Westown, Haymarket and Greenfield were favorites for development among real estate executives at real estate CEO roundtable on Tuesday as they expressed mixed feelings between suburban and downtown investments.
Speakers also discussed their reasoning for why certain development spots in the Milwaukee area were “hot,” which centered around nearby private and public investments and city support. The event was organized by the Milwaukee Business Journal.
Lyle Landowski, president of Colliers International Wisconsin, said he thought new development in Westown could lead to more investment further north of that area.
“I think Westown will be a catalyst,” Landowski said. “There is just unbelievable momentum there but I’m going to take that north through downtown North, Haymarket, MLK (Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive), I think that whole stretch. Near west side was part of my answer last year (and) I think it’s going to continue to be vibrant, but I’m excited to see what’s going on all the way up.
Westown has seen multiple investments from retail companies in recent weeks. Kohl’s Corp. announced July 15 that it would open its first downtown Milwaukee store in the Hub640 building at West Wisconsin and North Vel R. Phillips avenues. TJ Maxx renewed its lease at its store located nearby in The Avenue the following Monday, the first business day after the Kohl’s announcement.
Landowski added that he was “bullish” on downtown as the market demand in the downtown central business district crept back toward its 10-year average. Landowski said there were about 2.2 million tenants in the market and 2.5 million would be a “healthy” one.
Scott Lurie, founder of F Street Group, also endorsed the Westown area and mentioned the Haymarket neighborhood as a potential development area in the future.
“I think Westown is just getting started,” Lurie said. “One of the underserved markets that is still pending development is going to be Haymarket. I think there is plenty of opportunity in Haymarket and it’s waiting on maybe the Bucks to finish up whatever they’re doing.”
The Milwaukee Public Museum on Monday unveiled renderings for its new facility that will be located in the Historic Haymarket District at the northeast corner of North Sixth and West McKinley streets.
For Milwaukee Department of City Development commissioner Lafayette Crump, the Bronzeville neighborhood on the north side of Milwaukee is an example of how public and private investments can work together to facilitate development.
“Bronzeville is just going to be incredibly exciting. You’ve got Bronzeville Center for the Arts coming… Bronzeville Estates.” Crump said. “Couple that with the work that we’re doing with the Homes MKE Program throughout the city in pockets where we’re going to ensure that where there is missing or poorly renovated housing (to) get those back online into productive use.”
Bronzeville recently benefited from the $110 million ThriveOn King redevelopment project that will add apartments and other shared spaces to the former Gimbels-Schuster’s building at 2153 N. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.
Construction began last month on the project, which is led by the ThriveOn Collaboration, a partnership between Royal Capital Group, the Greater Milwaukee Foundation and Medical College of Wisconsin. Royal Capital Group president Kevin Newell was also a speaker at the roundtable.
Some speakers at the event favored more suburban areas for their ease of development. Favorites included Greenfield and Brown Deer, with Robert Joseph, founder of Joseph Development, mentioning Greenfield as helpful in the development process.
“Greenfield (and) downtown Waukesha,” Joseph said of the areas in southeastern Wisconsin strong for development. “They’re very good to work with. They’re pro-development, they understand the process, they encourage you to put some density in and they encourage you to develop a good-quality project.”