From Alderman Assistant to Aldermanic Candidate
With elections coming up in April, Milwaukee’s second district has two aldermanic candidates: Sherman Morton and Chevy Johnson. Neither candidate has represented the district before. Morton did not grow up in District 2, but lived close to the area on 74th Street and Courtland near Columbus Park and built a connection with the neighborhood. “We have a very huge and diverse district. The income levels range from six figures to below the poverty line, depending on the area one lives,” he said. “Over the past 11 years, while working with a lot of the residents, I have learned most people yearn for the same thing: peace and safety.” After having worked as Alderman Joe Davis’s legislative aide, he feels he has a good idea of what the neighborhood needs. “The one thing we have to strengthen is our sense of unity,” he said. “During the past years, we have experienced some things we have not dealt with earlier and that is a slow but steady degrading of our peace of mind.” He took some time to discuss his views, background and ambitions if he were elected as Milwaukee’s Second District Alderman. 1. Describe your professional background and any politics experience. I have spent 13 years working for two very talented representatives of the people of Milwaukee. In 2000, I worked for former County Supervisor James G. White. I was his legislative aide for the District 1 of Milwaukee County. For the past 11 years, I’ve worked for Alderman Joe Davis as his Legislative Aide in the Aldermanic District 2. Over the last 11 years, I have received thousands of phone calls, responded to thousands of e-mails, resolved thousands of issues. This was my main function as Alderman Davis’s assistant. My job was to make sure tax paying citizens of District 2 got the best services possible. I did my job with great pleasure and distinction. 2. Why are you choosing to run for District 2 Alderman? As I grow in my campaign, I find my “why” changing. At first, it was primarily because I felt I was the most qualified for the job. I had the most experience, know-how and passion for the community I have been serving over the years. As I get further along in this race, I find myself wanting to be Alderman for bigger issues. My district as well as the City of Milwaukee is in need of a truly independent thinker and someone who has a sincere passion for the district and the city as a whole. Many people are just looking for a job, a title, a position or worse. Some are getting into office just to feed their personal ambitions and goals, not really caring about the people they serve. I think it is time for true leaders to stand up and come forth to change the dynamics of our city. I want to be one of those leaders. 3. What do you feel are the biggest problems or concerns concerning the 2nd […]
Mar 12th, 2016 by Dave Reid
Mostly vacant downtown Milwaukee office building getting $8.5M upgrade
The mostly vacant former 250 Plaza office building on East Wisconsin Avenue in downtown Milwaukee is getting an $8.5 million upgrade by two Chicago developers that bought it last year. The 20-story office building stands at Wisconsin Avenue and North Broadway. It is among several downtown office buildings that were neglected for years and lost tenants, but sold to real estate investors that like the downtown market and see an opportunity to make money by renovating buildings to bring in new businesses. “This building has been neglected for a long time,” said Chase Gravengood, general manager of Millbrook Properties. “We think we found a great opportunity to reposition this downtown office tower,” he added. Fulcrum Asset Advisors and Millbrook Properties bought the 250 Plaza building and its attached parking structure in summer 2015. It is the first Wisconsin investment for Millbrook, Gravengood said. The building has more than 200,000 square feet of total space. In a play to refill its 149,382 square feet of vacancies, the owners are renovating the lobby, parking structure and common areas, and rolling out a marketing push to attract tenants. The building has stepped areas lining the sidewalks where outdoor seating will be added. It is being renamed and re-branded as Two-Fifty. “The goal is to revitalize this part of East Wisconsin Avenue,” Gravengood said. About $1 million of renovation work has already been completed, Gravengood said. That includes structural repairs, equipment upgrades and new LED lighting in the parking structure. The new lobby, shared conference room, tenant lounge and fitness center upgrades will be complete by the end of the third quarter of this year, he said. Two-Fifty’s owners also will modernize the elevators. There’s a large, 28,222-square-foot block of vacant space on the building’s top two floors that Ziegler formerly occupied. “We would love a large user, a signature tenant, on those top two floors,” Gravengood said. The Wisconsin office of real estate brokerage JLL is moving into about 5,000 square feet of the building’s 17th floor from their current office in Brookfield. Brokers from JLL also are marketing the building to tenants. There are also sidewalk-level retail spaces available for lease on Wisconsin Avenue and Broadway. That includes the former Moceans restaurant space on Broadway, and a first-floor space at the street corner that Scottrade formerly occupied.
Mar 10th, 2016 by Dave Reid
Bradley extra-marital affair, role in child placement surface
As a private attorney, Rebecca Bradley represented in a child placement case the former chief operating officer of the law firm where both had previously worked — and with whom she acknowledged having had an extra-marital affair, according to court records. At the time, the ex-wife of J. Andrew Bednall objected to Bradley’s representation based on her relationship with Bednall, the records show. The court-appointed attorney overseeing the interests of Bednall’s son in the 2005 placement case agreed with those concerns. Bradley, now a state Supreme Court justice and candidate for a full term, responded in a January 2005 affidavit that she could remain on the case. “At one time I had a romantic relationship with (Bednall), which we both believed might result in marriage. We broke off that relationship in November 2002, although we have continued to date on a nonexclusive basis since that time,” wrote Bradley, who was divorced in 2004. A judge rejected the attempt to bump her on ethical grounds, according to the public filings. Online court records indicate that it would have been unusual for Bradley to appear in a Wisconsin court as an attorney in a family law case. Gov. Scott Walker named her to the state Supreme Court in October, marking the third time he had given her a judicial appointment in as many years. The circumstances of the child placement case are surfacing amid Bradley’s campaign for a 10-year term on the state Supreme Court against Appeals Judge JoAnne Kloppenburg. The election is April 5. The court is responsible for policing the professional conduct rules of attorneys and much of the justices’ time is spent on determining whether lawyers treated their clients appropriately. The matter raises questions about the vetting process used by Walker, who has acknowledged he was unaware of college newpaper writings by Bradley in which she condemned “queers” and addicts for essentially killing themselves through their conduct, called voters stupid or evil for electing Bill Clinton president, andcompared abortion to the Holocaust and slavery. In one column, she also wrote: “Heterosexual sex is very healthy in a loving marital relationship. Homosexual sex, however, kills.” On Wednesday, Laurel Patrick, a spokeswoman for Walker, said the governor also had not been aware of the court documents on Bradley’s representation of Bednall, who worked as COO and later as chief financial officer at the Milwaukee firm Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek. Bradley’s current attorney, Dan Kelly, said there had been no reason to alert Walker. “Is this the sort of thing you would bring to the attention of the governor?” Kelly said. “Of course not, this is a non-event…This is a nothing.” Bradley, when asked about the case, cut off a brief interview. “I’m not sure what you’re talking about or what you’re trying to do to me,” she said. “There were motions filed in that case and the judge dismissed them and that’s all I have to say. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel should be ashamed of itself and you can put that on […]
Mar 10th, 2016 by Dave Reid
Harbor House chef to take helm at Mayfair Collection restaurants
As construction ramps up for the new Bartolotta-managed restaurants at the Mayfair Collection, things are beginning to move quickly, even in the kitchen. Zachary Espinosa, currently executive chef at Harbor House, will leave his post at the end of March to take over operations at the new restaurant triad, which includes a taqueria, a French cafe and a tavern. Osgood’s, already up and running, will not fall under his purview. “It’s an amazing opportunity,” says Espinosa, who will oversee kitchen operations for all three restaurants in a unique shared kitchen atmosphere. At Harbor House, executive sous chef Andrew Fisher, who has worked with Espinosa at Harbor House for over four years, will assume the role of executive chef. Espinosa, who grew up in Wauwatosa and attended Wauwatosa West High School says he’s excited by the prospect of getting back to his old stomping grounds. “It’s going to be a big job, but I’m really looking forward to it,” Espinosa says of the new role. “There’s so many challenges ahead, and I’m looking forward to tackling all of them.” Espinosa says he’s been working on menu development for the three restaurants, which will open later this spring. He says he’s excited to see the progress that’s made day to day on the project. He says he’s also impressed with how the development has changed the area where he grew up. “Phoenix Development has really lived up to their name with this … essentially reviving this area that was just a bunch of old concrete and the old Roundy’s warehouse.” Espinosa’s last dinner service at Harbor House will be on March 27.
Mar 8th, 2016 by Dave Reid
Ogden & Co Selects Sardina as VP, Commercial Investments
Ogden & Company, Inc. in Milwaukee, WI has promoted Susan Sardina to vice president, commercial investments. Sardina has worked with Ogden for 11 years, most recently serving as a senior project manager specializing in real estate investment sales and leasing across the multi-housing, retail and office practice areas. Susan is a member of the National Association of Realtors (NAR), the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), the Wisconsin Association of Realtors, and the Commercial Association of Realtors – Wisconsin.
Mar 7th, 2016 by Dave Reid
‘Queers’ with AIDS, addicts merit no sympathy
Madison — Newly appointed state Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Bradley in student newspaper columns 24 years ago said she had no sympathy for AIDS patients because they had effectively chosen to kill themselves, called gays “queers” and said Americans were “either totally stupid or entirely evil” for electing President Bill Clinton. In one column, she wrote people were better off getting AIDS than cancer because it would get more funding. “How sad that the lives of degenerate drug addicts and queers are valued more than the innocent victims of more prevalent ailments,” she wrote. In a written statement, Bradley said Monday she was embarrassed about the columns “as a very young student, upset about the outcome of that presidential election” “To those offended by comments I made as a young college student, I apologize, and assure you that those comments are not reflective of my worldview,” her statement said. “These comments have nothing to do with who I am as a person or a jurist, and they have nothing to do with the issues facing the voters of this state.” The columns she wrote for the Marquette Tribune in 1992 were unearthed by the progressive group One Wisconsin Now, which distributed them at a Capitol news conference on Monday. That group and the liberal People for the American Way called for her to resign from office — an idea Bradley’s campaign manager called absurd. They are being released with three weeks before voters decide whether to give Bradley a full 10-year term on the court in the April 5 election. She faces Appeals Judge JoAnne Kloppenburg. Among the excerpts of three of her columns that have been released are these: ■ “Perhaps AIDS Awareness should seek to educate us with their misdirected compassion for the degenerates who basically commit suicide through their behavior.” ■ “But the homosexuals and drug addicts who do essentially kill themselves and others through their own behavior deservedly receive none of my sympathy.” ■ “We’ve just had an election (in 1992) which proves the majority of voters are either totally stupid or entirely evil.” ■ “This brings me to my next point — why is a student government on a Catholic campus attempting to bring legitimacy to an abnormal sexual preference?” ■“Heterosexual sex is very healthy in a loving martial relationship. Homosexual sex, however, kills.” ■ “I will certainly characterize whomever transferred their infected blood a homosexual or drug-addicted degenerate and a murderer.” Republican Gov. Scott Walker appointed Bradley to the Supreme Court in October to finish the term of Justice N. Patrick Crooks, who had died three weeks earlier. It was the third time Walker had put her on the bench. He appointed her to a seat on the Milwaukee County Circuit Court in 2012 and the District 1 Court of Appeals in May 2015. A spokeswoman for Walker did not immediately say whether the governor or his staff had reviewed Bradley’s Marquette Tribune articles. Scott Foval, a regional political coordinator for People for the […]
Mar 7th, 2016 by Dave Reid
Senate may take up zombie homes bill
A bill that would strip the City of Milwaukee of its ability to force financial institutions to quickly sell abandoned, foreclosed properties known as zombie homes is headed toward the Senate floor. “This would worsen the zombie property problem in Milwaukee and other communities considerably,” Mayor Tom Barrett said. “I don’t know why someone would want to worsen that problem.” Assembly Bill 720 would undo some of the powers to battle zombie homes that the city gained from a 2015 Wisconsin Supreme Court decision. The bill passed a hurdle last week when it narrowly cleared a Senate committee. The Committee on Insurance, Housing and Trade passed the bill Thursday on a 3-2 vote, which was taken by a paper ballot rather than at a public meeting. The move angered opponents of the bill, who said the committee’s chairman, state Sen. Frank Lasee (R-De Pere), who is also the measure’s lead sponsor in that house, had recently expressed concerns that the proposal needed work. “At the public hearing on February 10th, Chairman Lasee was quite clear in his comments that this bill ‘wasn’t soup yet’ and ‘needed work,'” Vicky Selkowe, a lobbyist for Legal Action of Wisconsin, wrote in a Thursday email to the committee. “Yet the bill before you today contains no new amendments or changes to address the concerns raised at that public hearing.” Lasee did not return calls for comment. The 2015 unanimous Supreme Court decision upheld a 2012 law that strengthened Milwaukee’s hand in dealing with zombie homes. The justices said that when a court declares a foreclosed property to be abandoned, the lender must offer it for sale. Foreclosed properties are auctioned off at sheriff’s sales and lenders often buy the properties themselves. The suit was brought by Legal Action on behalf of Shirley Carson, an elderly Milwaukee woman who had erroneously assumed she lost her home after a foreclosure suit, only to later learn she still owned the home and was responsible for the taxes and all the other costs of homeownership. A homeowner keeps title to the property until a foreclosure action is complete and the home is sold at a sheriff’s sale. Many homeowners, however, assume they lost title when the foreclosure action begins and they abandon their property. “This is why its referred to as a zombie” property, Barrett said, explaining the property sits vacant and is an attractive target for vandals. “Grandma is no longer around, grandma has moved on, grandma has zero economic incentive to improve the property.” Current law requires a lender to sell an abandoned foreclosed property after a five-week “redemption” period, during which the homeowner has an opportunity to pay the mortgage. Assembly Bill 720 would give the lender one year to decide what to do with the property. At the end of that period, the lender could sell the property or opt to walk away from it, leaving it in the original owner’s hands — even if that person erroneously assumed they lost title and is […]
Mar 5th, 2016 by Dave Reid
Could arena district turn Haymarket Square into a new east side or 3rd Ward?
Lorette Russenberger is among the landowners who have been in the Haymarket Square area long before the downtown started its resurgence and the Milwaukee Bucks owners rolled out plans for $500 million in development just to the south. Russenberger about 15 years ago bought the office and warehouse building at 440 W. Vliet St. She leases it partially to Cream City Ribbon, which makes cotton ribbons for gift-wrapping. Russenberger knows the downtown real estate market may be, at long last, reaching into the Haymarket Square neighborhood. The area is north of McKinley Avenue between Sixth Street and North Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. The front line on McKinley Avenue is almost fully built out, with three projects in the works. The Milwaukee Bucks owners this year will start their estimated decade-long build-out of the vacant Park East blocks to the south. “Of course it has an impact,” Russenberger said. “We’re two blocks from the new arena, so I don’t know what that is going to do for the neighborhood.” Property owners like Russenberger wonder if Haymarket Square could see new housing, offices or other developments in the coming years. Investors are searching for possible acquisitions to get into the front line. Russenberger said she is marketing a second-floor office space in her building for lease, and is open to selling the entire property. “I’ve been open to whatever comes along for some time,” Russenberger said. “This could potentially be a next up-and-coming neighborhood, depending on what happens.” While not a bustling urban neighborhood like the east side or 3rd Ward, Haymarket Square already has plenty of companies and jobs. It is not a blank canvas, and the city of Milwaukee wants to make sure its current employers don’t feel threatened by the prospect of new development, said Rocky Marcoux, commissioner of the Milwaukee Department of City Development. “Haymarket Square presents a situation where they can co-exist, and that’s not the situation for some other parts of the city,” Marcoux said. “The movement of additional development in those spaces, especially those that could be residential, I don’t see that putting any pressure at all on the manufacturers.” The city of Milwaukee’s redevelopment authority owns much of the block just north of Haymarket Square between Fifth and Sixth streets and north of West Pleasant Street. Marcoux said that, whatever is eventually developed there must complement the neighborhood. He said there are “several interested parties” looking at the land. “It is in a fairly good strategic location,” he said. “We’ve been talking to folks about potential uses on that site.”
Mar 4th, 2016 by Dave Reid
MLK Drive business district selects a longtime DCD pro as new director
Deshea Agee, who spent the past nine years working at Milwaukee’s development department, was recently hired as executive director of the Historic King Drive Business Improvement District. That district promotes development along a key segment of King Drive that extends north of downtown Milwaukee. Agee, through his work at the Milwaukee Department of City Development, has a long history in that area, including seven years serving as project manager for the Bronzeville area, which links to King Drive. “It was an opportunity I really couldn’t pass up because this is a neighborhood I’m familiar with, I’m passionate about,” he said. “My church is on Second (Street) and Garfield (Avenue), so this is really the place where I live, work, play and worship. I really thought this was a good fit.” Jerome Knapp previously served as the BID’s executive director. The district is funded through a special tax assessment on commercial properties along King Drive. Since starting the job in early February, Agee has met with King Drive stakeholders and surrounding neighborhoods. The job includes helping to promote properties on King Drive that are available for sale or lease, he said. The BID also could soon launch a loan fund to help businesses set up shop in the neighborhood, he said. On business recruitment, Agee said he wants to survey the community to get feedback on the types of services and businesses people want in the area. “We’ll have to see what the needs are of businesses that are interested,” Agee said. “I’ve talked to a number of businesses that are not in Milwaukee right now, that are on the outskirts, and I think they’re excited about the opportunity to come in here as well. I think the arena plays into that.” The King Drive BID loan fund would use a $25,000 grant from North Shore Bank combined with $25,000 in BID money, said Ashley Booth, vice chairman of the King Drive BID board. The Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corp. would manage the loan fund and combine that funding with its own resources, he said. “When I look five years out — with slightly rose-colored glasses — I see MLK as a next major corridor,” said Booth, associate vice president-planning and technical services director at HNTB Corp.
Mar 1st, 2016 by Dave Reid
Court files contradict Donovan’s account of 1992 peeping ticket
Alderman Bob Donovan raised questions this week about whether a widely-circulated document relating to his 24-year-old disorderly conduct citation for “restroom peeping” at UW-Milwaukee is real, calling the narration of the incident on a local blog a “supposed document.” However, after visiting the Milwaukee County courthouse, OnMilwaukee confirmed the ticket, as well as the document with the narrative that Donovan called a “supposed ‘police record,'” are both part of the official court file in the case at the courthouse. The narrative in the court file is a photocopy, not the original. UWM no longer has any documents relating to the case. The police narrative has become the most controversial document as it includes a statement attributed to Donovan, which he has disputed. It reads: “Donovan stated that he has frequented Mitchell Hall restroom for years for the purpose of either watching men masturbate, or to have sex with men in the restroom.” The narrative says Donovan was observed “peeking through a hole the size of a nickel in a partition between two restroom stalls. I was occupying the stall that Donovan was peeking into. Donovan did this continually for about ten minutes.” Donovan responded on Facebook: “The fact is I have unequivocally maintained for 16 years that I absolutely did not make any of the comments attributed to me in the supposed document. The fact is the incident was a misunderstanding.” Details of the citation have been circulating on the web for years, where they were posted on political website, Blogging Blue, but only show a photocopy of the citation and a copy of what the blogger presents as the police narrative of the incident. Donovan claims he never saw the police narrative of the citation until it was resurrected in his aldermanic election eight years later. Both Milwaukee Magazine and the Journal Sentinel have subsequently reported on the incident, too, but they largely relied on the blogger’s account. On his Facebook campaign page, Donovan recalled the attacks in the 2000 aldermanic election and wrote, “Out of nowhere, they produced an additional document to the original citation – a supposed ‘police record’ – which they circulated widely throughout the aldermanic district in an effort to damage my bid and help theirs.” So what’s in the actual file? It still exists at the courthouse because UWM police cases are sent to Milwaukee County Circuit Court. The 1992 court file, viewed by OnMilwaukee on Thursday, contained three colored carbon-copies of the citation, one copy of the case record and judgment docket, one copy of the recognizance from Milwaukee County circuit court, a blank copy of the recognizance, two copies of a search for Donovan’s criminal history, one copy of the citation payment receipt, and a photocopy of the citation and police narrative. As to the ticket itself, Donovan wrote on his Facebook page recently: “To the incident in question: I was ticketed for disorderly conduct in 1992. As a result of the incident and ticketing I was embarrassed and did not pursue […]
Feb 26th, 2016 by Dave Reid
Donovan’s 1992 UWM peeping ticket enters mayoral conversation
Alderman Bob Donovan and the Journal Sentinel’s Dan Bice have conflicting stories regarding an interview the reporter did for an article about an old citation for restroom peeping that Donovan received in 1992. Three days before the primary election for Milwaukee mayor, and two hours before the mayoral forum between the four mayoral candidates, Donovan’s campaign Facebook posted claims that Bice approached him after a Milwaukee Police Association endorsement press conference and “ran up to me immediately following the announcement and questioned me loudly, using language not fit for a public setting, especially one that included women.” Donovan called Bice’s resulting column a “gossip article.” He added for good measure that he believed it was “a disrespectful and at times vulgar interview.” Bice denies all of this, says the interview was a “calm affair,” and says he has the audio to prove it. Bice added he has known Donovan for years and doesn’t need to “scurry up to him to get his attention.” At the center of Bice’s article was the ticket for disorderly conduct that Donovan received at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 1992, when Donovan was in his 30s. In the lengthy Facebook post that sought to preempt Bice’s story, which ran Tuesday and brought the summons back into the public debate, Donovan – who is running against Mayor Tom Barrett in the April election – denied doing anything improper in the campus bathroom. “To the incident in question: I was ticketed for disorderly conduct in 1992,” said the Donovan campaign Facebook page post. “As a result of the incident and ticketing I was embarrassed and did not pursue the matter further – in hindsight, I absolutely should have. As it was, I paid the ticket immediately to avoid further embarrassment and because I simply wanted to put the matter behind me.” The post called the ticket itself, which was posted years ago on a local blog, a “supposed police record” and “supposed document” and said it couldn’t be “absolutely determined” who wrote it. The June 19, 1992 ticket, which was posted on Blogging Blue in 2012, is stamped “University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Police Department” and bears the issuer’s signature, although the signature is difficult to read. The blogger, Zach Wisniewski, includes what the blogger describes as a “copy of a narrative attached to” the citation issued to Donovan, which reads in part “Donovan stated that he has frequented Mitchell Hall restroom for years for the purpose of either watching men masturbate, or to have sex with men in the restroom.” The narrative says Donovan was observed “peeking through a hole the size of a nickel in a partition between two restroom stalls. I was occupying the stall that Donovan was peeking into. Donovan did this continually for about ten minutes.” Responded Donovan on Facebook: “The fact is I have unequivocally maintained for 16 years that I absolutely did not make any of the comments attributed to me in the supposed document. The fact is the incident was a […]
Feb 24th, 2016 by Dave Reid
Beloit’s Hendricks Commercial scouts site for first downtown Milwaukee area project
A Beloit real estate firm affiliated with the Hendricks family of ABC Supply Co. fame is in talks to buy land in the Walker’s Point neighborhood for what would be its first development in the downtown Milwaukee area. Hendricks Commercial Properties LLC is owned by a holding company that was founded by Ken and Diane Hendricks, founders of Beloit’s ABC Supply Co. Inc., and now owned by Diane Hendricks. Hendricks Commercial has a portfolio of 12 million square feet of building space, but has not done any projects in downtown Milwaukee, said Rob Gerbitz, president and CEO. For about two years, Hendricks Commercial it has explored possible investments in the 3rd Ward, Walker’s Point and near the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee campus, Gerbitz said. “The opportunity just hasn’t come yet,” he said. “It’s a market that is probably nowhere near where it will be in the next decade. We just think it’s an interesting market.” Hendricks Commercial currently is trying to assemble properties in the Walker’s Point block southeast of First Street and Pittsburgh Avenue, Gerbitz said. The property is now parking lots and one industrial building at the corner of Pittsburgh and South Barclay Street. If a deal comes together, Gerbitz said the company could develop a building with “destination” retail on the first floor and apartments on the upper floors, he said. Hendricks Commercial has not gotten to the point where it has locked in the scale of a possible project, he said. “We’d like to do a mixed-use component,” Gerbitz said. “We would do something that is very historic in nature.” Walker’s Point has become arguably Milwaukee’s hottest development area. Hendricks Commercial is among several developers that are locking down properties in the neighborhood for apartment and commercial developments. Gerbitz said if the company cannot make a deal come together at First and Pittsburgh, it will continue to pursue other opportunities in the neighborhoods around downtown. “We can be selective,” he said. “We’re conservative.” A company registered to Greenfield developer Michael Dilworth owns the eastern segment of the Walker’s Point block. That includes the 13,000-square-foot building at Pittsburgh and Barclay, and the parking lot to the south. Those properties are listed for sale with an asking price of almost $4 million, said Steve Anderson, president and CEO of Anderson Commercial Group, Greenfield. Anderson declined comment on any potential talks regarding the property. Motorcycle maker Royal Enfield North America Ltd. is temporarily occupying the corner building until its permanent home at 226 N. Water St. in the 3rd Ward is completed, Anderson said. That Water Street building is expected to be ready for occupancy in summer, he said. The corner property at First and Pittsburgh has different owners that have held the land for about 25 years. That owners group about a year ago gained city approval to take over part of the public right-of-way at the street corner for a future development. They proposed a roughly 13,000-square-foot, two-story building with retail that never moved forward.
Feb 24th, 2016 by Dave Reid
