MILWAUKEE | Development News

[cjreisen]

Milwaukee is such a great city with so much potential, but these blue glass towers are homogenizing this great city and sucking the life out of it. It's a city with so much history and inspiration to pull from for design, why the hell are we building these soulless monoliths.

[bucksfan15]

Wangard renewing effort to expand 875 office at downtown lakefront

Milwaukee developer Stewart Wangard said he aims to complete a seven-story second tower at the 875 East Wisconsin Avenue office in 2020 or earlier, and is in talks with possible tenants for the building.

[bucksfan15]

$34 million gift to MSOE announced for next-generation tech facility at center of campus

A $34 million gift to Milwaukee School of Engineering from an alumnus and his wife will allow it to build a new academic facility and launch a next-generation technologies program that will be one of only a few in the nation for undergraduates.

The Dwight and Dian Diercks Computational Science Hall, funded by a donation from MSOE Regent and alumnus Dwight Diercks and his wife, Dian, will be built at the center of the downtown campus. It will position the school at the educational forefront in artificial intelligence, deep learning, cyber security, robotics, cloud computing and other next-generation technologies, the school announced Monday.

Pretty cool initiative planned by MSOE to help grow their downtown campus. Definitely some fantastic infill right in the heart of downtown. Stay tuned for more announcements regarding MSOE's downtown campus. A few articles mentioned planned residential developments in the near future from them also.

[embora]

Originally Posted by bucksfan15

$34 million gift to MSOE announced for next-generation tech facility at center of campus



Pretty cool initiative planned by MSOE to help grow their downtown campus. Definitely some fantastic infill right in the heart of downtown. Stay tuned for more announcements regarding MSOE's downtown campus. A few articles mentioned planned residential developments in the near future from them also.

Wow...that is excellent news. If the movie is 100% accurate, it looks like they'll remove the surface parking lots that line up with Highland Ave, in favor of some sort of plaza/courtyard/mall.

[bucksfan15]

Originally Posted by embora

Wow...that is excellent news. If the movie is 100% accurate, it looks like they'll remove the surface parking lots that line up with Highland Ave, in favor of some sort of plaza/courtyard/mall.

I'm hoping so, that would be awesome. That sea of MSOE surface lots in the immediate area is an eyesore. I'm glad they are doing something about it.

If I were to make an educated guess, the new residential development they are hinting at will probably be along Water St between Juneau and Knapp on the lot they recently purchased.

What I'm waiting for and what I would really love to see is the lots directly south of me taken care of also. I live in Juneau Towers and the MSOE lots just south of State St between Jackson and Milwaukee need to go. They are primed for development. MSOE is really the only thing holding back the density of that area of downtown.

[Booch]

Originally Posted by cjreisen

Milwaukee is such a great city with so much potential, but these blue glass towers are homogenizing this great city and sucking the life out of it. It's a city with so much history and inspiration to pull from for design, why the hell are we building these soulless monoliths.

To me, the soulless monolith is the Chase building.

[LouisVanDerWright]

The Chase building is excellent, do not speak ill of it.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by LouisVanDerWright

The Chase building is excellent

truth.

particularly that exquisite glass jewel-case entrance lobby.




source: https://www.emporis.com/images/detai...lass-box-entry

[embora]

Originally Posted by bucksfan15

I'm hoping so, that would be awesome. That sea of MSOE surface lots in the immediate area is an eyesore. I'm glad they are doing something about it.

If I were to make an educated guess, the new residential development they are hinting at will probably be along Water St between Juneau and Knapp on the lot they recently purchased.

What I'm waiting for and what I would really love to see is the lots directly south of me taken care of also. I live in Juneau Towers and the MSOE lots just south of State St between Jackson and Milwaukee need to go. They are primed for development. MSOE is really the only thing holding back the density of that area of downtown.

I wonder if MSOE has a master plan that would mention an anticipated use for some of these lots. With as much as MSOE seems to have been building in the past several years, maybe you'll get your wish.

By the way, I used to live on the same block as you. What a GREAT location.

[bucksfan15]

Well the sorely-needed widening of I-94, a log-jammed and unsafe major artery from the western suburbs into downtown, has officially been cancelled. Ironically, the Democrats that sued to stop the project, referring to it as "racist", are now complaining that it has been cancelled.

Ending Freeway Project Is Historic Blunder

Here’s why it matters:
A delay of several years is a distinct possibility. Every year, taxpayer costs to rebuild will grow by tens of millions.

Plaintiffs in I-94 Suit Say Highway Project is 'Racist in its Consequences'

The project, which has been in the works since 2014, would rebuild and expand 3.5 miles of highway from 16th Street to 70th Street. It would address congestion, safety concerns and the “deteriorated condition” of the freeway, according to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT), by adding lanes and changing the placement of exits and on-ramps.

[LouisVanDerWright]

Fuck highway widening. Move into the city if you don't like commuting in traffic. You can't build your way out of congestion.

[Omaharocks]

Originally Posted by bucksfan15

Well the sorely-needed widening of I-94, a log-jammed and unsafe major artery from the western suburbs into downtown, has officially been cancelled. Ironically, the Democrats that sued to stop the project, referring to it as "racist", are now complaining that it has been cancelled.

Ending Freeway Project Is Historic Blunder



Plaintiffs in I-94 Suit Say Highway Project is 'Racist in its Consequences'

Adding lanes is one of the key factors in making roads less safe. Milwaukee is smart to avoid widening a highway that won't result in any long-term benefits, and would bring a host of negatives.

[bucksfan15]

Developer buys Scottish Rite Masonic Center for hotel development
Construction of 220-room hotel expected to begin in summer 2018

Ascendant Holdings, LLC, which has offices in Milwaukee and Madison, is planning to begin construction in summer 2018 on the $60 million project, which includes renovating the 80,000-square-foot building and adding a 14-story tower above the existing building.

[bucksfan15]

Seven-story mixed-use building planned next to Mackie, Button Block buildings

The proposed new building will be built at 511 N. Broadway, which is currently a parking lot at the corner of East Clybourn Street and Broadway. Engberg Anderson Architects is designing the building.

“The building is massed to provide a strong corner bookended on both Clbourn and Broadway,” Jeffers said in his submission.

The building includes 9,400 square feet of first floor retail and 108 apartments, according to plans submitted to the city.

[The North One]

Oh wow, I love it! The facade is beautiful.

[bucksfan15]

Driverless vehicle lanes on I-94 being studied for Foxconn

Pyritz said the process of evaluating and making final decisions on upgrades to I-94 and other roads near the planned Foxconn complex in Mount Pleasant “is a work in progress,” with many options being weighed.

“It’s on the table,” he said of dedicated lanes for driverless vehicles, “but boy, there’s a lot of stuff on the table.”

One possibility, Sheehy said, would be driverless lanes between the Foxconn plant and Milwaukee’s Mitchell International Airport as a way to move supplies and products to and from the factory.

[J_M_Tungsten]

A bit OT, but what’s the point of autonomous cars? Is driving that inconvenient, or do people want to play on their phones THAT much that we need robots to drive us to and from our destinations? Personally, I love driving, and would never want to give that up to be a passenger in my own car.

[Busy Bee]

dedicated lanes for driverless vehicles

What the hell... Isn't one of the AV "selling points" is that it doesn't require special/dedicated infrastructure? Talk about moving the goalpost. What idiot came up with this idea?

[LouisVanDerWright]

Guys the lanes are for autonomous freight vehicles. Apparently they will be receiving lots of parts directly from the airport and want to have a ROW for driverless freight vehicles which I don't believe are driving on US roads at this time. If they are going to have that kind of traffic and are trying out autonomous techology, I don't see why it wouldn't make sense. Hell, even once this tech is ready for the masses, it will still make sense to build autonomous Lanes on highways to separate slower human traffic so the autonomous ones can go at high speeds in tight convoys. You can't have a human try to jump in with robots tailgating each other at 100MPH.

[bucksfan15]

BMO Tower construction begins in downtown Milwaukee
25-story building will be home to BMO Harris Bank's Wisconsin HQ, Michael Best & Friedrich

A groundbreaking ceremony was held Thursday in downtown Milwaukee to celebrate the start of construction for the 25-story BMO Tower, an office building that will be home to BMO Harris Bank’s Wisconsin headquarters and Milwaukee law firm Michael Best & Friedrich.

Click here to see a video of the ceremony from WISN-TV Channel 12, a media partner of BizTimes Milwaukee.

The $132.6 million project is being developed by Irgens, which purchased BMO Harris Bank’s current 20-story office tower downtown and adjacent seven-level parking structure at 770 N. Water St. in August for $7.1 million. The new office tower will be built at the site of that parking structure, which will be torn down.

Irgens considers middle-income housing, hotel for current BMO office building
Project will begin after new BMO Tower is completed

When BMO Harris Bank moves into its new 25-story office tower in downtown Milwaukee Irgens will redevelop the bank’s current office building at 770 N. Water St. into a mixed-use development that could include middle-income housing.

Mark Irgens, CEO of Irgens, said the redevelopment plans for the 20-story building will not include typical multi-tenant office space. The downtown Milwaukee market does not need 300,000 square feet of class B office space, he said.

Instead, he is considering partnering with non-traditional owner-users who would use a portion of the space for “institution office.”

Another section of the building could be redeveloped as a hotel, Irgens said.