End of Milwaukee Freeway Opens Up Corridor for Developers.

Byline: Tom Daykin

Nov. 8--Every day, the Park East freeway gets a bit smaller.

Another piece of concrete is torn off, crushed into rubble and carted away as the freeway's demolition continues.

But while the Park East shrinks, the land beneath and next to the road potentially becomes more valuable, as local officials, real estate developers and others dream about the offices, homes and businesses that will rise in its place.

The elevated freeway's replacement by a new grid of surface streets will likely bring one of the biggest development surges ever in downtown Milwaukee, developers and city officials say.

The 26 acres that will be opened up along downtown's northern edge will see at least $250 million in new commercial and residential development over roughly five to 15 years, according to Department of City Development estimates. That would provide an important boost for a city that has been losing population and jobs to the suburbs.

Demolition of the freeway stub began earlier this year and is scheduled for completion by April 2003.

Skeptics argue that the $25 million freeway tear-down, funded 80 percent by the federal government, could wind up a costly mistake because it is removing an important road and leaving parcels that will sit vacant for years.

Those critics cite the announcement by Harley-Davidson Inc. last week that it will not build its $30 million motorcycle museum at the former Schlitz brew house. Harley's 1999 announcement that it would put the museum at the brew house, about four blocks north of the Park East, helped persuade local officials to pursue the freeway's demolition.

History may prove the skeptics correct. But the Park East…