1530 North Jackson a Dingbat?

On the surface the 1530 North Jackson project seemed to be an appealing development because it was designed by the award winning Studio Dwell Architects out of Chicago and the project slightly improves the density in the neighborhood. Clearly attempting to fit a four story, six unit condominium project onto a small lot is a challenging effort and the design also needed to address neighborhood complaints about its density, style and potential parking problems. It appears the parking issue is managed by the design and the increase in density is very slight so the impact to the neighborhood should be minimized. Unfortunately the design looks to be a new spin on the Dingbat style all be it with parking along the side. The failure of this design isn't in the quality of materials, slope of the roof, lack of parking, or density, the failure is that it doesn't properly address the street. For the most part this design turns its back on the street, with much of the building facing the street being solid walls. It's possible the design images don't do the project justice and maybe the windows shown will do enough to connect the building to the street but clearly Studio Dwell Architects can do better. You can follow this development through the a flickr set, 1530 North Jackson that will be updated with new pictures to keep track its progress. Articles + Reference Blair Williams branches out 070593

Eight-story building proposed for Riverwalk

Edison Green, LLC, a new venture by Russell Davis the owner of Café Vecchio Mondo and co-owner of Riverwalk Boat Rentals, recently responded to a City of Milwaukee RFP for the city-owned land at 1027 N. Edison St. The resolution 071131 seeking approval of the land sale will be before Tuesday's Zoning, Neighborhoods & Development Committee meeting and appears likely to receive approval because it meets the RFP design criteria for parking, building height, Riverwalk and environmental requirements. The project itself will consist of an eight-story building containing a restaurant on the first floor, banquet facilities on the second floor, as well as office and residential condominiums. The Riverwalk segment will be constructed with access to the restaurant helping to activate a new section of the downtown Riverwalk. Further the approach to parking is fairly unique by its utilization of a neighboring parking garage which should allow for reduced construction costs and higher densities. This project looks to provides quality infill on a long vacant parcel of riverfront land and should continue the ongoing downtown renaissance. Articles Eco-friendly building proposed for downtown city lot City seeks development of Milwaukee River parcel

The Edge

For a quite sometime it appeared this project may not ever get built as no progress had been taken place on the site but finally progress can been seen at the site as work has begun on the foundation. This is great news as The Edge includes one of the missing Riverwalk pieces needed to complete the Beerline section and will include the cleanup of a contaminated property. Additionally this project has a creative design and once completed will have 133 units running in the range of $200,000 to $300,000. To follow this development I've started a flickr set, The Edge that I will update with new pictures to keep track of the progress. Articles Chicago firm plans condos near Milwaukee River Condo developers to receive brownfields grant