Just because it is a slick building and I didn't see a pic of the completed building anywhere else on here... Something like this would look alright in BPV Phase III.
I'm spending a few days in Milwaukee this Spring, so I'm looking for suggestions on the best area to stay, and things to see and do. We'll be travelling with a dog, so pet-friendly is a plus.
^If it's warm enough I'd recommend the sidewalk restaurants along the river in the Third Ward neighborhood for a good dog friendly activity. Granted I was there in the summer but lots of folks out with boats and you can easily walk to the lakefront.
Wow! That looks like a great project; I still wish the old Municipal Courts buildings could become a Natural History Museum as its design greatly fits that use. Maybe an expansion to the caliber of this design on the lot to the south would be popular/ share a lot of visitors with Union Station and bring some action closer to Downtown. It could also work to connect Busch to Union Station.
^Amen. I was thinking the same thing. We could really use one. There'd been a small one in Oak Knoll Park at one time, in the days before the Science Center. (McDonnel Planetarium was there, of course, but it was pretty dedicated to space stuff at the time.)
Grand plans in Milwaukee for a three-tower project which could include the worlds tallest timber-framed structure (55 stories and 613 feet).
Also from the article: "Milwaukee Mayor Chevy Johnson has been vocal about his goal to grow the city’s population to one million, nearly double its current population of 563,305."
I was just in Milwaukee last weekend. I visit every few months from Chicago.
The historic third ward was bustling with activity, while the rest of Downtown felt as if it had lost its energy. It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon, yet there were no restaurants or shops (outside of the third ward), and the streetcar was deserted.
His argument is for the DOT to release the city of a $48 million debt that they'd have to pay currently if they shut it down, same dilemma as the Loop Trolley. He also says it would save the city $4.2 million per year.
Of course, The Hop was supposed to be a 10 mile LRT line which was granted $289 million in federal funds in 1997 before the Republican state government refused to allow an omnibus transportation plan that would have spent over $1B expanding a highway in addition to $400 million expanding transit be approved with the transit as part of it.
In the end, the feds split the grant money, half to Milwaukee and half to Wisconsin. The state went on to fund over $6 billion in Milwaukee area highway expansions while Milwaukee used their money to build The Hop after subsequent Republican governors denied its use on a commuter train line.
The whole situation was pretty ***** from the start. Just another example of why the Obama-era streetcars were nearly a universally bad idea, except for KC, who built theirs with future intra-city connectivity in mind. When people like me complain about Democrats wasting money, stuff like this is what I'm talking about.
Visited Milwaukee this weekend, my first time really spending time in the city. Stayed downtown, walked quite a bit, visited neumerous restaurants and breweries, though I largely stayed in the downtown and downtown adjacent areas.
The criticisms I have are largely car related. Traffic was worse than I regularly experience in STL, and the streets were generally in terrible condition. Lots of patchwork done and there were areas where the painted lines were flat out not visible anymore. This was the case for several streets on the way in and almost every street downtown. I also wasn't a fan of how there are so few overhead traffic lights and in turn, it's harder to see street signs to see where you are. One area they do better, though we are catching up, are protected bike lanes. They seemed to be all over downtown.
On tranist, I found that the streetcar did not really connect anywhere I was going. Though it did seen to connect a more residential area just north of downtown with the offices further south, so I could definitely see utilizing it if you lived there and worked downtown. I also thought its frequency was really poor, something like every 15 to 20 mins. I did not use the buses at all as I really didn't go anywhere I couldn't walk, but I did notice, especially downtown, the bus infrastructure was really nice, raised "platforms", nice bus shelters, the buses actually ran through downtown as opposed to stopping right outside of it too.
The city felt just amazing to walk around. It genuinely felt like Chicago to me, especially while walking along the river, such a great asset. So many restaurants, bars, and people walking around. They have a Foundry-like food hall downtown. They have a Kohls, TJ Maxx, and Walgreens downtown. I saw three grocery stores. Just so far ahead of St. Louis it's like night and day. The Fiserv Forum and its adjacent "Deer District" and theater was just so much better than Enterprise it's actually pretty shocking. Yet another city with a bunch of development around a 18k-seat arena while ours is just so repulsive. I would probably even say it clears Ballpark Village as well. How it has been acceptable for Enterprise and Stifel to be so neglected is just mind-boggling. Even things as little as the Clark and 16th St intersection not having properly painted crosswalks. Enterprise just keeps getting more embarrassing the more arenas I visit.
I noticed a downtown office building with Husch Blackwell signage, I noticed Colliers office was downtown, JPMorgan Chase have a tower downtown, and I'm sure so many more that find downtown Milwaukee acceptable but not downtown St. Louis.
The most interesting one to me was the Northwestern Mutual headquarters, which was built from 2014-2017 at a cost of $450 million right in the heart of downtown. 36-story tower, 1.1 million sf of office space, and to top it off they spend another $100 million on a 35-story 310-unit luxary apartment building designed to attract workers to live across the street from their workplace. Just mindboggling stuff you'd never see a STL based company even imagine doing. Public help included a $350M TIF district and about $20M in public infrastructure improvements. Additionally, in 2023, there was another large TIF approved that would see 75% of their new property taxes going towards another downtown office renovation and 25% going towards public infrastructure downtown. Under this plan, Northwestern Mutual will move 2,000 subruban based employees downtown to total more than 6,000.
Overall, Milwaukee greatly exceeded my expectations and I think there's ton everyone in St. Louis could look at and learn from with it.
Visited Milwaukee this weekend, my first time really spending time in the city. Stayed downtown, walked quite a bit, visited neumerous restaurants and breweries, though I largely stayed in the downtown and downtown adjacent areas.
The criticisms I have are largely car related. Traffic was worse than I regularly experience in STL, and the streets were generally in terrible condition. Lots of patchwork done and there were areas where the painted lines were flat out not visible anymore. This was the case for several streets on the way in and almost every street downtown. I also wasn't a fan of how there are so few overhead traffic lights and in turn, it's harder to see street signs to see where you are. One area they do better, though we are catching up, are protected bike lanes. They seemed to be all over downtown.
On tranist, I found that the streetcar did not really connect anywhere I was going. Though it did seen to connect a more residential area just north of downtown with the offices further south, so I could definitely see utilizing it if you lived there and worked downtown. I also thought its frequency was really poor, something like every 15 to 20 mins. I did not use the buses at all as I really didn't go anywhere I couldn't walk, but I did notice, especially downtown, the bus infrastructure was really nice, raised "platforms", nice bus shelters, the buses actually ran through downtown as opposed to stopping right outside of it too.
The city felt just amazing to walk around. It genuinely felt like Chicago to me, especially while walking along the river, such a great asset. So many restaurants, bars, and people walking around. They have a Foundry-like food hall downtown. They have a Kohls, TJ Maxx, and Walgreens downtown. I saw three grocery stores. Just so far ahead of St. Louis it's like night and day. The Fiserv Forum and its adjacent "Deer District" and theater was just so much better than Enterprise it's actually pretty shocking. Yet another city with a bunch of development around a 18k-seat arena while ours is just so repulsive. I would probably even say it clears Ballpark Village as well. How it has been acceptable for Enterprise and Stifel to be so neglected is just mind-boggling. Even things as little as the Clark and 16th St intersection not having properly painted crosswalks. Enterprise just keeps getting more embarrassing the more arenas I visit.
I noticed a downtown office building with Husch Blackwell signage, I noticed Colliers office was downtown, JPMorgan Chase have a tower downtown, and I'm sure so many more that find downtown Milwaukee acceptable but not downtown St. Louis.
The most interesting one to me was the Northwestern Mutual headquarters, which was built from 2014-2017 at a cost of $450 million right in the heart of downtown. 36-story tower, 1.1 million sf of office space, and to top it off they spend another $100 million on a 35-story 310-unit luxary apartment building designed to attract workers to live across the street from their workplace. Just mindboggling stuff you'd never see a STL based company even imagine doing. Public help included a $350M TIF district and about $20M in public infrastructure improvements. Additionally, in 2023, there was another large TIF approved that would see 75% of their new property taxes going towards another downtown office renovation and 25% going towards public infrastructure downtown. Under this plan, Northwestern Mutual will move 2,000 subruban based employees downtown to total more than 6,000.
Overall, Milwaukee greatly exceeded my expectations and I think there's ton everyone in St. Louis could look at and learn from with it.
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Yes, it's crazy when you consider that the Milwaukee metro is like half the size of ours and could have a much healthier urban core. It's not like Milwakuee is a rich city either and it faces many of the same problems St. Louis does socially, racially, economically. Another example is New Orleans which is less than half our size and one of the poorest cities in the US. With that said it has the French Quarter and a vibrant dowtown. Yet we can't preserve Lacledes and Chouteau Landing? A lot of it is has just been poor leadership and a super pessimistic local culture.
