Work would improve downtown, Third Ward connection
Paving, trees, art in pipeline for area
You’ve likely seen it, or even felt it, when walking between Milwaukee’s downtown and the Historic Third Ward.
The two neighborhoods are located next to one another. But I-794’s elevated dividing line can be a visual and psychological barrier — discouraging people from walking between the two places.
Now, work to better connect downtown and the Third Ward is getting a big boost with nearly $4 million in new city funds for street and sidewalk improvements. “It really benefits the whole area,” said Danielle Bergner, chief operating officer and general counsel at J. Jeffers and Co., a development firm that’s helping lead the connection efforts.
The proposal, which undergoes Common Council review on Tuesday, would spend money provided by property tax revenue from newer developments in the block bordered by North Water Street, North Broadway, East Michigan Street and East Clybourn Street.
A Jeffers and Co. affiliate plans to spend up to $3.8 million on street work primarily in that area.
The city funds would compensate Jeffers and Co. for its expenses in annual payments for up to 10 years.
The improvements would include street paving, traffic signal upgrades, utility work, public art, lighting improvements and bike amenities.
Also, there would be new trees and shrubs planted along Broadway, north of Clybourn Street.
Finally, some of the cash will pay for additional lighting beneath I-794.
All of that work, to be completed in 2020, is designed to make the connections between downtown and the Third Ward more welcoming for walkers, said
Dan Casanova, of the Department of City Development.
Much of the work will focus on the Broadway connection.
“It’s a pretty stark area right now,” Casanova recently told members of the council’s Zoning, Neighborhoods and Development Committee, which voted 5-0 to recommend the financing proposal.
Some of the property tax revenue is coming from the new Huron Building, an 11-story, 153,000-square-foot office building that Jeffers and Co. is developing at 511 N. Broadway.
The Huron, at the northwest corner of Broadway and Clybourn Street, is being anchored by the Husch Blackwell law firm, and will be completed in September 2020.
Broadway, a wide street that includes part of The Hop streetcar route, has become the the main connection between downtown and the Third Ward, said Bergner.
For pedestrians, Broadway’s wide sidewalks are more comfortable than “cramped” Water Street sidewalks, she said.
That’s particularly true for the west side of Broadway, which includes an entrance to the Milwaukee Public Market at East St. Paul Avenue.
By contrast, Broadway’s east side at Clybourn Street can be forbidding because it’s next to an on-ramp for I-794, Bergner said.
“You really feel exposed there as a pedestrian,” she said.
Not all of the focus is on Broadway. Some additional I-794 underpass lighting also is coming to Water Street, near the Milwaukee Public Market’s other entrance.
The underpass lighting near the market is adequate, but “not very romantic,” said Jim Plaisted, Historic Third Ward Association executive director.
“That’s really more about accent lighting,” he said, “and making it more welcoming.”
Meanwhile, the city financing proposal includes $100,000 for landscape, lighting, public art and signage improvements at Pompeii Square.
That long-overlooked public square is between North Van Buren Avenue, North Jackson Street, Clybourn Street and St. Paul Avenue — in the shadow of I-794.
It 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 Third Ward when that neighborhood was home to many Italian-Americans. It was demolished in 1967 to make way for I-794.
The improvements would mark Pompeii Square as a gateway to downtown, said Matt Dorner, economic development director at the Milwaukee Downtown Business Improvement District.
A more visible Pompeii Square also would better connect downtown to the Third Ward along Jackson Street’s sidewalk, he said.
Finally, city officials might create a protected two-way bike lane along North Jefferson Street between downtown and the Third Ward.
That bike lane would run along the east side of Jefferson Street between East Erie Street and East Kilbourn Avenue, said Brian DeNeve, Department of Public Works marketing and communications officer.
Jefferson Street ends on either side of I-794, with a pedestrian tunnel connecting the two street segments. The bike lane would use the tunnel, DeNeve said.
The Jefferson Street bike lane is needed, Milwaukee resident Mitchell Henke told zoning committee members.
But Henke also wants the upgrades on Broadway to include a bike lane.
Heavy traffic on Water Street makes it dangerous for cyclists, he told zoning committee members.
“There’s no good way for bicycles to get back and forth between downtown and the Third Ward,” Henke said.
The proposed improvements will help overcome the visual barrier created by the elevated I-794.
Former Mayor John O. Norquist said during the 1990s that the freeway should be replaced by a surface street — similar to the former Park East Freeway’s replacement by extensions of West McKinley Avenue and East Knapp Street.
The Park East’s removal has led to developments on parcels that were located beneath the freeway, and to additional commercial projects near the former freeway.
The planned connection upgrades between downtown and the Third Ward are supported by nearby property owners.
“We definitely see the pedestrian improvements as a plus,” said Jay Bhakta, managing partner of Bloomington, Minnesota-based JR Hospitality Group LLC.
JR Hospitality is developing two downtown hotels, with three brands totaling 328 rooms, in a pair of adjacent six-story buildings at 433 E. Michigan St.
The firm was one of the sponsors of a mural that was painted last year in the Jefferson Street pedestrian tunnel, which is just south of JR Hospitality’s future Holiday Inn Express and Home2 Suites/Tru hotels.
“We also think The Hop will be an amenity that our guests will appreciate connecting the various neighborhoods in downtown Milwaukee,” Bhakta said.
I-794’s reconstruction, which was completed in 2016, made the passage beneath the freeway more pleasant, said S.R. Mills, president of Kenoshabased Bear Development LLC.
But the upcoming improvements will help “ensure people feel comfortable” when walking between downtown and the Third Ward, he said.
Bear Development’s projects include the 2017 conversion of the historic Button Block Building into a Homewood Suites hotel, 500 N. Water St.
The Huron Building is using both The Hop and the improved pedestrian connections as selling points, Bergner said.
“The street plan is a big part of attracting investment on Broadway,” she said.
Additional businesses, including other new hotels on downtown’s southern edge, also will benefit, Plaisted said.
“We know it’s an attraction for them to be a half-block from the Third Ward,” he said.
Tom Daykin can be emailed tdaykin@jrn.com and followed Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.