The price of transforming a brewery to a mall has proven to be too expensive for the City of Milwaukee.

Last week the developers of the PabstCity project, who want to create an entertainment, shopping, residential and office complex at the site of the former Pabst brewery, announced they have scaled back their funds for the project.

They cut the amount requested from the city almost by half, from $75 million to $39 million. The overall funding went down $78 million, from $395 million to $317 million.

Bob Bauman, alderman of the 4th district, which includes Marquette, and chair of the Public Improvements Committee, said the funding cuts have made it more likely that the Common Council will approve the development loan from the city.

The Juneau Avenue Partners, which is running the project and is made up of Wispark LLC, the Ferchill Group and TerreMark Partners, had been discussing the decrease for several months, according to Wispark spokeswoman Margaret Stanfield. They believe this plan is better, Stanfield said.

"PabstCity is going to take a six-and-a-half-city-block area that is currently blighted and there's nothing there and turn it into an area where there's jobs, there's entertainment and also it's going to be an area that is contributing significantly to the property taxes of the area," Stanfield said.

The PabstCity complex has been deserted since 1996. The complex contains 1.1 million square feet of space. Part of the funding cuts means that 16 more buildings will be torn down than was originally planned, and there will be 1,010 fewer parking spaces, said Ann Kaser, marketing principal of TerreMarketing, via e-mail.

"The folks with PabstCity are making every effort to preserve the buildings with historical significance," Stanfield said.

There will be four historical buildings preserved, and the scope of the project will remain about the same, according to Kaser.

A 16-screen Jenco Cinemas movie theater, a House of Blues nightclub and a GameWorks entertainment center have all signed letters of intent for the project, according to Stanfield.

In addition to these potentially profitable businesses ventures, the project could also benefit surrounding areas, according to Bauman.

"This entertainment and retail development could be a big boost for Marquette as well," he said.

Noreen Lephardt, adjunct assistant professor of economics, said the project partners are banking on making the city attractive so people and businesses will want to come here.

"Now the question becomes 'should the city subsidize that kind of project?'" Lephardt said.

Stanfield said the timetable for approval rests in the Common Council's hands.

"We hope to hear from them in early spring," she said.

Bauman said the discussion was likely to start moving in the next 30 to 60 days, while legislative consideration will come later.

"I think it'll be considered probably within the next 90 to 120 days," Bauman said. He thinks the project is a positive one.

"I think it will add to the tax base, add to the construction jobs available and will create more jobs in the area, though probably not at the price some people would like to see," he said.

Stanfield agrees.

"It's going to provide jobs, it's going to revitalize the area and it's going to be a great venue for Milwaukee," she said.

She said they hope to start construction on the project in the early spring and to be finished by 2007.

This article appeared in The Marquette Tribune on Feb. 1 2005.