MILWAUKEE | Development News

[coldru]

BMO Tower Construction Cam : http://www.earthcam.net/projects/findorffson/bmotower/

[bucksfan15]

Originally Posted by coldru

BMO Tower Construction Cam : http://www.earthcam.net/projects/findorffson/bmotower/

Nice find.

[CastleScott]

^ Nice find too, looks like Milwaukee is going into a nice building boom.

[bucksfan15]

Originally Posted by CastleScott

^ Nice find too, looks like Milwaukee is going into a nice building boom.

Definitely. Look forward to quite a few more cranes in the air shortly as multiple towers are about to get going in the next few months;

BMO Tower (25 stories)
Couture (44 stories)
Masonic Hotel (14 stories atop current building)
Potawatomi Hotel (19 stories)
St. Johns (20 stories)

[bucksfan15]

Foxconn increasing their plans BIG TIME....

Foxconn increases size of planned Mount Pleasant complex

Foxconn officials now say they plan to build a 32 million-square-foot
complex in Mount Pleasant. Original estimates were 20 million square feet for the campus.

Crazy increase in size.

[Busy Bee]

Awesome.

I'll believe it when I see it.

[bucksfan15]

[embora]

That's a beautiful sunset and a great view of MKE. Thank you for sharing. Looks like this would also be a good perspective of the contemplated MSOE development on the northwest corner of Milwaukee and State.

[bucksfan15]

Originally Posted by embora

That's a beautiful sunset and a great view of MKE. Thank you for sharing. Looks like this would also be a good perspective of the contemplated MSOE development on the northwest corner of Milwaukee and State.

Definitely. I'm going to have a great view of both MSOE's AI Complex and the BMO Tower as they rise so expect lots of pictures of those. You can also see the new arena perfectly in that picture if you know where to look

[bucksfan15]

Foxconn to submit site plans by Friday following Mount Pleasant approvals
Construction must start in 2018 under developer's agreement

The plans will be the most detailed look at the facilities that Foxconn intends to build. The company has said it would be constructing four facilities including a thin-film transistor liquid crystal display plant, a back-end liquid crystal display module packaging operation, a facility focused on molding and tool and die work and a facility for assembly of final products.

[bucksfan15]

Foxconn campus plans include 3 facilities topping 1.5 million square feet
130,000 square feet dedicated to cafeteria footprint alone

The first phase of Foxconn Technology Group’s LCD campus in Mount Pleasant would include five buildings with a footprint of at least 500,000 square feet, including two that would exceed 1.5 million square feet, according to plans submitted to the village of Mount Pleasant.

Another five facilities in the second phase exceed 400,000 square feet, including one that tops 1.5 million

One of those two larger facilities in the first phase is an assembly operation planned along Highway H. That facility is a first priority for construction and the company hopes to have it done by the start of 2019, according to Claude Lois, Mount Pleasant project manager.

Finally, some clarity and more detailed plans for Foxconn. There are a lot of crazy big numbers thrown around in the article. It is a bit difficult to wrap my head around the size of this campus. I live in downtown MKE but work in Racine so I pass the site every day on my way to work. I'll be sure to provide lots of photo updates. I know this is a skyscraper site but man, this complex is going to be a whole different beast. It's going to be crazy watching it rise. Plus, I would assume this is only going to continue to fuel, if not accelerate, the boom happening in downtown Milwaukee. I could see a couple residential towers (in addition to the rumored Foxconn office tower) rise from the influx of residents into the metro area.

[mbradleyc]

Originally Posted by 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.

Exactly! They will need five lanes to accommodate this plus the regular expansion, the fifth lane being separate and therefore wider. Plus special on/off ramps at the airport and at KR so the AVs can get to and from their points without affecting normal traffic. I really hope this is being taken seriously by the planners. No half measures. It will take longer than they are saying and cost more, but it can be done.

This is the 21st century I've been waiting for and right in my own backyard!

Still, there is a rail line that runs even more directly between the two. You would think it might be more efficient to add a dedicated set of tracks along that to do this. But that would involve The Canadian Pacific and their unions as well as the FRA and all the government.

But that's Amtrak's line too, so maybe they could do both. High-speed commuter and freight rail and AV highway.

I'm just tripping now!

Mitchell's freight operations are going to have to expand and Amazon is going to want some of that. I can even see Kenosha Regional getting some freight business. Revive that plan from 25 years ago.

Since the freeway reconstruction stopped just north of S/142 in Kenosha, which is right at both Amazon and the north side of the airport, and Uline, they can do that AV lane right to there as well. Trainlines too. Wow!

For all that Mitchell has been trying to lure northern Chicago and Lake County for passengers, the freight operations might be the real key to growth. O'Hare has substantial freight obviously, but they are seriously approaching maximum capacity. If the two states can build out a combination of rail and highway infrastructure along this combined ROW at least up to Rondout/the Edens spur, that can do so much for the regional economy.

If Amazon doesn't choose Milwaukee, I know it's very unlikely, I really hope they pick Chicago. That will benefit the region. Milwaukee will get a piece of that action too.

[LouisVanDerWright]

I'm from Milwaukee and live in Chicago so all the action in between the cities is exciting for me. I remember when 94 was still two lanes in places, now it's an absolute futuristic racetrack. Can't wait to see these two great cities grow even closer together. I think Foxconn is a great fit for Milwaukee given the role of precision industry and manufacturing throughout its history. It seems that Chicago has always been more heavy industry (stock yards, railways, giant smelters, etc) while Milwaukee has always gravitated towards the higher end durable goods like heavy equipment, control systems, factory equipment, etc. Milwaukee also still has the highest percentage of its workforce employed in Manufacturing out of any city in the US so it's a natural fit to bring high tech manufacturing in as well.

Chicago has evolved more from it's heavy industry roots, but the precision manufacturing like Johnson Controls, Manatowac, Bucyrus (now CAT), Rockwell Automation, etc has really stayed put in Milwaukee. Foxconn is a brilliant addition to that community and legacy and is really even more exciting in the general context of the industrial and logistics development that has blown up not just in this corridor, but all the corridors around Chicago as far out as I-39/I88, Gary, Rockford, Kenosha, etc. Hopefully Chicago is able to capitalize on it's clear preeminence in logistics and the current corporate and tech booms downtown and bring in Amazon. These two players would really mark the Milwaukee-Chicago region as a Class A tech hub and a great paring of industrial know how and service/tech sector innovation.

[bucksfan15]

Originally Posted by LouisVanDerWright

I'm from Milwaukee and live in Chicago so all the action in between the cities is exciting for me. I remember when 94 was still two lanes in places, now it's an absolute futuristic racetrack. Can't wait to see these two great cities grow even closer together. I think Foxconn is a great fit for Milwaukee given the role of precision industry and manufacturing throughout its history. It seems that Chicago has always been more heavy industry (stock yards, railways, giant smelters, etc) while Milwaukee has always gravitated towards the higher end durable goods like heavy equipment, control systems, factory equipment, etc. Milwaukee also still has the highest percentage of its workforce employed in Manufacturing out of any city in the US so it's a natural fit to bring high tech manufacturing in as well.

Chicago has evolved more from it's heavy industry roots, but the precision manufacturing like Johnson Controls, Manatowac, Bucyrus (now CAT), Rockwell Automation, etc has really stayed put in Milwaukee. Foxconn is a brilliant addition to that community and legacy and is really even more exciting in the general context of the industrial and logistics development that has blown up not just in this corridor, but all the corridors around Chicago as far out as I-39/I88, Gary, Rockford, Kenosha, etc. Hopefully Chicago is able to capitalize on it's clear preeminence in logistics and the current corporate and tech booms downtown and bring in Amazon. These two players would really mark the Milwaukee-Chicago region as a Class A tech hub and a great paring of industrial know how and service/tech sector innovation.

Couldn't have said it better myself. If Chicago does land Amazon, I hope Milwaukee tries to pull anything it can out of it, be it a satellite office, or just residents who get priced out of Chicago by advertising a 1-hour, traffic-free Amtrak ride from downtown to downtown. You won't need a car as you can just take the streetcar right from the Intermodal Station. Hell, most Chicagoans sit in traffic for an hour anyway. Why not make Chicago wages while taking advantage of Milwaukee's cost of living? Looks like Amtrak is looking to ramp up service already between the 2 cities with the Hiawatha Line running right through the Foxconn site. Trying to increase service to 20 trains per day, 10 each way.

Could Milwaukee Build A Foxconn City?

Representatives of the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission were at the city ZND committee meeting and Bauman noted that WisDOT “almost (has) a shovel-ready program to utilize existing infrastructure, add three round trips a day, 10 total.”

On a separate note, the main point of the article is that Bauman somehow thinks Milwaukee is going to annex land in Racine County for a satellite city. I read the article and how it would need to go down but don't see it happening. Eventually, and probably sooner rather than later, Milwaukee is going to need to re-explore the KRM (Milwaukee-Racine-Kenosha) commuter rail proposal.

It's going to be really fun to watch the 94-corridor grow.

[Booch]

I hate to put a downer on the mood, but Chicago is not going to land Amazon. It is likely going to Atlanta.

Personally, I would prefer to distance ourselves as much as possible from Chicago. Or rather, the state of Illinois. Nothing personal against the residents, as I work in Illinois about 50% of the time. Just the legislature.

[bucksfan15]

Potawatomi breaks ground for second hotel tower
$80 million project expected to open in spring 2019

The $80 million project will add 119 rooms and suites to the 381-room hotel, bringing the total room count to 500 and making it the second largest hotel in the city.

The hotel will also feature a spa and additional meeting space. It is expected to open in the spring of 2019.

“The fact that you went from zero (rooms) to the number two in a couple of years is amazing,” said Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett. “Maybe in a couple of years you can do a third tower.”

The second hotel tower at the casino will be attached to the 19-story, 381-room hotel tower that was built at the casino in 2014.

[bucksfan15]

Let the FOXCONN era commence.....

Foxconn plans big concrete-production plant; water main contracts approved

The work is expected to begin the first week in January and be completed by April, to coordinate with state Department of Transportation reconstruction of the east frontage road along I-94 and improvements to Racine County Highway H.

The contract awards come as Foxconn is expected this week to make a major financial commitment toward the ambitious plans it has outlined for a $10 billion electronics factory in Racine County employing up to 13,000 people.

With the contracts awarded this week comes a glimpse into Foxconn’s initial construction plans. The Highway H water main will feed a big “batch” plant Foxconn will use to make concrete for the huge manufacturing complex — 22 million square feet in all — the company plans to build in an area bounded by I-94, Highway KR, Highway H and Braun Road.

[bucksfan15]

Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra acquires former Warner Grand Theatre
New MSO performance center slated to open fall 2020

The MSO announced in December 2016 that an anonymous patron donor was leading an initiative to buy the vacant Art Deco-style theater, located in a 12-story building on West Wisconsin Avenue across from the Shops of Grand Avenue, to convert it into its new concert hall.

The organization launched a special $120 million fundraising campaign to secure enough money to acquire, design and renovate the theater, as well as paying for an endowment for the symphony. The MSO has raised $93.5 million to date.

The MSO is expected to purchase the building by Dec. 31. The grand opening of the new Milwaukee Symphony Center is expected in fall of 2020.

Such an amazing project for the city. I've been waiting for this theater to be brought back to life. It's probably one of the most gorgeous in the city. It's going to provide a world-class venue for a world-class symphony. Another huge win for the western side of downtown.

[bucksfan15]

St. John's on the Lake to start construction on 22-story Milwaukee east side housing tower

Construction is to begin this spring on a 22-story tower that will expand a Milwaukee east side housing community and alter the city's skyline overlooking Lake Michigan.

St. John's on the Lake expects to open the tower, with around 170 new units, in spring 2020, said Renee Anderson, president at St. John's Communities Inc., which operates the housing complex.

[Steely Dan]

^ nice.

still hoping the couture pops one of these years.