C.H. Coakley & Co. has withdrawn its bid to provide space for a state Department of Health Services Center in a building on King Drive.
C.H. Coakley & Co. has withdrawn its bid to provide space for a state Department of Health Services Center in a building the company owns at 2151 N. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. in Milwaukee’s Bronzeville district.
Under a state Department of Administration plan, the Department of Health Services center would have moved to the King Drive building from its current location in the Marcia P. Coggs Human Services Center at 1220 W. Vliet St., Milwaukee.
But the move was opposed by Milwaukee aldermen who said the DHS center would hurt efforts to redevelop the Bronzeville area. The decision by Coakley to drop its bid for the DHS was announced by Ald. Milele Coggs. A representative for C.H. Coakley could not be reached for comment.
“It was the right decision and I give credit to C.H. Coakley & Co. for dong the right thing,” Coggs said. “Although the withdrawal is a win for Bronzeville, the Historic King Drive Business Improvement District, community groups and the city, it’s truly a huge victory for neighbors who stood firm and stayed engaged during the public process. The city’s investments in redevelopment of the Bronzeville area…are significant, and putting the DHS services center there clearly wasn’t a good fit.”
