Milwaukee Development News II

Some of the developers who responded to Quarles & Brady's request for proposals will continue to push their plans, even though the law firm has decided not to seek out a new building. Since Quarles & Brady backed out, those developers say they remain unaffected by the decision, and are searching for other possible anchor tenants who could turn their proposals into realities.

Plans for a sister tower to the US Bank Center are still very very preliminary. US Bank officials note that the proposed tower was not reliant on Quarles & Brady being its anchor tenant, although they could have helped jump start the process. The 42-story sister tower is proposed for a site just south of the existing tower, and could include 20-plus floors of condominiums and 250,000 square feet of office space.

Developers Richard Levine and Gary Janko's proposal was for a 17-story building on the 300 block of E. Wisconsin Avenue. It would contain 250,000 square feet of office, 20,000 square feet of retail, and 500 parking spaces. Another possibility would be an extended-stay hotel, which Levine and Janko are considering.

Incidentally, the Levine/Janko site is the same one on which a 24-story office tower was proposed by Siegel-Gallagher back in 2003--the unnamed "Wisconsin and Broadway" tower. So that proposal is dead. And difficulty could still be ahead for the Levine/Janko proposal too, since the site sits within a historic district which contains some post-Civil War-era commerical buildings--run down, but definitely with some fixer-upper potential.

The Milwaukee Athletic Club is reviewing proposals for an office/retail/condo building on the site of its parking structure off Broadway. The club is looking over plans from six developers, and hopes to make an annoncement in the next few months.

And still others are on the hunt for tenants or drawing up proposals. Irgens is still seeking tenants for Ovation Plaza, a mixed-use building on the site now occupied by the Marcus Center's parking garage on N. Water Street. The NAI MLG Commercial firm is working on plans for a new office quarters near the riverfront in the Park East corridor. Williams Development is looking into a project on the site of the Bank One parking garage at N. Water and E. Michigan Streets.

From the Business Journal: Developers keep faith in high-rise offices after Quarles decision

Another downtown law firm is looking for a possible new home; this time it's Godfrey & Kahn, which currently leases space in the M&I Building. As expected, most of the developers who have responded to the request had also been involved with the previous Quarles & Brady request earlier this year, which subsequently fell through:

- Irgens Development is pushing for their long-proposed Ovation Plaza on the 1000-block of N. Water Street
- The Milwaukee Athletic Club and its developer are pushing to redevelop the Club's parking structure at 758 N. Broadway
- Janko & Levine are pushing for a new 17-story building to be built at E. Wisconsin Avenue and N. Broadway
- Developer Joel Lee is puching a surface parking lot across from the Pfister Hotel
- NAI MLG Commercial is pushing for a new building in the Park East corridor
- Williams Development is pushing for redeveloping the Bank One parking structure at N. Water and E. Michigan Streets
- US Bancorp is pushing for a second tower for the US Bank Center

Landing Godfrey & Kahn as a major tenant for any one of those proposals would be a big step in seeing at least one of them closer to getting built.

Also, owners of the Milwaukee Center have approached the firm, as there is space available there. And the law firm could still chose to renew its lease in the M&I Building.

Godfrey & Kahn hopes to make a decision within the next two months.

Read about it in this article from the Business Journal: Law firm seeks new office space - Godfrey & Kahn requests proposals for downtown office building


***


Mark Attanasio, new owner of the Milwaukee Brewers, is considering redeveloping portions of the Miller Park parking lots in hopes of attracting more fans, generating more revenue, and more off-season activity in the stadium area--a suggestion which was made last year by the State Legislative Audit Bureau.

Attanasio envisions a mix of restaurants/bars, retail stores, and a hotel somewhere on the stadium grounds (and yes, there would most certainly be enough space for tailgating as well). Some of the possible new development would likely complement new yet-to-be-proposed projects to be built in the planned industrial/business park at the western end of the Menomonee Valley, which will be adjacent to the stadium's eastern parking lots.

More in the Business Journal article:
New attraction: Miller Park grounds - Attanasio seeks mix of activities to draw more fans


***


The Wisconsin Department of Transportation will have 16 acres of surplus land, ripe for development, when the downtown Marquette Interchange reconstruction project wraps up in 2008-09. WisDOT plans to sell that land either to private developers or the City of Milwaukee. Proceeds from the land sale will be put into the state highway fund:

- One acre at at the northwest corner of W. St Paul Avenue and N. 5th Street - the former Allied Glove building, a run-down, low-rise brick industrial structure, whcih partially stands in the way of a new freeway ramp will be demolished in April. Factory operations relocated elsewhere in the city two years ago. The site is kitty-corner to the Amtrak station (which WisDOT plans to renovate--one of these days), would make an indeal site for a mixed-use parking structure.

- Four acres at the northwest corner of N. James Lovell Drive (7th Street) and W. Clybourn Street - now occupied by a looping freeway ramp and a surface parking lot, which will be removed and replaced elsewhere by a ramp of a different design. An unnamed grocery store chain has been considering the site for a store.

- Eleven acres at W. Mount Vernon Avenue and N. 12th Street, southwest of the Interhcange - now occupied by some industrial buildings and a junkyard. WisDOT is currently negotiating with the owner to purchase the property, who has been in ongoing disputes with the City over back taxes and occupancy permits.

From the Business Journal: Marquette interchange land to be sold for development

And a link to the Marquette Interchange project website: http://www.mchange.org


***


The Redevelopment Authority is planning to acquire a vacant Sentry Foods store and McDonald's near the southwest corner of W. Walnut and N. 20th Streets. The City has deemed those properties as a blight in a neighborhood that is slowly experincing reinvestment, with nearby revitalization projects such as CityHomes, Garfield Place, and the Lindsay Heights residential developments.


Also, the City has approved a proposal for a small mixed-use development in the 1200-block of W. Highland Boulevard--near Aurora Sinai Medical Center and just across the freeway from PabstCity. The three-story building would contain a convenience store and gas station on the first floor, with two floors of offices above (something not really seen at all here).

From the Business Journal's "Real Estate Roundup": City working to acquire Walnut Street property for redevelopment / Mixed-use project proposed near PabstCity

Here's a few pics for our new Milwaukee thread!