Changing Landscape
Milwaukee
set for building boom
By
Sean Ryan
The
Milwaukee that will grow up during the next 20 years is taking
its first steps right now, and this baby is going to be worth
billions to the construction industry.
In
1998, there were 298 acres of surface parking and vacant lots
or buildings ripe for redevelopment in Milwaukee's downtown area.
That didn't include predictions for an almost complete overhaul
of the 1,200-acre Menomonee Valley. And it didn't account for
an additional 58 downtown acres the Department of City Development
deemed "moderately susceptible to change."
Then
there are the highways. Under current plans, the Marquette Interchange
reconstruction would cost $910 million. Reconstruction of interstates
94 and 43 in Milwaukee County would cost $948 million or $1.2
billion with recommended additional lanes.
All
this in a city that hasn't felt a development boom since the years
after Grand Avenue Mall opened in 1982, and whose last skyscraper,
now owned by U.S. Bank, was finished in 1974. But city planners
point toward the city's growing population and predict that the
quiet years are over.
Population
boom
During
the 1990s, the city lost about 31,000 residents, but the trends
have shifted and people are migrating back downtown, said Julie
Penman, DCD commissioner.
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Business
development will beget collateral development in regards
to community development
and retail.
Michael
Fabishak
Executive Vice President
AGC of Greater Milwaukee
|
These
newcomers will become the heart of future redevelopment, creating
a market for housing, offices and retailers.
"People
are really recognizing the value of cities and the connections
that you see in cities," Penman said. "There's all sorts
of housing starting in the central city."
The
slowly mounting demand is in sync with the unprecedented opening
of 26 empty downtown acres below the Park East Freeway. Milwaukee
Historian John Gurda said the opportunities waiting underneath
the freeway rubble come once in a city's lifetime.
"Having
that much land available that close to the heart of town is unprecedented,"
Gurda said. "The central part of Milwaukee will become busier
- a much more vital center. More people are living downtown.
I think that's a real part of the future."
Penman
predicted that between now and 2020, the 298 vacant downtown acres
will grow into mixed-use developments resembling the $300 million
PabstCity project proposed for the 21-acre Pabst Brewing Co. complex.
In addition to attracting young professionals hungry for an urban
lifestyle, these developments will appeal to the aging baby boomer
population, she said.
"As
we age, we don't want to be burdened with taking care of lawns
and all that stuff," Penman said. "With mixed-use, there's
residential, office and retail in the same development. So if
you live in a development, you have the services and support very
nearby."
High-tech
growth
As
the employment market fills with a new generation of workers,
the city's efforts to bring high-tech businesses into the area
will bear fruit, predicted Michael Fabishak, executive vice president
of the Associated General Contractors of Greater Milwaukee. He
said the corridor between Milwaukee and Madison will also sprout
a high-tech and biotech sector.
"Some
of the efforts that are going on right now in relation to building
Milwaukee's economy will orient themselves to bringing new businesses
into the economy," Fabishak said. "Business development
will beget collateral development in regards to community development
and retail."
The
Menomonee Valley has been zoned for light industrial use, making
it a forefront location for new businesses in Milwaukee, Penman
said. The valley is slated to change its present dirty reputation
- Gurda likened it to an armpit - into a green place
with business and recreational parks.
"When
you're running on the reconstructed I-94, you'll look down and
you'll see a green valley with a light industrial technology park,"
Penman said. "It's going to be greener. You're going to see
our downtown itself get a lot greener as we do streetscape improvements."
Expanded
development
By
all accounts, most of Milwaukee's redevelopment, plus the freeway
reconstruction, should be complete by 2020. But there are also
significant changes in store for the suburban communities around
it, predicted Robert Greenstreet, dean of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
School of Architecture and Urban Planning.
As
the downtown grows more street activity and a village's sense
of community, the suburbs will raze their strip malls and big
box developments to make room for a more unique landscape, Greenstreet
said. Suburban isolation is a growing fear that will lead to growth
of more distinctive buildings that aim to distinguish suburbs
from each other.
"I
think you're going to start seeing a more intelligent reappraisal
of that land," Greenstreet said. "They're starting to
provide concentrations of activity within the strip mall areas
that have more of a sense of identity. They're going to have their
own aesthetic. They're going to have their own rhythm, but they'll
be much better people places."
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The
central part of Milwaukee will become busier - a much more
vital center.
John
Gurda
Milwaukee Historian
|
Although
Greenstreet said he was optimistic that rethinking the suburbs
would improve them, he wondered what the raze-and-rebuild mentality
might mean to older, and sometimes historic, downtown buildings.
"There
will also be a higher pressure to level the ground and start again,"
he said. "It's much cheaper, and that's a tough question.
As the city expands, I would like to see more discussion as to
what's best."
Finding
balance
Fabishak
said there's a constant flux between new buildings and old ones,
and some of Milwaukee's structures would surely be sacrificed
to development. Others that aren't torn down would require replacement
of electrical or HVAC systems to pace technological advancements.
"Some
of the stuff that was built 50 or 100 years ago, it's lovely,
but it's like a home," he said. "There's a dynamic to
that that will always be there."
However,
Gurda said that compared to other American cities, Milwaukee is
more inclined to preserve its buildings than replace them. This
inclination, plus the abundance of empty downtown lots, means
that 2003's buildings have a good chance of living to see 2023.
"The
preservation movement has become part of our fabric to the point
where people would be very resistant to tearing them down,"
Gurda said. "We've got a lot of our old buildings downtown
that a lot of people would kill for."
Penman,
Fabishak and Greenstreet all said they were giving optimistic
predictions. Right or wrong, Greenstreet said people would always
need builders because buildings don't last forever, and people
will always need buildings.
"Buildings
will always be a constituent part of the way we live and do business,"
he said. "There are things that are happening. I think this
is a great time to see things moving in the right direction for
the city."
