Big ideas are rising between the big buildings of Downtown Milwaukee.
Most of the major concepts in the city’s new Downtown Plan focus less on those buildings than on the streets and public spaces in their shadows. The plan’s title, “Connecting MKE,” summarizes its overarching vision of Downtown in 2040 as a crucial crossroads that draws residents with a range of attractions linked to each other, the rest of the city and the surrounding region by multiple modes of transportation.
Five of its six “big ideas,” or key themes, and six of its seven “catalytic projects,” or recommended transformative developments, deal with ways to get around and places to gather. They call for making streets more accessible to pedestrians, bicyclists and public transit – including catalytic projects on North Water and North Sixth streets – and adding commuter and intercity rail routes.
It’s time to pick your Milwaukee favorites for the year!
A draft of the plan released in spring also recommended replacing the east-west segment of I-794 with a boulevard and expanding the city’s streetcar network as catalytic projects. However, in June, Downtown Ald. Bob Bauman – who supports both ideas – said he would delay action on the plan because he thinks it’s misleading to include goals that he believes would be thwarted by state officials.
All of the plan’s concepts, along with the other big idea – fostering the growth of Downtown’s residential population and workforce – reflect Mayor Cavalier Johnson’s urbanist vision of Milwaukee as a growing, vibrant metropolis that could someday reach a population of 1 million.
“The mayor has charged us to be aspirational and think big for these 100 acres,” City Development Commissioner Lafayette Crump says. That includes “breaking down barriers” to ensure Downtown is accessible to people of all incomes, adds City Planning Manager Sam Leichtling.
And now is the time for new thinking about Downtown, as post-COVID trends lead businesses to reconsider the office buildings that traditionally drew workers there, notes Robert Schneider, UW-Milwaukee professor of urban planning.
Like its 1999 and 2010 predecessors, this is one of 14 area plans that will be rolled into the city’s comprehensive plan, guiding future development and land use decisions. A wide range of people and interest groups contributed to the draft plan released in spring. The Common Council was expected to consider it this summer, although Bauman’s position could disrupt that timeline.
Here’s a closer look at some of the plan’s major recommendations, rating the challenges to achieving them on a 1-to-5 scale where 5 is most difficult.
ROUNDING OUT THE SQUARE
Reinvigorate MacArthur Square (Catalytic Project)
Now: Surrounded by public buildings, the vast civic plaza often seems deserted. Sitting atop a city-owned parking garage and freeway ramp tunnels, it’s neither visible nor easily accessible to pedestrians from surrounding streets.
Vision: Replace the Milwaukee Public Museum with mixed-use development, rebuild the Safety Building at its current site, extend some streets into the square and add programming. Redevelop the nearby State Office Building.
Degree of Difficulty: 4
Different MacArthur Square ideas were included in the 1999 and 2010 Downtown plans without success. But in the spirit of the square’s namesake general, the city has returned to the challenge. This time, the expected vacancy of the Public Museum and State Office Building sites and the need for a modern criminal courts facility offer an opportunity, say Crump and Aaron Hertzberg, county director of administrative services. However, funding remains incomplete for moving the museum and reconstructing the Safety Building.
FILLING UP THE SPACES
Invest in Parks and Gathering Spaces (Big Idea)
Now: Events are sporadic in the county-managed Cathedral Square, Red Arrow Park, Pere Marquette Park and Zeidler Union Square. Only Red Arrow has concessions, public restrooms and a permanent attraction (its ice- and roller-skating rink).
Vision: Add more programming, food and beverage service, free Wi-Fi and – to the relief of Downtown visitors – restrooms. Build the recently approved Vel R. Phillips Plaza (401 W. Wisconsin Ave.) and the proposed Lakefront Gateway Plaza across from The Couture site. Create a “public space management organization” to coordinate programs, run concessions and generate revenue for parks. That eventually could include MacArthur Square, Vel R. Phillips Plaza, the RiverWalk and the Lakefront Gateway Plaza, say Crump and Gabriel Yeager, Milwaukee Downtown director of public space initiatives. Such organizations operate in cities as diverse as Detroit, Seattle and Mobile, Alabama.
Degree of Difficulty: 3
Government and business officials are on board. But funding, a perennial parks challenge, will be the biggest hurdle, says Jeremy Lucas, parks administration and planning director. Yeager says successful counterparts are self-sustaining through concession revenue or special tax assessments, not donations.
PULLING OUT OF THE GARAGE
Redevelop Marcus Center Parking Garage (Catalytic Project)
Now: The performing arts center’s parking garage sits on a full-block property leased from the city, between the Water Street nightlife district and the Milwaukee River. A skywalk links the center and the garage, keeping patrons off the street. The lease expires in 2024.
Vision: Replace the garage with a mixed-use complex that would spur additional development nearby.
Degree of Difficulty: 2
In 2016, the Marcus Center’s then-president, Paul Mathews, told Milwaukee Magazine that he wanted to replace the garage with a mixed-use building that would generate enough revenue to wean the arts center off county tax subsidies. He was thwarted by uncertainty over whether the center’s ownership would pass from the county to the Wisconsin Center District, an issue resolved in 2018. Mathews retired in 2019. A Marcus Center spokesperson wouldn’t say whether current leadership shares his vision, but city and arts center officials stressed they are working together to find a mutually beneficial solution.
Visions From the Past
Of eight catalytic projects recommended in the 2010 Downtown Plan, four have progressed and four have not. Here’s a sampling:
1. Downtown Streetcar
Connect the Intermodal Station to the Lower East Side with a modern streetcar line.
ACCOMPLISHED
The Hop’s initial M Line started service in 2018.
New plan: Add more routes.
2. Wisconsin Avenue
Improve the street’s residential and retail mix and storefronts’ appearance.
SIGNIFICANT PROGRESS
Converting the Shops of Grand Avenue to The Avenue, the former Boston Store to Hub 640 and the Warner Grand Theater to the Bradley Symphony Center brought new life to the old street.
New plan: Add streetscaping and build Vel R. Phillips Plaza.
3. Lakefront Gateway
Relocate the Downtown Transit Center and reconfigure I-794 ramps to free space for development and a new plaza.
SOME PROGRESS
The Couture is rising on the transit center site and freeway ramps have been shifted, but another commercial site remains vacant.
New plan: Build the Lakefront Gateway Plaza east of Lincoln Memorial Drive.
4. Station Plaza
Redevelop the Downtown Post Office and the area around the Intermodal Station, which would become a local transit hub while adding Milwaukee-to-Madison trains and commuter rail.
DIDN’T HAPPEN.
New plan: Keep trying for more trains.
