Milwaukee's plan to spend $15.75 million on downtown Vel R. Phillips Plaza wins key vote

Milwaukee's plan to spend $15.75 million to build a downtown plaza dedicated to civil right pioneer Vel Phillips won a key approval Tuesday − but only after questions were raised about the project.

The 30,000-square-foot Vel R. Phillips Plaza is to be built south of West Wisconsin Avenue between North Phillips Avenue and North Fifth Street under a plan endorsed by the Common Council's Zoning, Neighborhoods and Development Committee. The full council is to review it on April 18.

Those funds would come from a tax incremental financing 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.

Construction is to begin this year.

The plan for the city-owned site, now a parking lot, preserves over 50,000 square feet for future commercial development.

Ald. Scott Spiker, a committee member, raised questions about whether the entire city-owned site should be made available for commercial development.

Spiker suggested the main reason for the plaza was to preserve city-owned land for a possible extension of The Hop street car north from the Milwaukee Intermodal Station.

Dan Casanova, a Department of City Development economic development specialist, said the plaza, along with such recent nearby projects as Fiserv Inc.'s future headquarters and the Wisconsin Center convention facility expansion, would make the remaining site more attractive to commercial development.

He noted that the site has been used as a parking lot for decades and that previous proposals for hotels and other commercial development have failed to proceed.

Casanova also cited a lack of green space on West Wisconsin Avenue.

The project's timing is tied to wanting the plaza completed before the Republican National Convention in July 2024 and the fact that the TIF district which would supply the funds is expiring soon, Casanova said.

The financing plan, which Spiker joined other committee members in supporting, 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.

In a separate vote, the committee recommended approval for a plan to spend $1 million from another TIF district on a new road for a city-owned light industrial development site in the Menomonee Valley.

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.

Tom Daykin can be emailed at tdaykin@jrn.com and followed on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.