The City of Milwaukee earlier this summer completed construction on a 100-foot-long wooden structure that extends into the Milwaukee River by way of an old railroad trestle, which gave it the name Trestle Park.
The $1.2 million project, which was funded by tax increment financing, was announced in July 2017. Now, just more than a year later, the East Erie Street land plot is complete, with shrubs, trees, grass and a newly installed Bublr Bikes station.
The Historic Third Ward property, located at 501 E. Erie St., was once used as a landing for a swing bridge, which connected the rail line from one side of the river to the other. The city purchased the parcel, which is almost 1 acre in size, in 2013 from Union Pacific Railroad.
Jim Shields, a design principal at Minneapolis-based HGA Architects, led the park’s design efforts with Milwaukee-based development firm Mandel Group Inc. Mandel’s new DoMUS Apartments, located adjacent to Trestle Park, are connected to the park with an adjoining Milwaukee RiverWalk segment, also built by Mandel Group.
Shields said Trestle Park’s design echoes that of the High Line, a 1.45-mile-long elevated park, greenway and rail trail built on a former railroad line in Manhattan.
