The Moderne, the long-awaited project on the corner of 3rd and Juneau, is moving ahead. The City, through RACM, aims to provide $10 million in financial assistance to the project -- a deal that some say is very likely to be approved.

The building is to be largely an apartment building with street-level retail and a few condos at the top three floors. Originally intended to be 80 condos, the project is now 154 apartments and 33 condos spread over 30 floors.

The project won zoning approval in 2007.

Developer Rick Barrett reported that he had a difficult time finding financing, stating that he had talked to hundreds of banks. It's no secret why that might have been, with hundreds of units available on the condo market in Milwaukee (largely collected in a few buildings) and commercial real estate lending virtually non-existent as the economy falters.

Arguments have been put forth by aldermen that the Common Council should look at providing more aggressive financing for projects to ensure that the Milwaukee tax base continues to grow with no gap after the recession ends and that more jobs are maintained in the meantime.

The proposal to finance The Moderne seems to be a manifestation of that philosophy, with the knowledge that even if construction were to start today it wouldn't wrap up until 2011, when hopefully the recession is fading memory.

The project will easily be one of the most dense buildings in Westown, with its good urban design and small footprint. As a comparison, The Palomar, which was proposed just across the street, was to occupy an entire city block. The Moderne will occupy a small plot of land next to Vecchio Bar and Grille. Hopefully it can serve as a catalytic project to spur more quality urban development in the Park East corridor and Westown.

Milwaukee Talkie, the blog of the Public Policy Forum, examined the urban retail market and how to best utilize the hiring of Deanna Inniss as a business recruiter by BID #21, Milwaukee's Downtown Business Improvement District. It  noted that one large thing wasn't on her task list: the inside of Grand Avenue Mall.

Looking at Minneapolis, Melissa Kovach observes that even with a light-rail line, nearby sporting events and anchor tenants, the urban mall, Block E, still has a vacancy rate equivalent to Grand Avenue's (30 percent).

The way to a healthy urban retail environment proposed by the Public Policy Forum is to focus on unique, indepdent retailers at the street-level. Words of wisdom that sound similar to what we concluded when UrbanMilwaukee.com explored the idea of rebuilding the Shops of Grand Avenue.

It's great to see more and more people coming around to the idea that an urban shopping center that is simply a clone of the suburbs will fail.

What survives? Look at the Delmar Loop in St. Louis. An urban neighborhood served by a light-rail line, with good urban, street-level design. Every time I visit the area, it seems to grow bigger and healthier.

What do we have to look at locally? The Historic Third Ward. No fixed transit connections, but it is served by two bus lines. Most importantly, though, is the extensive network of street-level retail establishments with offices and condos above.

Good urban design grows upon itself, unlike a stationary mall. This is no more evident than in the growth of the Fifth Ward where retail, offices, and condos are spilling over from the Third Ward.

The Fifth Ward, officially known as Walker's Point, is located just south of the Third Ward, and has seen projects like South Water Works spring up over the past year, and now Riviana appears to be moving forward again even in a down economy.

There is also the East Side concept of dorm-oriented development that appears to be taking…

There might be a new development style taking hold in Milwaukee. A lot of focus is put on transit-oriented development, and the power of a station to improve the development of a neighborhood, but what about residence halls? Do they offer similar development when built in an urban setting? At least in one part of Milwaukee's East Side neighborhood, it appears so.

As review, transit-oriented development according to the Wikipedia is:

A transit-oriented development (TOD) is a mixed-use residential or commercial area designed to maximize access to public transport, and often incorporates features to encourage transit ridership.

What is dorm-oriented development? I propose it's the increased commercial development in the parcels immediately surrounding the residence hall, or in the residence hall itself. It comes primarily in the form of retail establishments ranging from restaurants to clothing stores.

There is no doubt that students bring with them a level of purchasing power. This is no more clear than in Whitewater, Wisconsin where, despite the town's small size, numerous retail establishments are spread across the site as a result of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. However, dorm-oriented development, I propose, is more than just the mere presence of numerous auto-centric, retail strip malls. Dorm-oriented development is the urban assimilation of a residence hall into the neighborhood, and the corresponding commercial hub the residence hall creates.

Dorm-oriented development is the mixed-use development of student residence halls. As opposed to the traditional student silos that were built in the past 50 year, residence halls built with good urbanist principles appear to be a successful way to generate a successful, largely organic retail center. Not only are they good starting points for a successful retail center, but they appear also to generate a more fluid assimilation into the urban neighborhood than residence ha…

The Milwaukee circulator streetcar is moving forward, but there is still confusion in the mind of many. I've covered the issue in the past, but this article attempts to bring everything together in one place, the history, the frequently asked questions, and the proposed route.

Timeline

1991 - Milwaukee awarded $289 million for the construction of a dedicated-bus lane in the East-West Freeway corridor (Interstate 94 from Downtown to Waukesha). When the plan was canceled, the federal government took back $48 million.

1998 - Jim Rowen at The Political Environment has the best summary...

Then Gov. Tommy Thompson prevailed on Rep. Tom Petri (R) to allow Thompson to direct the transit funds to other transportation projects, including freeways, because Thompson wanted the money for the Marquette Interchange reconstruction. Intervention by then-Rep. Tom Barrett (D), and Sen. Herb Kohl, (D), prevented that outcome - - and I don't recall then State Rep. Scott Walker, (R), piping up and complaining that would mean less money for Milwaukee County buses someday.

1999 - A deal between County Executive Tom Ament, Mayor John Norquist, and Governor Tommy Thompson and approved by the federal government diverts $149.5 million to a series projects that include the construction of the new Marquette Interchange, the 6th Street Viaduct, and Canal Street. The fund (which does not gain interest) is left with $91.5 million designed for capital costs of a downtown circulator starter system. To access the remaining funds, approval is needed from the Milwaukee Mayor, the Milwaukee County Executive, the President of the MMAC, and the CEO of the Wisconsin Center District (WCD).

2006 - The Milwaukee Common Council approves an electric-guided bus plan, backed by the MMAC and WCD, intending to move it into preliminary engineering. Mayor Tom Barrett vetos the $300 million proposal, the majority of the Common Council reverses their previous position and upholds the ve…