Lisbon and North: Washington Park
After stopping at the courthouse today, I decided to leave downtown via North Avenue. I always see something new on that trip. What caught my attention today was that the newly developed commercial fronts around 33rd street are all full!! Which made me think, "I wonder how the ones up the road closer to Lisbon and North are doing?"
Lisbon and North is an interesting area, just a block away from Washington Park. The North Avenue revitalization has been going on for a few years now. A couple months ago, the City of Milwaukee put out a new plan to focus on Lisbon well East of there. At the time, I wondered why not start from North Avenue and work back East from there, and I still wonder that today. I'm going to focus on Lisbon on my next entry. Today, I'll stick to North Avenue from 30th street through 50th street...
I kept driving, noting each of the nice new business signs as I went by. The developers must have put in a good push to bring in some good businesses. It really looks nice. As long as those businesses stay, they should lead to continued progress! I didn't check, but my guess is they are on 5-10 year leases. As I head up the road towards 40th street, I see that the new commercial fronts there are still empty! What the ???? These were finished up around the end of 2005, and have been mostly empty since then. Ogden is managing the building, but they sure aren't utilizing it. They've had the same Leasing sign up all year. The only change in the past 10 months that I can see is a smashed window (which has been there for several months too). I talked to someone at Ogden about this spot last year and it sounded like they were close, but having a hard time getting the lease rates they wanted. Now it just looks like a new abandoned building.
I have this to say: If you are going to develop an important area for improvement in the City of Milwaukee, you darn well better put the effort into getting it filled up! The difference between those few blocks is amazing. Full units sure look impressive and are great for the neighborhood. Empty units are just another blight.
Back to my drive, a Walgreens is on the North side of the road and has been a staple here for years. Then at 48th street is the new Wendy's and athletic store which were just built in the last couple years. That brings us to the corner of Lisbon and North. This corner still has a bunch of under-utilized buildings, but just across the street is the new Police building and HUD just beyond that. Those buildings look great, and the grounds were done really well. They really make for a welcoming atmosphere.
Next up ... lets head back east on Lisbon.
Lisbon and North is an interesting area, just a block away from Washington Park. The North Avenue revitalization has been going on for a few years now. A couple months ago, the City of Milwaukee put out a new plan to focus on Lisbon well East of there. At the time, I wondered why not start from North Avenue and work back East from there, and I still wonder that today. I'm going to focus on Lisbon on my next entry. Today, I'll stick to North Avenue from 30th street through 50th street...
I kept driving, noting each of the nice new business signs as I went by. The developers must have put in a good push to bring in some good businesses. It really looks nice. As long as those businesses stay, they should lead to continued progress! I didn't check, but my guess is they are on 5-10 year leases. As I head up the road towards 40th street, I see that the new commercial fronts there are still empty! What the ???? These were finished up around the end of 2005, and have been mostly empty since then. Ogden is managing the building, but they sure aren't utilizing it. They've had the same Leasing sign up all year. The only change in the past 10 months that I can see is a smashed window (which has been there for several months too). I talked to someone at Ogden about this spot last year and it sounded like they were close, but having a hard time getting the lease rates they wanted. Now it just looks like a new abandoned building.
I have this to say: If you are going to develop an important area for improvement in the City of Milwaukee, you darn well better put the effort into getting it filled up! The difference between those few blocks is amazing. Full units sure look impressive and are great for the neighborhood. Empty units are just another blight.
Back to my drive, a Walgreens is on the North side of the road and has been a staple here for years. Then at 48th street is the new Wendy's and athletic store which were just built in the last couple years. That brings us to the corner of Lisbon and North. This corner still has a bunch of under-utilized buildings, but just across the street is the new Police building and HUD just beyond that. Those buildings look great, and the grounds were done really well. They really make for a welcoming atmosphere.
Next up ... lets head back east on Lisbon.
posted by Pete | 5:06:00 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home