The city of Milwaukee’s Redevelopment Authority is getting a $3.2 million federal grant to help redevelop the 15-acre Kneeland Properties site, located in the Menomonee Valley along the north side of the Menomonee River and straddled by I-43, just south of the Marquette Interchange.
The grant is from the U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration (EDA) and funded by federal ARPA money. It would be used to build infrastructure and help attract development at the Kneeland Properties site, located at 260 N. 12th St. and 825 W. Hinman St., which was used as a coal storage yard for nearly a century and has yet to see redevelopment.
The city and several community partners, including Menomonee Valley Partners, have been working to prepare these parcels for redevelopment by remediating contamination, planning for infrastructure and recruiting new development that benefits the community.
There have been past redevelopment plans created, re-envisioning the Kneeland Properties site and other Menomonee Valley parcels, but nothing that stuck.
“For years, the Menomonee Valley has witnessed new industrial development and robust economic growth,” said Mayor Cavalier Johnson. “The Kneeland Properties site is one of the remaining parcels in the Valley that will boost this positive momentum. New investment at the Kneeland Properties site will create manufacturing jobs for local residents that will generate economic growth in our city, our state, and our region.”
City officials are hoping the grant will help attract light industrial development to the site and create jobs there, similar to what was contemplated in the Menomonee Valley 2.0 Plan, as part of the East Valley Gateway FaB Cluster. That plan called for creation of an “urban food and beverage” manufacturing cluster in the form of a new east end Menomonee Valley Industrial Center.
The site will also include an extension of the Menomonee Valley RiverWalk.
The federal grant will be matched with $798,540 in local funds.
