The City of Milwaukee, Milwaukee County Parks and a “group of local stakeholders” have issued a request for qualifications seeking a design team to create plans for a “world class public plaza” that would be created on the lakefront between Lincoln Memorial Drive and Discovery World.
The project, called Lakefront Gateway Plaza, is part of the Lakefront Gateway Plan to enhance the lakefront and improve public access between the lakefront and downtown.
Street improvements planned in the area include the extension of Clybourn Street east to Discovery World, and enhancement of Clybourn into a boulevard. The Lakefront Gateway Plaza would be located on an 80,000-square-foot space 150 feet west of the lakefront between Discovery World, the extended Clybourn Street, Lincoln Memorial Drive and Michigan Street.
Preliminary plans to add a pedestrian bridge through the proposed Couture development show the pedestrian bridge connected to the lakefront at the Lakefront Gateway Plaza site.
The budget for the Lakefront Gateway Plaza project and the source of the funds to pay for it are yet to be determined, said Department of City Development spokesman Jeff Fleming.
The RFQ is the first phase of an anticipated two-phase process. The plan is to select up to four qualified teams to participate in a future design process for the Lakefront Gateway Plaza. Once the top teams are selected the second phase of the design process would be the preparation of proposals by those selected teams for final judging and selection of one design team. The winning team would work with the city, county and the stakeholder group to complete the design process.
Responses to the RFQ are due on Nov. 3.
More information about the Lakefront Gateway Plaza RFQ is available here.
