About Babcock Spring, Reliable Auto, and its fast-redeveloping neighborhood David Niles column

Our story on the falling numbers of downtown Milwaukee auto service stations brought a response from reader Juli Kaufmann, who lives and works downtown, and from Pete Duecker of Babcock Spring in Milwaukee’s Third Ward.
Kaufmann takes her car to Reliable Auto, on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, just north of Pleasant Street (in the Schlitz Park area.).
“As you rightly point out, this type of service is harder to find downtown.” Kaufmann wrote of Reliable. “They are also great neighbors. They have come to my rescue on many occasions with fast, affordable, and top-notch solutions.”
The article she refers to, in the July 6 issue of SBT, was prompted by the closing of the Car-X shop at 3rd and Juneau. In looking at what’s left for auto service downtown, we used a definition of downtown that included a northern border of Pleasant/Walnut street. Even though Reliable is just past that (and set back from King Drive toward the alley), we should have included the shop in the story’s list. Here’s the plug for Reliable.
And Duecker notes that our article made reference to the former Don Badden service station that was razed to make way for a parking structure at Water and Chicago streets just south of downtown.
“Your article mentions a service station in the Third Ward that went out of business – that was Don Badden Service,” Duecker told reporter Charles Rathmann after the article appeared. “We bought their assets in 1998.”
But the front of Duecker’s building at 143 N. Milwaukee St. says nothing about oil changes and auto service. “The Third Ward limits your signage. I have a little standup sign that I put up in front of the store in the morning and take down at night.”
So here’s the plug for Babcock. Let us know of any others downtown.
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By the way, if you get off the “beaten path” of King Drive (formerly Third Street) and head west toward Eighth Street, you may be amazed at what’s going on. What strikes you at first is the open land – property long cleared of dilapidated buildings. But more impressive are the “For Sale” signs on the vacant property, the ongoing construction of luxury townhouses and condominiums, the conversion of a warehouse at 4th and Reservoir into loft apartments, the 122-unit, $24 million Townhouses at Carver Park development, and billboards announcing more planned upscale development along 4th Street.
And King Drive itself has been transformed, particularly the stretch between Locust and Pleasant/Walnut streets. That transformation was recently furthered through the announcement of another restaurant for King Drive. (See Page 4 for the story.)
It’s unfortunate the “inner city” gets such a bad rap from people who never venture there. There are a lot of very good, stable, clean and safe neighborhoods that would surprise them. I recently decided to check out the inner city neighborhood 100 blocks east of where I live on Cherry Street. Guess what? That inner city Cherry Street neighborhood is pretty nice – quiet with well-cared-for homes.
July 20, 2001 Small Business Times, Milwaukee