The Oak Creek City Council has given a developer two more years to move ahead with a project at the corners of Pennsylvania and College Avenues.
It just may not be a postal facility.
That’s according to Oak Creek Patch, which has an update on the project. From it:
“The memorandum of understanding passed Tuesday night by the Common Council also allows for the possibility of a different development altogether for those empty 64 acres on the city’s northeast side.
And at this point, that scenario seems far more likely than the original plan for an 800,000-square-foot mail distribution center, proposed in 2008 shortly before the economy faltered. Though the Oak Creek facility was designed to increase efficiency and ultimately save the USPS money – the building would replace the downtown Milwaukee distribution center – the finances simply aren’t there for the postal service to invest in a large construction project.
“The postal service is projected to lose $10 billion this year. They’re closing facilities,” said Scott Yauck of Cobalt Partners, a Milwaukee development firm working on the project, at Tuesday’s council meeting. “There’s benefit of getting out of downtown regardless, (for) operating efficiency, but they don’t have the capital to do those things right now.
“This is really intended to allow for the exploration of other possibilities.”
So, what does this all mean for South Milwaukee and the 4th District, which borders this parcel? Right now, the future of that land (the former Van Beck’s) is uncertain, but this much is clear: The plan to widen Nicholson/Pennsylvania between College and Rawson remains on for 2012 … with no roundabout. And that’s a good thing.
I’ll keep you posted when I learn more.
South Milwaukee Blog 