Milwaukee's economy and construction activity is on the rise in a number of critical sectors, like private business expansion, schools and healthcare. And spirits in Milwaukee are flying high since the City of Milwaukee Common Council approved a $95 million plan by Harley-Davidson Motor Company to build a 230,000-sq.-ft. development in the Menomonee Valley. The phased plan includes a museum, a cafe, retail and banquet space and more on 6th and Canal Street.

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The investment could yield 350,000 visitors and $78 million annually in tourism dollars, according to economic reports by the Metro Milwaukee Association of Commerce.

The optimism and the new development is already creating more construction activity around town. The plan passed by the Common Council includes the relocation of a public works facility from the valley to make room for the museum. The facility will move to the north side and be consolidated with three new Water Works facilities.

More development plans will likely be on the horizon as the phase one of the Harley-Davidson Museum project progresses.

The City of Milwaukee paved the way for more development in June this year by approving a plan to remove the Park East Freeway which will open up about 26 acres of land for redevelopment. The city expects the redevelopment of the Park East corridor to generate $250 million in new development.

Meanwhile, Aldrich Chemical Co. Inc. is taking advantage of the reconstruction of the Marquette Interchange and is spending $50 million on a new lab (see feature story in this section). The effects of the $810 million Marquette Interchange project are only beginning to be realized. It will spur additional development throughout the region.

The $36 million addition/renovation underway at Muskego High School, the subject of a second feature in this section, is representative of the Office of Neighborhood Schools plan to build new and renovate old schools around the city. The $100 million investment in schools is humming along.

With all this news about future plans, the future looks bright in Menomonee Valley.

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