Milwaukee's Park East corridor, a portion of the city's upper east side, has a facelift on the way after a recent County Board vote cleared the city's redevelopment initiative in the area.

According to Steve Mokrohisky, deputy chief of staff for County Executive Scott Walker's Office, Requests for Proposals (RFPs) to develop the first Park East parcels will be released in the coming week. The County Board will begin reviewing the proposals in May.

Mokrohisky said the city looks forward to promoting "positive mixed-use development" in the area.

"Our primary priority right now," Mokrohisky said, "is to move forward with the sale of the land, and we're going to begin that process."

Mokrohisky called the project "a tremendous opportunity for growth in Milwaukee."

The Park East Redevelopment Project aims to reclaim areas of the city which have been compromised since a 1960s plan to encircle Milwaukee with a freeway system, according to the master plan published by the Milwaukee Department of City Development.

While segments of the freeway were completed, local opposition brought the plan to a halt. The existing freeway segments remained, over-built and under-utilized. Much of the land that had been set aside for the original freeway became surface parking, the plan said.

Now, however, Milwaukee city officials see an opportunity to redevelop the Park East corridor.

The city is looking to attract a variety of developments, ranging from multi-tenant office buildings to restaurants to residential complexes, according to the plan.

Encouraging pedestrian activity at street level is a major goal of the plan, which includes provisions for wide sidewalks and pedestrian-oriented street designs, the plan said.

The plan calls for the coming developments to be aesthetically congruent with existing structures in order to enrich, rather than muddle, the area's distinctive personality. Surface parking, such as the lots that dominate the current situation, would be strictly prohibited under the current development plan.

The removal of the freeway spur will also allow for the reestablishment of the city's natural street grid. McKinley Avenue will be converted into a six-lane, street level boulevard and will serve as the area's major thoroughfare, the plan said.

Kelly Mullen, a freshman in the College of Engineering and Milwaukee native, is among those happy to see the project coming along. "It's good that the city is moving in the right direction with the area," Mullen said.

Paul Wolffersdorff, a sophomore in the College of Engineering who has also lived in Milwaukee his whole life, said that it was "about time they did something with that area."

Wolffersdorff and other residents expressed hopes that the city will take the opportunity to develop affordable housing and other public service initiatives in the areas targeted for redevelopment.

Planning for the freeway spur's removal began in 1999. In 2001, plans to redevelop the Park East corridor were developed. In 2002, removal of the freeway began.

Aside from the logistical challenges of the project, the Park East plan endured a dispute on the degree of county regulation over development in corridor, including wage and hiring standards. Walker's veto of the measures and the County Board's 15-4 override on Feb. 3 closed the debate and opened the doors for the development process to begin.

This article appeared in The Marquette Tribune on Feb. 10 2005.