The Pabst Brewery was founded in Milwaukee in 1844. After 152 years of producing beer, the brewery closed up in 1996, leaving a massive industrial complex completely abandoned on the west side of downtown Milwaukee. Now, through an ambitious redevelopment scheme put together by Joseph Zilber LTD and Towne Realty, the once blighted site is being converted into a mixed-use development of condos, apartments, offices, and even educational institutions of higher learning for Milwaukee's colleges and universities.
Are these the types of projects that will help Milwaukee will shake its rust-belt image? Is this the type of project that the city should pursue in other locations around the city in order to revitalize depressed areas and abandoned industrial tracts?
This is a start, but Milwaukee's problems run much deeper, and it must attack the core of why so many of these industrial giants closed or left Milwaukee in the first place. Is it high taxes? Labor disputes? High crime rates? Poor education? I personally think it is all of these things. But I do not for one second believe that Milwaukee is beyond help. The Brewery Project is an example of the kind of creative thinking this city needs. Rather than completely tearing down and starting over, planners made the best of the assets they already had, and the project is turning out nicely. Milwaukee has a long way to go, but this project shows what can happen when people put their minds to generating positive solutions.
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