World Of My Own Design: From The Archives: 21st Century Milwaukee

Discovery World opens it's doors.

The new 63.7 million dollar facility opens along the shores of Lake Michigan, adjacent to Lakeshore Park which had it's formal opening in Spring of 2007.
"Discovery World has launched a "Year of Discovery" to unveil its exhibits as they're completed." Discovery World's project completion date was September of 2007.

I used to go to the original Discovery World in the building across the street from the MPM. Back in the day it was more of the hands-on alternative to the Milwaukee Public Museum.
"Discovery World first opened its doors on the top floor of the Milwaukee Public Library in 1984. Then operations were moved over to Milwaukee Public Museum in 1994 and most recently at the Pier Wisconsin location in 2006."

Quoted from the Milwaukee Journal, here are some of the upcoming exhibits to appear;
LifeJet City
A "think tank" village where visitors can incubate ideas and "identify their own passions, and turn what they love to do into wealth" through ideas and prototypes, according to Discovery World spokeswoman Cynthia Johnson. Includes manufacturing, bank and ad agency areas where people can create a business plan and their own marketing program.
Johnson Controls' TechnoJungle
Will have four major areas, including a "base camp," (a video orientation), secret lab (where visitors can piece together notes and diagrams left behind by a "lost engineering team"), Smart Vehicle display (where visitors can prototype and test interior safety technologies), and TechTopia, (where visitors can share their experiences, with access to body-scanning and other technologies).
Briggs & Stratton's Milwaukee Muscle
Demonstrates the history of machinery, from lifting devices of the 1800s to cars of the future.
Badger Meter Corp.'s Liquid House
An urban house built of water introducing concepts of water flow and measurement in the household setting.

State's Largest & Most Advanced, The Daniel M. Soref Planetarium opens for business November 10th, 2006.

I thought Sonic Vision sounded pretty cool; "With a mix by Moby and featuring tracks from Radiohead, U2, David Bowie, Coldplay, Queens of the Stone Age, Prodigy, The Flaming Lips, Fischerspooner, Spiritualized, Audioslave, Stereolab, Boards of Canada, David Byrne and Brian Eno, Goldfrapp, Zwan, White Zombie, and Moby, the music ignites this one-of-a-kind computer-generated musical and visual experience, which uses next-generation digital technology to illuminate the planetarium's dome with a dazzling morphing of colorful visions."

Pabst City

Once upon a time there was a plan to renovate the old Pabst Brewery into a $317 million dollar entertainment oriented project named "Pabst City". Pabst City was to include a House of Blues music venue, a Gameworks arcade & restaurant, an authentic German restaurant hall called the Hofbrauhaus - similar to the famous Munich restaurant, and a Marcus owned downtown theater.
On a local scale, pabst City was somewhat similar to the 2001 renovation of Block E in Minneapolis, albeit on a larger scale (over twice the development cost), and with a House Of Blues in place of a swanky nightclub and a German Beer Hall in place of a Hard Rock Cafe.
The project called for a $41 million dollar loan from the city, which was to be repaid by the additional property taxes the project would generate. The Milwaukee council voted it down and thus the project was dead.
Yes it's true, the project was large and risky and may have been based on a partially outdated plan for downtown revivial. But still, I for one am really disappointed to hear this. Personally I see this as denying a great opportunity and works against the revitalization of downtown Milwaukee. I'm with OMC when they said that "Killing PabstCity is an embarassing vote for status quo" July 26, 2005.

The latest on the Pabst Project? They've went with a much more fiscally sound, and less exciting plan to incorporate condos and office space. For a while Marcus was still on for a theater in Pabst, but eventually they too dropped out. Marcus says they're still interested in putting a theater downtown, just not within the Pabst Project.

Asian funds sought for redevelopment March 28, 2008

Bayshore Town Center opens

Bayshore emerges from cocoon Oct 29 2006
Grand opening was November 2nd, it was a reported 360 million dollar project, and it opened at 70% capacity.
"The new Bayshore Town Center adds several new buildings to the existing Bayshore Mall infrastructure to create 45-acre "town center" concept featuring 1.2 million sq. ft. of retailers, restaurants, office space and residential space, as well as a town square that will host public events and concerts."
Bay shops want to keep up with new neighbor Oct 29 2006
Bayshore Town Center feels like a little retail village November 2, 2006
Take the Milwaukee Challenge: Bayshore vs. Mayfair Dec 20 2006
The grand opening of Bayshore Town Center in Glendale has brought the Milwaukee area a maelstrom of new shops & restaurants. Much of the tenant listing reads like a who's who of what's hot today. A Trader Joe's, an H&M (with Men's clothing), Brooks Brothers, and an Apple Store.
On the restaurant front Bayshore has scored Wisconsin's first California Pizza Kitchen, a 2nd Milwaukee area Cheesecake Factory, and a 2nd Milwaukee area Bar Louie's/OMC Article.

Move over Greenway Station (Madison), you've been one-upped.