Spiffing up downtown
City commits $6.9M from tax revenue for redevelopments
Streets will be redeveloped, and a long-ignored square will be improved under city plans.
Some downtown Milwaukee streets will be redeveloped, and a long-ignored public square will be improved, under two new city financing plans.
The proposals, which require Common Council approval, call for spending $6.9 million generated by property tax revenue from newer downtown developments.
Those commercial projects include the Huron Building, an office building under construction at 511 N. Broadway that will be anchored by the Husch Blackwell law firm.
Other developments generating the cash include HUB640, 640 N. Phillips Ave., the former Boston Store building that includes apartments and newly renovated office and retail space.
The streets to be reconstructed include North 2nd Street, from West Wisconsin to North Plankinton avenues, including utilities and sidewalk improvements.
That stretch is just east of where the former Warner Grand Theatre is being converted into the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra’s new performance hall and administrative offices.
Other road improvements will be on North Water Street, East Michigan Street, East Clybourn Street and North Broadway near the 11-story Huron Building.
Those improvements will include street paving, streetscaping, traffic signal upgrades, utility work, public art, lighting improvements and bike amenities.
The street improvements would cost $6.8 million, according to the proposals.
Also, $100,000 would be spent for landscape, lighting, public art and signage improvements at Pompeii Square.
That public square is between North Van Buren Avenue, North Jackson Street, East Clybourn Street and East St. Paul Avenue — in the shadow of I-794.
Pompeii Square is named for the former home of the Blessed Virgin of Pompeii Catholic Church.
The church, built in 1904, was a focus of life in the Historic Third Ward when that neighborhood was home to many Italian-Americans.
Known as “the little pink church,” it was demolished in 1967 to make way for the construction of I-794.
The little-used Pompeii Square features a historic marker about the church, some benches and some green space.
The improvements could include new seating, as well as public art to draw more attention to the historic marker, said Matt Dorner, economic development director at the Milwaukee Downtown Business Improvement District.
There also could be a sign, similar to the one in the West McKinley Boulevard median just east of I-43, that would mark Pompeii Square as a gateway to downtown, said Dorner, whose group is leading the effort.
An improved square also would better connect downtown to the Historic Third Ward along Jackson Street, he said.
The business improvement district last year helped improve a similar connection with a new mural along the sidewalk that connects two sections of Jefferson Street on both sides of I-794.