Industrial Land Analysis
City of Milwaukee
Milwaukee, WI
Growing Prosperity, Milwaukee’s 10-year Action Agenda for Economic Development called for a data-driven, location-based approach to attract development to Milwaukee’s industrial areas. Growing Prosperity set forth ambitious goals for Milwaukee to return 500 acres of vacant and underutilized land to productive use for industrial redevelopment and to consistently maintain an inventory of 100 available acres of developable land for manufacturers. To achieve these goals, Growing Prosperity recommended updating the City of Milwaukee’s analysis of industrial zoned land to ensure that zoning regulations and industrial land policies and strategies align with current trends and market forces affecting industrial development, particularly within key regional asset industry clusters identified by the Milwaukee 7.
The goal of the City of Milwaukee Industrial Land Analysis is to provide the City of Milwaukee and other partners with a clear road map for making decisions about industrial land needs based on current and future market trends, along with implementation strategies. To that end, the study will answer the following questions:
What is the anticipated current and future demand for industrial land within the City of Milwaukee?
Is the amount of industrially zoned land within the City of Milwaukee sufficient to meet future demand? If not, what additional strategies can be pursued to meet future demand? If there is an excess of industrially zoned land, or if some sites may no longer be viable for manufacturing uses, under what circumstances is conversion for non-industrial uses appropriate?
What are the quantifiable economic and net fiscal impacts to the City of Milwaukee associated with industrial redevelopment?
What are the anticipated space requirements (building sizes, site conditions, location constraints, etc.) of modern manufacturers within Milwaukee’s M7 regional assets industry clusters and among small scale manufacturers who may require multi-tenant spaces or have other unique space needs?
Are there strategic adjustments that the City of Milwaukee should consider to its zoning code to meet the future space requirements of manufacturers, with a focus on those firms in regional asset industry clusters, as well as small-scale, early-stage local makers?
What complementary strategies should the City, its industrial BIDs, and other partners pursue to best support manufacturing job creation and support the goals of Growing Prosperity and the M7 Regional Framework for Economic Growth?
The full text of this RFP, including a detailed Scope of Services and instructions for bidders are available on the DCD website: