Back from the dead

Manufacturing hub blossoms after large investment

Let’s face it, several years ago no one would think to fish in the section of the Menomonee River flowing deep inside Milwaukee’s Menomonee Valley.

For years, the industrial zone was known as the city’s most prominent blue-collar graveyard.

But last year, less than a half-hour after the barricades protecting a newly poured concrete path to the river were removed, a father and son found their way to the water with their rods and reels.

“The fishing is great there,” said Laura Bray, executive director of the Menomonee Valley Partners, Milwaukee.

Once a point of potential embarrassment, the valley has Milwaukee officials filled with pride when they speak of the once, and soon-to-be-again, manufacturing hub.

A $147 million investment in the area by city, state and federal governments began a transformation meant to clean up the land, create jobs and make an industrial community look more like the natural world.

Led by the efforts of Menomonee Valley Partners Inc., crews turned a once dilapidated section of a 120-acre area of the valley, just east of Miller Park, into the Menomonee Valley Industrial Center and Community Park, a unique project that devotes half the land to a compact industrial park and half to open space.

“This demonstrates manufacturing has a viable and strong place in our society,” said Rocky Marcoux, commissioner of the Milwaukee Department of City Development. “And we’re able to do it in an ecologically sustainable way.”

Bray said the aim of the industrial park is to utilize each square foot of available land.

Food processor Palermo Villa Inc. opened a manufacturing facility in the industrial park in August 2006. Manufacturers Badger Railing, Caleffi Hydronics and Taylor Dynamometer opened their own plants shortly after. More manufacturers are on tap as the project moves into its second phase.

After completion, the industrial park could create 1,000 family-sustaining jobs.

“The emphasis is on businesses buying as little land as they need,” Bray said. “The bigger the building, the bigger the job opportunities and the less cost to the business if they need to buy less land.”

The park system, which neighbors the industrial park, provides public access to the Menomonee River and features two canoe launches, three playing fields and about 30 acres of native prairie and woodland.

The green spaces provide filtration for storm-water runoff. The filtration cleans the water before it returns to the river and ensures storm water stays clear of Milwaukee’s storm-water treatment system.

The newly paved Hank Aaron State Trail, a foot and bike path that provides recreational opportunities and connects the valley to the rest of the city, runs through the parkland and industrial area.

While the businesses don’t need to worry about green space requirements on individual parcels, each is held to specially formulated sustainable industrial building standards.

“The Menomonee Valley used to be considered one of the state’s largest brownfields,” Marcoux said, “and now it is one of the state’s biggest job generators.”

— Jennifer Pfaff