Client
The City of Milwaukee and Tower Automotive

Project
PDI helped the City and Tower Automotive prepare a land use plan with future redevelopment concepts for a 148-acre parcel situated on a major industrial railroad corridor. Tower Automotive, a manufacturer of automobile parts, moved its operations out of state, which left the majority of the site on Milwaukee's north side vacant and under-utilized. Some remaining structures have significant historic value and the surrounding neighborhood has a strong housing stock.

Mixed-use Activity
The land use plan identifies a portion of the site with the potential for commercial or mixed-use activity due to the high visibility and traffic count along Capitol Drive, a major arterial street. In addition, the plan discusses the opportunity for a modern, urban industrial campus which would strengthen the economy of the area and revitalize the surrounding neighborhood. The lack of available land in the City for new industrial projects make this location a prime redevelopment site. The plan also discusses the possibility of recruiting a higher education facility to the property.

Alternative Redevelopment Concepts
PDI prepared three alternate redevelopment concepts for the entire site, as well as design guidelines for future development. Concepts include:

• shared parking
• creating sites that can be competitive for industrial development
• introducing the city street grid onto the site and increasing neighborhood connections
• creating infill residential on current parking lots at the site's periphery
• maintaining potential industrial rail access
• reuse of existing buildings including a prominent Art Deco office building
• locating commercial uses along the arterials to take advantage of high visibility/traffic counts