EDITORIAL: Reclaiming a corridor: The city's plans to buy 84 acres of vacant industrial land and redevelop it as a business park could provide an anchor for a struggling neighborhood.

Jul 10, 2009 (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- TWRAQ | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- The City of Milwaukee's plans to buy 84 acres of the former Tower Automotive site on the north side will help anchor an impoverished neighborhood by wiping away blight and eventually providing jobs at a new business park.

But we have no illusions about the difficult task at hand. Reclaiming this old industrial corridor will be a lengthy process. It will be years before jobs return to the big triangular patch of ground near W. Capitol Drive and N. 35th St. Just cleaning up the site will take two years at a minimum -- and with the economy a basket case, it might take much longer to attract businesses.

Still, the city can draw on the experience of the successful reclamation of the Menomonee Valley. The Menomonee Valley Industrial Center, on the site of a former railroad repair shop near Miller Park, is now home to Charter Wire, Derse Inc. and Palermo Villa Inc. That area will have about 700 full-time employees by 2011, with an ultimate goal of about 1,300.

While the Tower site has some of the same advantages of the Menomonee Valley -- it's close to workers and has good rail access -- it lacks the kind of catalytic developments that helped make the valley viable. The value of the bookend developments of Miller Park on the west and the Potawatomi Bingo Casino to the east shouldn't be underestimated. It's also important for perspective to remember that initial redevelopment work in the valley began more than a generation ago.

But the city needs to start. As Mayor Tom Barrett noted, "The longer we wait to take this on, the more expensive the cleanup will be." It makes sense to do the remediation now so that the land can be ready once business picks up.

The city's proposed $3.5 million offer to purchase the land will be considered by the Redevelopment Authority next week. That body and the Common Council then will consider a $15 million tax incremental financing district to help fund the environmental cleanup and other expenses. Property taxes generated by new business on the site eventually would pay off that expense, and it's hoped that state and federal grants will be available as well.

The authority and the council should give this plan their blessings. And city planners -- and the council -- must be open to a variety of business ventures once that land is once again suitable for development. The city can't afford to be too picky.

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