Revelations in Milwaukee: Historic Reuse, Natural-Lit Parking and Free Parking

I’ve returned from a recent junket to fair Milwaukee. I hadn’t been to Milwaukee in fifteen years, and parts of the city have changed dramatically since then. Two examples and a policy observation:

• I noticed on my tour of the lakeshore, the vital reuse of the Milwaukee River Flushing Station (pictured). Alterra Coffee (in combination with the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District and Milwaukee County) rehabilitated the station, which was built in 1888 to flush sewage harbored in the river into Lake Michigan. Does this strike you as an ironic piece of infrastructure to reuse as a coffee shop?

In fact, it works conspicuously well. The building remains owned by the sewerage district (“MMSD”), and the county owns all land from the periphery of the building to the edge of the site. The physical structure is aligned with its new mission: Pervious pavement and water filtration systems are narrated on displays constructed by the county’s parks department. The building’s lakeshore location is not surprisingly home to a brisk business moving excellent food and coffee; Alterra also sponsors a music series with wares ranging from opera to Latin American.

Special thanks to Bill Robison, Principal at Engberg Anderson, an architecture firm with offices in Milwaukee, Madison and Tucson. As the lead architect on this reuse project, Bill partnered with Alterra, MMSD and the county, and generously responded to my recent cold inquiry about its development.

• Milwaukee Art Museum’s renovation and expansion includes dramatic architecture and serves the need for a much-enhanced connection between downtown and Lake Michigan. Of course, as principal of a public finance and transportation consulting firm, I was most drawn to the underground parking garage lit with skylights (also pictured). Facilities Director Charles Loomis explained that sensors evaluate the quality of light admitted through the skylights and adjust the use of lighting to supplement, creating significant (but to date unquantified) energy cost savings to the museum.  And to preempt your question before you read below, museum parking is not free.

• A recent post at Urban Milwaukee cited SBT and Colliers data showing the median metered hourly parking rate in downtown Milwaukee is $0.63, versus a national average of $1.48. Author Jeramey Jannene suggests an oversupply of metered parking downtown has suppressed redevelopment efforts: The zoning code requires structured parking in site plans, which represents a mandate to lose money in an environment with an oversupply of cheap on-street parking.

In St. Paul, a very different discussion is taking place regarding the anticipated loss of roughly 85% of on-street parking on University Avenue as light rail transit is added to the street’s modes. At the same time, the Metropolitan Council has indicated their wish to discourage the building of structured parking just off the avenue in order to avoid the avenue’s use as a park-and-ride. Arguably, the main impact of this move is to drive up land values and favor those who control larger parcels near University. It also highlights the importance of the type of transportation consulting that Donjek’s Dan Walsh can provide, including analysis and negotiation for structured parking, shared parking, and travel demand management (TDM).

The travel log would remain incomplete without noting our visit to Sprecher Brewery, where I sampled their very fine Shakparo beer, fermented according to an African protocol using bananas.  The beer tent in Milwaukee continues to get bigger and bigger!

Photo of Milwaukee River Flushing Station: Retinal Fetish, Flickr. Parking garage photo: J. Commers