Drexel Town Square Plans Marching Forward

The ambitious plans for the corner of Drexel and Howell continue to move ahead, with work under way at the site now and a public hearing coming up in June.

Drexel Town Square Plans Marching Forward

The ambitious plans for the corner of Drexel and Howell continue to move ahead, with work under way at the site now and a public hearing coming up in June.

Progress on Oak Creek's much-publicized Drexel Town Square development comes in both visible and invisible ways. Visible work is happening now at the corner of Drexel and Howell avenues, where several trucks and workers are digging up concrete at the 85-acre site. That work will continue until the end of July, and the concrete will be re-used within the development. The invisible: the Drexel Town Square site plan has begun moving through the city government review process, with a public hearing set for June 18 and a final Oak Creek Common Council vote sometime soon after that. "Given the complexities of the commercial real estate market, the financing market and everything else that's been going on since the crash of 2008, I feel we're …

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Development Agreements In Place For Drexel Town Square, Business Park

Development agreements approved by the Oak Creek Common Council Tuesday night bring both projects one step closer to the beginning of construction.

Two major development projects in Oak Creek, the Drexel Town Square and a planned business park on Oakwood Road, continue to inch toward construction. The Oak Creek Common Council on Tuesday approved development agreements with Wispark, which owns both properties. Under the agreements, the developer will pay for infrastructure improvements—such as sanitary sewer, drainage facilities, roads, traffic signals and sidewalks—through a tax-incremental financing district. TIF districts allow developers or municipalities to borrow money to pay for infrastructure, and use the increased tax increment generated by the new development to pay off the loan. Wispark is the development arm of We Energies. Its projects are paid for by shareholders, not …

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Plans Ramp Up For Oakwood Road Business Park

Mayor expects activity to begin in earnest this summer, saying the site has drawn a lot of interest thanks to its location.

Wispark's property at Drexel and Howell, where a new town center is planned, has gotten most of the buzz in 2013. But the 220 vacant acres Wispark owns on Oakwood Road—slated for a business park—has also drawn a lot of interest, Oak Creek Mayor Steve Scaffidi said. Scaffidi said he expects activity on the as-yet-to-be-created Oak View Business Park, just west of Howell Avenue, to pick up this summer. Wispark plans a mix of manufacturing, light industrial, office and service uses. "We can't get that infrastructure in fast enough," Scaffidi said. Scaffidi said the area's major benefit is its location, near both the freeway and airport. Chicago is just 80 miles to the south, as well. It is also near a very-high-speed Internet terminal that …

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Funding For OCHS Pool Upgrades Approved

About $200,000 worth of improvements will be made in time for the girls swim season in the fall.

About $200,000 worth of improvements to the Oak Creek High School pool have been approved and will be made in time for the fall swim season. The Oak Creek-Franklin School Board earlier this week approved using money from a fund set up for community-based projects on long-needed upgrades to the pool. The project will move drainage filters so the water level can be raised, which will allow OCHS swim teams to finally use starting blocks. The improvements will be made, in part, thanks to Wispark, which agreed to pay $100,000 into the community service fund as part of a land exchange agreement last year. Wispark is the development arm of We Energies and the lead developer of the Drexel Town Square project. By law, money in the community …

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High School Pool In Line For Upgrades

The school district wants to use money from the Wispark land exchange for much-needed improvements to the Oak Creek High School pool.

Thanks in part to money from Wispark, the Oak Creek High School pool may be getting some long-awaited improvements. The Oak Creek-Franklin School Board signaled its support for a recommendation to make about $200,000 worth of improvements to the pool using money from a fund set up for community-based projects. This project would move drainage filters so the water level can be raised. That will allow OCHS swim teams to finally use starting blocks, which are used at meets at nearly every other school except Oak Creek. The board could vote on the proposal Feb. 11. Work would be done over the summer and completed in time for the girls' swimming season in the fall. As part of a land exchange agreement last year , Wispark agreed to pay $100,000…

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Drexel Town Square Update Coming Tuesday

A few weeks after reports of a big box store surfaced, officials will give a presentation at Tuesday's Oak Creek Common Council meeting.

An official update on the Drexel Town Square development plan is scheduled for Tuesday's Oak Creek Common Council meeting. Wispark President Jerry Franke will be joined by several development partners at a presentation that will include a history of research and actions leading up to the development plan, according to a report to council members. City officials say residents will be able to provide input at a separate presentation on Feb. 11. Tuesday's council meeting begins at 7 p.m. at Oak Creek City Hall, 8640 S. Howell Ave. Plans for the Drexel Town Square have drawn criticism in recent weeks after a report that developers were negotiating with Meijer Inc. to open a 192,000-square-foot store that would anchor the development, near the …

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Brian

2:19 pm on Wednesday, February 13, 2013

I would LOVE to see an Ikea store in OC as well. Look at what it has done for the western part of Chicago. It would bring people from all over the Milwaukee Area to OC...not just the near South Side. Also....The City of OC sold its residents that unique, upscale shops/stores will be what makes this place special. What's unique or special at Meijer to what we already have in the area. Have …   more ›

Editor's Notebook

A Closer Look at the Drexel Town Square Plans

Wispark President Jerry Franke presented the plan to the Oak Creek Plan Commission Tuesday and provided some more details about the updated Delphi redevelopment plans, now called Drexel Town Square.

The Oak Creek Plan Commission on Tuesday night got its first extensive look at the updated plans for the former Delphi site -- now called Drexel Town Square. I wrote about the plans over the weekend, but Wispark President Jerry Franke provided some more detail and some of the thinking behind it. Here's a look at some things I found interesting from Franke's presentation. And there were many. Why 'Drexel Town Square'? The new Drexel Interchange that will be in place by the end of the year will become one of the main entrances to the community, Franke said. After 2012, the Ryan Road and Rawson Avenue interchanges will be reconstructed, so for some time motorists on Interstate 94 will have to enter Oak Creek through Drexel Avenue by default. …

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Council Gives Final Approval to Land Swaps

Wispark gets 50 acres on Oakwood Road, the school district gets land for a high school expansion and elementary school, and the city now owns part of the Delphi site.

The Oak Creek Common Council gave a final sign-off to a set of land swaps in which the Oak Creek-Franklin School District gets the Civic Center site, Wispark a 50-acre property near Oakwood and Howell and the city a seven-acre site at Delphi. The council previously signaled its support for the plan when it approved relocating the city hall and library, and aldermen unanimously passed the measure Tuesday night, just a few hours before election results came in. In addition to the Civic Center site, which Oak Creek-Franklin school officials plan to use for an expansion of Oak Creek High School, the district also got 16 acres off Drexel Avenue for a future elementary school. School officials have said neither project, which require a …

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City Plans Purchase Of Lakefront Land

Oak Creek eyes purchase of former Peter Cooper Glue Factory site at 9006 S. 5th Ave. as part of lakefront redevelopment plan.

The city of Oak Creek plans to acquire a 30-acre parcel at 9006 S. 5th Ave., land along the lakefront that was once occupied by the Peter Cooper Glue Factory. The city and Wispark, the development arm of We Energies, have been negotiating the purchase of lakefront property north of Bender Park for some time as part of the efforts to transform the area into a mixed-use development. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Monday that Wispark closed on a purchase of 80 acres at the lakefront for $2.3 million. Wispark would then sell the 30 acres to the city; the price has not yet been disclosed. The Oak Creek Plan Commission will discuss the purchase and make a recommendation to the Common Council, which is expected to vote on the measure …

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