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Eriol · April 10th, 2007, 05:49 PM

This was in yesterday's paper. I like the impetus, but these buildings seem even more forbidding than what's there now.

Envisioning out-of-the-box MacArthur Square
By WHITNEY GOULD
wgould@journalsentinel.com
Posted: April 8, 2007
Spaces

Whitney Gould
E-MAIL

Planner Larry Witzling calls it "the black hole of development."

"Whenever any project gets near it," he says of MacArthur Square, "they all die."

So why should such a strategically located civic space be so toxic? Well, for one thing, it's all but inaccessible. You can get in from the west end if you really try, but you can't get there at all from the east, off N. Lovell St., now that those crumbling spiral ramps are history.

Then there's the sheer inhuman scale of the city-owned square: five football fields' worth of empty, unarticulated space, flanked by public buildings that largely turn their backs on it. With few "eyes on the street," you don't feel safe here.

"It hits all the wrong buttons," says Witzling, who teaches in the School of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and runs a consulting firm, the Planning and Design Institute.

MacArthur Square

Rending courtesy of Planning and Design Institute

This rendering shows how MacArthur Square could be rethought, with ramps extending W. Kilbourn Ave. toward the square and with new buildings.

Eight local design firms have been working on plans for a revitalization of MacArthur Square, five football fields' worth of empty space in downtown Milwaukee.

At the instigation of Bob Greenstreet, the UWM architecture dean who is also the city planning director, Witzling's firm has drawn up a master plan to bring 22.5-acre MacArthur Square back from the dead. The plan would undo the mistakes of 1967, when construction of the Kilbourn tunnels to I-43 and a parking garage beneath the square turned this space into a plinth, cut off from the street.

The reinvention proposal, underwritten by a $50,000 grant from the Richard and Ethel Herzfeld Foundation, envisions bringing W. Kilbourn Ave. back up to the square and the Milwaukee County Courthouse with ramps on either side, somewhat like the way Park Ave. in Manhattan gradually leads up to Grand Central Terminal.

The square would also be reintegrated into the city street grid, with long-interrupted north/south streets bisecting the space. And new buildings would be added. In a recent design workshop at the architecture school, eight local design firms floated everything from new dorms for the Milwaukee Area Technical College and Marquette University to a condo tower connected to the Milwaukee Public Museum. (The specific proposals will be ready for public review in mid-May.)

The emphasis would be on environmentally friendly materials and technologies, including rooftop solar panels and possibly even small farming plots. The designers also proposed refacing the bland state office building at 6th and Wells streets. The dank, scary parking garage beneath the square would get brightened with skylights.

Is this all a pipe dream? I don't think so. City officials say that the leaky garage needs $18 million in repairs. As Greenstreet notes, it doesn't make sense to spend that much money "just to get the same hideous garage and same awful space on top. If you don't take on the big ones like this when you have the opportunity, they'll just sit there for another 30 years."

Witzling observes that MATC, Marquette and other nearby magnets bring some 40,000 people a day to the environs around MacArthur Square.

"If we can add a lot more development to the square, it could become a catalyst, a generator, for a great public place," he says.

Yes, there would be less green space, perhaps nine fewer acres, but what's left would be much more inviting and safe.

A makeover is in sync with the city's 1999 downtown plan. Give Greenstreet and his boss, Mayor Tom Barrett, credit for being willing to grapple with this sore thumb, which former Mayor John O. Norquist, for all his interest in urban design, avoided.

The hurdles, of course, are huge. The garage would have to be re-engineered to accept the weight of new buildings; the makeover process would take many years and it would be enormously expensive. But it was just this sort of out-of-the-box thinking, in a design studio at UWM, that presaged the demolition of the Park East Freeway spur.

The city is already talking about a tax incremental financing district, in which the revenues from new development at MacArthur Square would pay for infrastructure improvements. Federal funds, including a program for pedestrian amenities, could also be explored.

The biggest challenge, however, may be conceptual: How do we think big and think small at the same time? In a sense, what the city will have to pull off here is the seemingly improbable marriage of Robert Moses - his boldness, not his rapacious bulldozing in New York City - with a Jane Jacobs, attuned to urban density and fine-grain detail. There's also the potential to transform the courthouse, that last gasp of City Beautiful classicism in all its icy remoteness, into a warmer, more engaging place.

The best way to do both is to flood the dead zone that is MacArthur Square with the life of the city - the rich, messy jangle that has been missing for 40 years.

E-mail to wgould@journalsentinel.com or call (414) 224-2358

Other pictures:

April 10th, 2007, 05:49 PM	#1013
Eriol Registered User Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 219	This was in yesterday's paper. I like the impetus, but these buildings seem even more forbidding than what's there now. Envisioning out-of-the-box MacArthur Square By WHITNEY GOULD wgould@journalsentinel.com Posted: April 8, 2007 Spaces Whitney Gould E-MAIL Planner Larry Witzling calls it "the black hole of development." "Whenever any project gets near it," he says of MacArthur Square, "they all die." So why should such a strategically located civic space be so toxic? Well, for one thing, it's all but inaccessible. You can get in from the west end if you really try, but you can't get there at all from the east, off N. Lovell St., now that those crumbling spiral ramps are history. Then there's the sheer inhuman scale of the city-owned square: five football fields' worth of empty, unarticulated space, flanked by public buildings that largely turn their backs on it. With few "eyes on the street," you don't feel safe here. "It hits all the wrong buttons," says Witzling, who teaches in the School of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and runs a consulting firm, the Planning and Design Institute. MacArthur Square Rending courtesy of Planning and Design Institute This rendering shows how MacArthur Square could be rethought, with ramps extending W. Kilbourn Ave. toward the square and with new buildings. Eight local design firms have been working on plans for a revitalization of MacArthur Square, five football fields' worth of empty space in downtown Milwaukee. At the instigation of Bob Greenstreet, the UWM architecture dean who is also the city planning director, Witzling's firm has drawn up a master plan to bring 22.5-acre MacArthur Square back from the dead. The plan would undo the mistakes of 1967, when construction of the Kilbourn tunnels to I-43 and a parking garage beneath the square turned this space into a plinth, cut off from the street. The reinvention proposal, underwritten by a $50,000 grant from the Richard and Ethel Herzfeld Foundation, envisions bringing W. Kilbourn Ave. back up to the square and the Milwaukee County Courthouse with ramps on either side, somewhat like the way Park Ave. in Manhattan gradually leads up to Grand Central Terminal. The square would also be reintegrated into the city street grid, with long-interrupted north/south streets bisecting the space. And new buildings would be added. In a recent design workshop at the architecture school, eight local design firms floated everything from new dorms for the Milwaukee Area Technical College and Marquette University to a condo tower connected to the Milwaukee Public Museum. (The specific proposals will be ready for public review in mid-May.) The emphasis would be on environmentally friendly materials and technologies, including rooftop solar panels and possibly even small farming plots. The designers also proposed refacing the bland state office building at 6th and Wells streets. The dank, scary parking garage beneath the square would get brightened with skylights. Is this all a pipe dream? I don't think so. City officials say that the leaky garage needs $18 million in repairs. As Greenstreet notes, it doesn't make sense to spend that much money "just to get the same hideous garage and same awful space on top. If you don't take on the big ones like this when you have the opportunity, they'll just sit there for another 30 years." Witzling observes that MATC, Marquette and other nearby magnets bring some 40,000 people a day to the environs around MacArthur Square. "If we can add a lot more development to the square, it could become a catalyst, a generator, for a great public place," he says. Yes, there would be less green space, perhaps nine fewer acres, but what's left would be much more inviting and safe. A makeover is in sync with the city's 1999 downtown plan. Give Greenstreet and his boss, Mayor Tom Barrett, credit for being willing to grapple with this sore thumb, which former Mayor John O. Norquist, for all his interest in urban design, avoided. The hurdles, of course, are huge. The garage would have to be re-engineered to accept the weight of new buildings; the makeover process would take many years and it would be enormously expensive. But it was just this sort of out-of-the-box thinking, in a design studio at UWM, that presaged the demolition of the Park East Freeway spur. The city is already talking about a tax incremental financing district, in which the revenues from new development at MacArthur Square would pay for infrastructure improvements. Federal funds, including a program for pedestrian amenities, could also be explored. The biggest challenge, however, may be conceptual: How do we think big and think small at the same time? In a sense, what the city will have to pull off here is the seemingly improbable marriage of Robert Moses - his boldness, not his rapacious bulldozing in New York City - with a Jane Jacobs, attuned to urban density and fine-grain detail. There's also the potential to transform the courthouse, that last gasp of City Beautiful classicism in all its icy remoteness, into a warmer, more engaging place. The best way to do both is to flood the dead zone that is MacArthur Square with the life of the city - the rich, messy jangle that has been missing for 40 years. E-mail to wgould@journalsentinel.com or call (414) 224-2358 Other pictures: Last edited by Eriol; April 10th, 2007 at 05:58 PM.