A Menomonee Valley site could land a development. Milwaukee's new $1 million plan would help it happen.
An effort to attract new development to a Menomonee Valley site would get $1 million in city funding under a new plan.
The city would spend $800,000 to build a new road into the site, and $200,000 to obtain a portion of an adjacent privately-owned parcel to accommodate the new road, under a proposal endorsed Thursday by the Redevelopment Authority board.
Those funds would be combined with a $3.2 million federal grant to help redevelop the Kneeland Properties site.
That 15-acre site is between West Mt. Vernon Avenue and the Menomonee River, east of Standard Electric Supply Co., 222 N. Emmber Lane.
About 10 acres are owned by the city at 260 N. 12th St. and 825 W. Hinman St., with 5 acres beneath I-43's High Rise Bridge, at 907 W. Hinman St. , owned by the state Department of Transportation
The parcels together represent one of the valley's largest remaining sites, according to a Department of City Development report.
The city's cash would come from a tax incremental financing district that covers part of the Menomonee Valley's east end.
That TIF district, created in 2004, was used to provide $8.7 million for an environmental cleanup, dock walls, and other infrastructure costs tied to the development of the $95 million Harley-Davidson Museum, 400 W. Canal St.
Cash from the financing district comes from the museum's property tax revenue. The financing proposal for the new road needs Common Council approval.
The Kneeland Properties site, which is isolated from the city's streets, was used as a coal storage yard for nearly a century and is now dormant.
The city Redevelopment Authority and others have been preparing it for redevelopment by removing environmental contamination, planning for roads and other infrastructure, and recruiting prospects for light industrial development, according to DCD.
While no specific plans have been disclosed, a development at the site could create around 140 jobs and $10.5 million in private investment, the department has said.
It's among a series of new investments in the valley.
Those include renovations at Potawatomi Hotel & Casino, 1721 W. Canal St., and Lake Forest, Illinois-based Westminster Capital LLC plans to develop a 180,459-square-foot building on 10.6 acres on the south side of West Canal Street, just east of the High Rise Bridge.
Funding approved for Vel R. Phillips plaza
The authority board also endorsed plans to spend $15.75 million to build the 30,000-square-foot Vel R. Phillips Plaza south of West Wisconsin Avenue between North Phillips Avenue and North Fifth Street.
Those funds would come from a TIF district in the Park East area. New commercial developments in that area generate property tax revenue − some of which would be used for the plaza.
It would include a 2,900-square-foot food/beverage retail space, a garden, space that could host farmers markets, food trucks or other community events, an informational kiosk, public art installations, and a station for Milwaukee County’s East-West Bus Rapid Transit line, to begin running this summer.
The plan for the city-owned site, now a parking lot, preserves over 50,000 square feet for future commercial development.
The financing plan also would provide $4.35 million for street, sidewalk and lighting improvements in the area and $500,000 for the Commercial Revitalization Grant Program. That program provides financial assistance to commercial property owners for building renovations and improvements.
Tom Daykin can be emailed at tdaykin@jrn.com and followed on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Menomonee Valley project site to get $1 million in Milwaukee funding
