A publicly financed parking structure could be coming to Walker’s Point as the Milwaukee neighborhood continues adding apartments, restaurants, and other developments.
A $500,000 parking structure feasibility study is part of a city proposal to spend $17.2 million on street work and other projects within or near Walker’s Point.
The money would come from a tax incremental financing district at Reed Street Yards, a neighborhood business park anchored by Rite-Hite Holding Corp.’s headquarters.
That financing district is funded by property tax revenue generated by Rite Hite and other Reed Street Yard developments.
The spending proposal, from Mayor Cavalier Johnson’s Department of City Development, requires Common Council approval. Its first public hearing is scheduled for the Redevelopment Authority’s July 16 board meeting.
The parking structure study would “look at locations, feasibility, cost estimates, and financing/ownership options,” said Madison Goldbeck, the department’s marketing and communications officer.
It was requested by Common Council Presidet Jose Perez, whose district includes Walker’s Point, Goldbeck said.
The Historic Third Ward, just north of Walker’s Point, features two parking structures operated by that neighborhood’s business improvement district – which is funded by a special assessment on commercial properties.
The parking structures, at 212 N. Milwaukee St. and 225 E. Chicago St., together provide around 950 parking spaces and opened in 1994 and 2000, respectively, said Paul Schwartz, business improvement district executive director.
The Milwaukee Street structure was funded with tax district revenue, with the Chicago Street structure financed through Redevelopment Authority bond debt repaid by the business improvement district, Schwartz told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Walker’s Point, similar to the Third Ward, has seen former industrial properties redeveloped into apartments, restaurants, and other new uses.
The parking study is among several items to be funded by the tax financing district.
The proposal would provide up to $8.95 million for public infrastructure improvements; $2.5 million for commercial corridor programs; $2.5 million for property acquisition and related site work, and $1 million for housing programs.
It includes $1.5 million in contingency funding and $750,000 for administrative costs.
The largest public infrastructure project would be $2 million for roads, utilities, and site work for the publicly-owned Kneeland Properties, at 825, 907, 1025 and 1121 W. Mount Vernon Ave.
The department plans to use that 15-acre Menomonee Valley site to draw commercial development.
Other projects include public art, traffic calming, Clementina Castro Park improvements, and street work, including $1.8 million to redesign and improve the Sixth Street Roundabout and approaches to the roundabout.
The commercial corridors programs would provide grants to commercial property owners, tenants, or developers, with the housing programs providing grants or loans for housing rehabilitation or new construction.
The proposal doesn’t provide details about which developments are envisioned for the property acquisition fund, which Goldbeck described as a placeholder.
All of the money would be spent within a half-mile radius of the Reed Street Yards financing district.
(This article was updated to add new information.)
Tom Daykin can be emailed at tdaykin@jrn.com and followed on Instagram, Bluesky, X and Facebook.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Publicly financed parking structure could come to Walker’s Point
Reporting by Tom Daykin, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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By Tom Daykin, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
