For years, many speculated that someday Bay View would become Milwaukee’s hottest neighborhood.
There were even bumper stickers declaring Bay View Milwaukee’s other, scratch that, better East Side.
Momentum was slow to build.
My dad managed the Kohl’s Food Store at 2826 S. Kinnickinnic Ave. in the 1990s, which became Outpost Natural Foods in 2005. When I moved to Bay View in 2003, I assured him the neighborhood was on the upswing. He dismissed my enthusiasm, saying the neighborhood had been on an “upswing” for a decade.
But today, with numerous projects underway and others in the pipeline, Bay View truly is one of the city’s most desired neighborhoods.
The mere fact that a corner bar built in 1890 is being marketed to high-end restaurateurs is a sign that times have changed.
Bay View’s Historic White House Tavern at 2900 S. Kinnickinnic Ave. closed Dec. 31 and was sold to unidentified owners who are planning to make improvements to the building and lease it to a new operator.
Cory Sovine, a real estate broker with Colliers International who is marketing the property, said the White House is indicative of the changing neighborhood.
Sovine said psychologically, people used to think Bay View was farther away from downtown than it actually is because Walker’s Point was not as developed as it is today.
Now that South First and South Second streets in Walker’s Point have attracted numerous restaurants and other development, people can easily envision driving farther south into Bay View, Sovine said.
Another factor that has helped spur development in Bay View is the addition of multi-family housing and younger people moving in, Sovine said.
“There has been a lot of generational ownership in Bay View, with people living there for 30 to 40 years in smaller houses,” Sovine said. “It was a neighborhood that was cut off for a long time, but we are starting to see those people leave and Bay View is perfectly situated, because the homes are great for younger families or single people starting out.”
Abandoned warehouses, former retail spaces and smaller parcels that have been combined are also being turned into sites for apartment developments, particularly along South Kinnickinnic Avenue.
Those apartment complexes include the 291-unit Stitchweld, at 2141 S. Robinson Ave. and Vue at the former Faust Music store site at 2204 S. Kinnickinnic Ave.
Just north of the Vue development, where the former Hamburger Mary’s restaurant building is located, New Land Enterprises LLP is planning a $21 million mixed-use development at the corner of South Kinnickinnic Avenue and East Bay Street that will include 15,000 square feet of retail space and 144 apartments.
Milwaukee Alderman Tony Zielinski, who has represented the Bay View neighborhood since 2004, said when he came into office Kinnickinnic had many boarded up storefronts, undesirable bars and prostitutes and drug dealers near East Lincoln Avenue. The change has been slow, Zielinski said, but Bay View has evolved.
“People looked at Bay View with the boarded up storefronts and couldn’t believe we could get an Outpost, but we wanted to be forward thinking and we got it done,” Zielinski said.
Other notable projects along the KK corridor have been the reopening of the Avalon Theater in December 2014 and the addition of Colectivo, a 15,000-square-foot café and bakery at the corner of South Kinnickinnic and East Lincoln avenues, in 2012.
Over the years, bars including Johnny Club Carnival, 2394 S. Kinnickinnic Ave., and the Home Bar, 2659 S. Kinnickinnic Ave., have been replaced with destination restaurants Cafe Corazon and The Vanguard, respectively.
“This is not something that has happened by accident,” Zielinski said.
Some Bay View residents have opposed the neighborhood’s gentrification, pointing to parking issues and the density of apartment buildings. But Zielinski said the projects have made the KK corridor a safer, more walkable street, while keeping the commercial and multifamily development away from the single family residential areas of the neighborhood.
There are still several properties along the KK corridor that could be redeveloped. The former Bella’s Fat Cat restaurant at 2737 S. Kinnickinnic Ave. has been vacant since 2010.
“I want to do something with that land,” Zielinski said. “There is tremendous potential. But I want to do the right project and that takes time. Some things move quick, some things move slower. Unfortunately, this one is slower.”
