"New" Downtown Plan Unveiled To The Public

It's wonderful that the city of Milwaukee is trying to attract more people to the downtown area. Making it more friendly for walking, etc. However, city leaders also need to focus on attracting more businesses to fill in all of the vacant offices/buildings so there are things to continually attract folks downtown. The lakefront isn't as big as a draw during our many colder months. Let's bring in more businesses. That would mean more people traveling in and around the downtown area and thus more folks purchasing more of the beautiful condos that have been built and currently sit empty.

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Downtown plan unveiled to public
Jul 1, 2010 - The Business Journal

Tying together the neighborhoods in and around Milwaukee’s downtown is the theme for the downtown plan update presented to the public Wednesday at an open house at City Hall.

Projects such as creating more pedestrian space near the lakefront, extending Kilbourn Avenue to MacArthur Square, a downtown streetcar and sprucing up the area around the Intermodal Station should create a more pleasant and easily navigable downtown for walkers, drivers and users of public transit, city planners said at the event.

The plan is an update of the 1999 downtown plan, which included projects such as the Milwaukee Public Market, the river walk and the yet-to-be constructed streetcar system. The four themes for the new plan are creating a distinct downtown center, place-making in the downtown (making the downtown a destination), a connected downtown (improving transit options), and density and intensity (making the best use of all the space and buildings available), said Bob Harris with the Department of City Development.

To that end, the planners created eight catalytic projects. They are:


Broadway Connection: Connecting the Third Ward to downtown through Broadway Street, creating a smooth transition for pedestrians.
Wisconsin Avenue Strategy: Improving the retail mix and other uses on and around Wisconsin Avenue. This will be the subject of its own plan that city officials will start crafting later this year.
Station District: Improving the look of the neighborhood around the Intermodal Station, which planners Wednesday called drab.
Pere Marquette Square: Connecting Old World Third Street to Pere Marquette, in-filling the space around the park with attractive buildings and making the park a connector to the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts and Red Arrow Park.
Downtown Streetcar
Lakefront Gateway: Connecting the lakefront to downtown and making Michigan Avenue and Lincoln Memorial Drive more pedestrian-friendly.
Haymarket Square: Create more of a neighborhood feel in the neighborhood around Fourth and Vliet streets through a mixture of housing along with other uses.
MacArthur Square: Extending Kilbourn Avenue to the square and expanding Milwaukee Area Technical College into the square.

The plan will go through public hearings and be presented to the common council and the mayor later this summer.