The successful redevelopment of the Menomonee Valley - and the potential to replicate that success in other parts of Milwaukee - was the subject of a Forum report released on September 22 and a Viewpoint luncheon held that same day.

The report finds that several strategies utilized in the Valley could be adapted and applied to other large-scale redevelopment efforts in Milwaukee.  Those include robust and widely inclusive planning and design activities, strong intergovernmental and public-private partnerships, and the assumption of financial risk by public sector entities to assemble and make properties "shovel ready."

"While the Menomonee Valley's story still is being written, its revitalization over the last 15 years has justifiably been heralded as a model of sustainable development to be studied and replicated elsewhere," says Forum Senior Researcher Joe Peterangelo, the lead author of the report.  "Our analysis has identified several specific policies, partnerships, and unique strategies that have been influential factors in the Valley's success and that should be considered for other large-scale redevelopment efforts in Milwaukee."

The report explores how the Valley's major improvements over the last 15 years were achieved.  Using analysis of Valley data and documents and an extensive series of interviews with public and private sector leaders, the report cites the major barriers that inhibited Valley redevelopment, and examines the fiscal and programmatic strategies that helped to overcome those barriers and facilitate private sector investments.

Specifically, public and private sector economic development leaders are urged to consider the following lessons from the Valley's revival as they pursue redevelopment in other priority areas in the region: 

1. Major redevelopment initiatives need to be accompanied by a robust set of planning and design activities that establish both a common vision for the initiative and a detailed roadmap to achieve that vision. 
2. Strong intergovernmental cooperation and public-private partnerships will be essential for large-scale redevelopment efforts to succeed. 
3. Funding must be pursued and creatively assembled from numerous sources to address the many barriers that impede brownfield redevelopment projects. 
4. Given the key advantages involved with public or public-private ownership of re-developable brownfield properties, the City likely will need to assume considerable financial risk to advance major redevelopment projects. 
5. Major redevelopment projects must be accompanied by aggressive marketing of the area's existing strengths and amenities. 
6. Major redevelopment projects should be viewed as opportunities to address multiple community objectives. 
7. Using redevelopment projects to create jobs for neighborhood residents may require greater emphasis on workforce development.

"This report is especially timely given ongoing work on an updated land use plan to guide future redevelopment in the Valley, and the prominent efforts underway to redevelop other industrial areas in Milwaukee, like the 30th Street Industrial Corridor and the Inner Harbor," says Peterangelo. "We hope that by promoting a greater understanding of the critical elements of the Valley's last 15 years of redevelopment, we can help guide current and future planning in the Valley and inform policy and practice for similar efforts in Milwaukee and beyond."

Peterangelo presented the report at a Viewpoint luncheon on September 22 at the Potawatomi Hotel and Casino, which was attended by more than 170 people.  After his presentation, a panel of economic development leaders discussed the report's findings.  The panel discussion - which was moderated by  Mike Gousha, Distinguished Fellow in Law and Public Policy at Marquette University Law School - featured Laura Bray, CEO, BIOforward, Inc.; Kathryn Dunn, Vice President, Greater Milwaukee Foundation; Dave Misky, Assistant Executive Director, Redevelopment Authority of the City of Milwaukee; Julia Taylor, President, Greater Milwaukee Committee; and Wyman Winston, Executive Director, WHEDA.  The event was sponsored by Potawatomi Hotel and Casino and Foley and Lardner LLC.

 

Photos from the Viewpoint luncheon can be accessed here.

The Forum report - which was commissioned and funded by Menomonee Valley Partners, Inc. - can be accessed here.