Big change for distinctive Riverwest building. Plus: A busy week of real estate news. By Jeramey Jannene - Apr 25th, 2021 12:13 pm //end headline wrapper ?>Cream City Hostel in 2019, 500 E. Center St. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.
There is new life for the former bank building at 500 E. Center St., but not as a hostel.
Cream City Hostel, which opened in 2019, fell victim to the global travel downturn triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic.
RiverBee LLC, which owns the property, pivoted to seeking a new tenant in 2020. The investment group owns many of the fixtures, including the beds, in addition to the property.
Historic Commission wants stained glass windows reused. That s a problem. By Jeramey Jannene - Mar 8th, 2021 09:53 am //end headline wrapper ?>Humphrey Scottish Rite Masonic Center. Building photo by Jeramey Jannene, window photos by Ramlow/Stein
Twenty stained glass windows continue to complicate the redevelopment of the former Humphrey Scottish Rite Masonic Center.
No one seems to believe they are of high quality or essential to the building’s historic integrity, but the city’s historic preservation ordinance calls for their preservation in some form. Unfortunately, few seem to want to take them.
A 2017 plan to turn the historically-protected, three-story building into a hotel, with a 14-story addition, was approved with the caveat that three of the stained glass windows remain in place and the other 17 be displayed in the hotel’s common areas. That plan never advanced to construction, but Ascendant Holdings acquired the property, 790
Downtown Milwaukee Area Plan Update Kicks Off
Billions of dollars in investment and thousands of new residential units later, Milwaukee is ready to update the plan for its downtown. March 4, 2021, 6am PST | James Brasuell |
Jeramey Jannene reports on the initial push to update the Milwaukee Downtown Area Plan from the previous update approved in 2010. This would be third Downtown Plan update in as many decades, according to Jannene.
Milwaukee Downtown, the area business improvement district, is providing $100,000 to fund the process, and the city is chipping in $50,000. A previous initiative by MKE United has already completed some of the foundational work of building a shared and inclusive vision for Downtown, explains Jannene.
Marches in the street, a spitting attorney and a global pandemic dominate the list. By Urban Milwaukee - Dec 31st, 2020 03:07 pm //end headline wrapper ?>Urban Milwaukee office after the fire. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.
It’s been a busy year for Urban Milwaukee. Our office was destroyed in a fire and the pandemic has altered virtually everything we do, but through it all our readership is up over 70%.
What were most readers clicking on? Plenty of articles about the pandemic. But beyond that, our readers also were highly engaged with our coverage of the racial justice protest movement and the election.
Why So Many Police Chiefs?
Milwaukee s police leadership has become a surreal version of musical chairs. What’s going on? By Bruce Murphy - Dec 23rd, 2020 09:19 am //end headline wrapper ?>Michael Brunson, Alfonso Morales, Jeffrey Norman, Hoyt Mahaley and Malik Aziz.
Last week Urban Milwaukee’s indefatigable reporter
Jeramey Jannene, who covers City Hall among other beats, had one of his better tweets:
“Milwaukee has two, maybe three, possibly as many five police chiefs after a court ruling Friday afternoon.”
The court ruled that former Milwaukee Police Chief
Alfonso Morales had been demoted from the position without due process and could in theory reclaim the job. Meanwhile