway spur. The idea is a bad one.
Jan 13th, 2009 by Jeramey Jannene
Palomar Canceled?
Haven't seen any official announcement yet, but we've heard from a credible source close to the project that the The Residences at Palomar project has been canceled. We'll update this post as we learn more. At the moment, calls in to the project are going unanswered.
Jan 12th, 2009 by Jeramey Jannene
Marquette Recieves Zoning Approval From Commission
This meeting had few files acted on but Marquette University’s request for a change in zoning of a variety of university owned properties shows Marquette University is moving ahead on significant projects in downtown Milwaukee. [inaarticlead]It was pointed during the meeting that out that of the 8000 undergraduates at Marquette University approximately 6,500 live within a six block area of the university, many of whom live in university owned student housing. In responses to this ongoing need, Marquette University’s brought this resolution forward primarily because of their intent to convert the apartment building at 1628 W Wisconsin into university run student housing. Whitney Gould asked if any of the other properties receiving a change in zoning could possibly be considered of historic value, to which representatives of Marquette University indicated that none of the buildings were of historic significance. This file was approved and will now go before the Zoning, Neighborhoods & Development Committee.
Jan 8th, 2009 by Dave Reid
