2023 Fall Issue of Urban Land - 115

The site
The site the Menomonee Valley Industrial
Center and Three Bridges Park now occupy
was a massive complex known as the Milwaukee
Road Shops, which was one of the largest
manufacturers of rail cars in the United States.
In the 1920s, more than 2,000 workers were
employed to build and repair locomotives at
the Shops. The train manufacturer and railway
went bankrupt in the 1980s, and the site was
abandoned. The site consists of 133 acres in
the middle of the valley and occupies most of
what was Airline Yards, the Milwaukee Road
Shops railyard, and the former train construction
and repair shop. In addition to being an
eyesore, the site attracted nuisance activities
and discouraged retail in nearby parts of adjacent
neighborhoods, contributing to an unsafe
atmosphere in the area.
Background
When the project began, a single property
investor, CMC Heartland Partners, owned
the entire rail car shops site, which it had
purchased out of bankruptcy in 1985. CMC
Heartland was holding the property hoping
for rezoning that would perhaps allow entertainment
or residential use. The site sat on a
floodplain that made development tricky. In
addition, more than 100 years of heavy industry
had created both known and unknown
levels of contamination. Poor access, lack of
infrastructure, frequent flooding, unstable soil
conditions, derelict buildings, and soil
contamination made the property untouchable
by private-sector developers.
How it came together
For decades residents and visitors had
the dubious pleasure of driving over the
Menomonee River Valley as they traversed the
city. A few studies were done with the hope
of starting to rehabilitate the valley, but these
went nowhere.
Beginning in the late 1990s, a series of
activities and catalytic projects brought focus
on the dilapidated area and very specifically
on the Milwaukee Road Shops site. One of the
first was the 1996 groundbreaking for a new
Major League Baseball stadium on the valley's
western edge to replace the adjacent Milwaukee
County Stadium. The stadium was completed
in 2001 and is three-tenths of a mile
from the Milwaukee Road site, but its parking
lots are adjacent to the site.
In 1998 the city, under Mayor John
Norquist, commissioned an extensive market
and engineering study to determine the
best uses for the valley. Sponsored by the
Menomonee Valley Business Association and
the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District,
this Market Study, Engineering, and Land Use
Plan for the Menomonee Valley (hereafter
the " Land Use Plan " ) identified the Milwaukee
Road Shops site as a priority project that
could stimulate other investment. The study
was approved as an element of the city's
comprehensive plan.
Opening of the Urban
Ecology Center in 2012.
The converted tavern
is southwest of Three
Bridges Park.
FALL 2023
URBAN LAND
115
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URB AN E C OL OG Y CENTER
2023 Fall Issue of Urban Land

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