A site beneath Interstate 43 in Milwaukee's Menomonee Valley is being prepared for new life. The city and its community partners are preparing the Kneeland Properties site, nestled next to the Menomonee River, for light-industrial redevelopment, with remediation, infrastructure work and developer recruitment already underway.
According to Milwaukee City Development, the city and community partners — including Menomonee River Valley Partners — describe the parcel as an 8-acre site being readied for redevelopment. That figure conflicts with earlier reporting from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, which described the Kneeland Properties site as 15 acres situated between West Mt. Vernon Avenue and the Menomonee River. The newspaper has also reported that about 10 acres of the site are owned by the city Redevelopment Authority, while 5 acres beneath I-43's High Rise Bridge belong to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation.
Planning for Redevelopment
Plans for the site include light-industrial redevelopment and an extension of the Menomonee Valley Riverwalk.
Preparation for redevelopment has involved remediating contamination, building out infrastructure and recruiting new development prospects, the same post notes. The site is described as part of the East Valley Gateway Fab Cluster, and plans call for an extension of the Menomonee Valley Riverwalk through the property.
Federal Dollars for the Project
Much of the funding behind the project traces back to a $3.2 million grant tied to federal efforts supporting coal communities transitioning away from coal mining and burning, awarded by the U.S. Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration in 2022. The U.S. Economic Development Administration said at the time that its investment would be matched with $798,540 in local funds.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and The Daily Reporter both reported that the city received the $3.2 million federal grant in 2022.
A separate pot of money has drawn its own conflicting accounts. Yahoo News reported that the city was getting a $500,000 federal grant to help pay for extending Mount Vernon Avenue through the site and making other improvements, while The Daily Reporter described a proposed $500,000 HUD grant that would fund a 1,600-foot extension of West Mount Vernon Avenue beneath the highway interchange, potentially opening roughly 10 acres for industrial development. The Common Council and Mayor Cavalier Johnson also approved $1 million in city funding for the site in 2023, according to the Journal Sentinel.
Jobs and Investment Projected, Not Guaranteed
City officials have pointed to significant economic upside tied to the redevelopment. The Department of City Development told the Journal Sentinel that a build-out of the site could create around 140 jobs and $10.5 million in private investment — figures that remain projections rather than confirmed outcomes. The Milwaukee City Development post similarly describes the redevelopment as expected to create 140 jobs and generate $10.5 million in private investment, framing the work as part of the jobs contemplated in the Menomonee Valley 2.0 plan.
Milwaukee City Development's post also states that the site could be ready by spring 2027, though that date is a projection rather than a confirmed completion timeline. The Menomonee Valley has seen other industrial activity in recent years; nearby, Westminster Capital had plans for a 180,459-square-foot light-industrial building on 10.6 acres near the High Rise Bridge, according to the Journal Sentinel, illustrating the kind of development interest the valley has attracted as it continues its broader industrial turnaround.
