American Family Field-Mixed Development Update

[homer]

https://www.jsonline.com/story/money/real-estate/commercial/2025/12/09/stadium-development-study-is-good-step-forward-brewers-executive-says/87673976007/

 

Not too much new. Some comments by Rick Schlesinger.

[Baldkin]

On 11/14/2025 at 9:52 AM, RobertCrawley said:

I’ve always wondered why that area south of the stadium on 59 isn’t developed into a restaurant and bars, maybe a hotel. It feels a little rundown there right now. Maybe it’s too far for people to walk from there to the stadium.

You mean the VA?

[Jim French Stepstool]

20 minutes ago, Baldkin said:

You mean the VA?

I'm sure he's referring to National ave from Miller Park Way going west. It IS sort of run down for the most part & never took on the "ballpark neighborhood" feel that Bluemound rd did. Everything on the south side of the street (oppo the VA) up to 56th street is in the Village of West Milwaukee, and unless something changed in recent years it has a pretty high tax rate. That, and the VA more or less 'blocking' the stadium might be reasons why it never developed the same way as Bluemound did.

I think Harvey Kuenns' old bar is still in business there, though.

[Outlander]

Not completely run down, Hugh Jackman and Charlie Berens visited Kegel's Inn a couple of weeks ago but way down on 59th. The VA is obviously needed but for developmental purposes it is a huge property between AmFam and the  businesses south. There has certainly been an increase in business on Miller Parkway since the stadium was built but not exactly destination area for people attending Brewers games. I am kind of surprised a hotel or two never popped up around there.

[homer]

39 minutes ago, Outlander said:

Not completely run down, Hugh Jackman and Charlie Berens visited Kegel's Inn a couple of weeks ago but way down on 59th. The VA is obviously needed but for developmental purposes it is a huge property between AmFam and the  businesses south. There has certainly been an increase in business on Miller Parkway since the stadium was built but not exactly destination area for people attending Brewers games. I am kind of surprised a hotel or two never popped up around there.

There's a Fairfield Inn on National and Miller Park Way. A lot of that land from National south to Lincoln was cleared back in the 60's and 70s for a freeway that was not completed and has been filled in w strip malls. 

[Samurai Bucky]

On 12/17/2025 at 8:13 AM, homer said:

There's a Fairfield Inn on National and Miller Park Way. A lot of that land from National south to Lincoln was cleared back in the 60's and 70s for a freeway that was not completed and has been filled in w strip malls. 

Interesting article on Milwaukee freeway history:  https://onmilwaukee.com/articles/milwaukeefreewayhistory

Quote

Stadium Freeway -- One of the best examples of Milwaukee's aborted freeway plan, the Stadium Freeway would have run from I-894 on the South Side north through West Milwaukee, past County Stadium and continuing north to a junction with the Bay Freeway just past Capitol Drive. Later planning proposed extending the route even further north, to WIS 60 in Cedarburg. In West Milwaukee, the freeway met strong opposition from residents and politicians, worried about losing homes and the industrial tax base. Much of the S. 43rd Street Corridor was cleared for an expressway that was never built. The northern stub of the Stadium Freeway was halted, too, and today is a 1.9-mile spur carrying U.S. 41 and ending at Lisbon Avenue. A Park & Ride lot exists today on the intended site of the Stadium Interchange's junction with I-894; MCTS buses use the ramps to access the lot.

 

[homer]

Again, not much new but a few additional details to add to the report from early December. The Brewers still have to sign off on all of this so nothing will move forward unless they feel compelled to move forward. A lot of the new stadium developments are between parking and the venue so you stop and buy things on your way to and from the stadium. Here are maps of the three plans (my opinion is the first one makes the most sense if they end up doing anything):

https://www.jsonline.com/story/money/real-estate/commercial/2025/12/29/american-family-field-development-plans-may-include-hotel-apartments/87704461007/

[Jim French Stepstool]

On 12/18/2025 at 4:13 PM, Samurai Bucky said:

Interesting article on Milwaukee freeway history:  https://onmilwaukee.com/articles/milwaukeefreewayhistory

 

This stuff has always been fascinating to me. As mentioned in the article, the Stadium Freeway ended at 47th & Lisbon. HWY 145 morphs into a freeway around 68th & Hampton and proceeds to the northwest. In the early 60s my parents purchased a home that was pretty much in the path of the freeway had those two eventually been connected. I remember my dad had an anxious moment or two while the rumors flew. There never was a sufficient east-west FWY built to bypass the northern part of the city. The decision makers apparently tried to alleviate that by creating a series of underpasses on Silver Spring Dr between HWY 100 & Port Washington Rd.