Milwaukee County plans to issue a request for proposals (RFP) this spring for a three-acre, triangle-shaped property at the west end of the Park East corridor.
The property is bounded by North Sixth Street on the east, West Winnebago Street on the south and West McKinley Avenue on the north.
The county first must receive approval from the state to issue the RFP, said Robert Dennik, Milwaukee County director of economic development.
"As soon as I get approval, I’m going to send it out," Dennik said. "We’re pretty close."
It will be the fourth county-owned property that has been put on the market in the corridor where the Park East Freeway once stood.
So far construction has yet to begin on any of the sites in the Park East corridor controlled by the county. However, construction is expected to begin soon on the two-acre Park East block, formerly owned by the county, bounded by East Lyon Street, North Jefferson Street, East Ogden Avenue and North Milwaukee Street. That’s where Chicago-based RSC & Associates LLC plans to build a 122-room Hyatt Place hotel and a 102-room Hyatt Summerfield Suites hotel. The project will also include 6,900 square feet of retail space and 105 apartments, most of which will be built later.
The county completed the sale of the property to RSC on Dec. 21. A condition of the sale is that RSC must start construction within 90 days. RSC is also in the process of purchasing the block to the west from the county.
A representative for RSC could not be reached for comment. The company has hired Gilbane Inc. as its general contractor.
The county also is in the process of selling two other Park East parcels to developers. One, northwest of West Juneau Avenue and Old World Third Street, is where Ruvin Development and Gatehouse Capital Corp. plan to build a 176-room luxury hotel, 70 condominiums, 55,000 square feet of office space and 17,000 square feet of retail space.
The other county-owned Park East parcel that is in the process of sold is the site north of East Knapp Street and west of North Water Street, where Brookfield-based MLG Development Inc. is working on plans to build an office tower. MLG is negotiating with Town of Brookfield-based RedPraire Corp., trying to convince the firm to be the proposed building’s anchor tenant.
