Downtown Manitowoc Revitalization
Posted on April 8th, 2009 by choicewi.com
CLICK THE ABOVE TITLE TO VIEW COMMENTS AND POST YOUR OPINION. What direction do you think Manitowoc should take in order to improve and re-energize the downtown district? Should the emphasis be on developing residential living, expanding commercial opportunities or focusing on tourism?
Filed under: Downtown Manitowoc, Historic, Manitowoc Real Estate, Residential, Revitalization, Uncategorized
I believe the downtown area should focus on the tourist industry. It would be great if there were a variety of boutiques, shops, and eateries. I am not thrilled with 2 government buildings (City Hall and the Library) consuming the majority of downtown prime development land.
I think we really need a good balance of all three items. By expanding more business opportunities, we should hopefully expand residential living. Hopefully the economy will pick up a bit and we won’t continue to see the layoffs around Manitowoc and surrounding areas. If we can get the people back to work, everyone gains! Let’s remain positive and all try to do our part.
Manitowoc needs to appreciate that the third largest city in America is located just three hours south of our lakeshore community. In addition, metropolitan Milwaukee and other populous southeastern cities in Wisconsin are a tourist resource worth acknowledging and appreciating. The flow of traffic past our city on I-43 or through our city on Highway 42 from these communities to Door County is substantial. We are lucky to have this traffic which Door County generates. But traffic isn’t enough. We need to create a need and want for the traffic to stop and enjoy our community. To accomplish this we need to brand the city of Manitowoc as a true lakeshore community or Maritime capital. Our community must reserve the rare riverfront and lakefront land for open spaces or tourist related development and not civic buildings. We need to regulate the design and construction of buildings so the community has a unified appearance and not a mish-mash look of anything goes when it comes to our buildings, signage, and roadways.
Manitowoc and the State of Wisconsin need to get a grip on taxes before more businesses pack up and move south.
I agree that we need better utilization of our downtown lakefront . We need to look to other waterfront communities to see how they make their downtown waterfront areas succeed.
Downtown is a very important part of Manitowoc tradition and history. The revitalization movement is key to downtown success.
I dont know how anyone thinks you can re-energize a downtown area that closes 90% of its doors at 5:00 pm with the exceptions of Bars. I feel if you have a store front in the downtown district you have to remain open until 8:00pm weekdays and 5:00 on Saturdays and Sundays.
Yes, the tax issues for the County and the State need to be addressed. Those of us who live here know the potential of this lakefront community, the challenge is how do we market this to draw potential businesses looking for a new location. I totally agree that the streets should not be rolled up and shut down so early in the evening and on weekends. I would love to spend my money with the small local businesses but they are not always open when I have the time to shop.
I would love to see the downtown revisit the idea of making 8th St. and 10th St. two ways again. You get a totally different perspective on the city with two way traffic. I also think parking downtown could be addressed with perhaps a parking structure located some where downtown that would not take away from the views of our wonderful lake front but offer additional parking for events and shows in that area. More businesses may look to that area if they know they will have a place for their customers to park.
I do agree that the businesses should try to stay open a little longer. Those that are working can’t always get to the shops before 5:00. I wonder if there is enough business however to justify it.
I like many of the suggestions already mentioned; longer hours, parking structure and 2-way flow of traffic. I would also like to see more emphasis on developing the residential housing for 2 reasons. One, I believe it generates downtown foot traffic and two, it will support the local businesses downtown. Therefore, bringing more business through growth and will offset the seasonality of tourism. There are many attractive old buildings downtown with potential and you are close to the lake, YMCA, library, ect. If they can be kept to a conservative level, it may help to bring in those residents.
I would love to hear from our new mayor some ideas that he may have to help us with the downtown area. We have such a charming downtown that could use a bit of a shot in the arm. Hopefully others can also see the potential of the downtown area and our residents should help support their local businesses.
As a brand new Manitowoc resident – and a sailor/boater – I think it would be helpful to see what draws boaters to other Lake Michigan marinas, and the services which are within walking distance of the marina. Boaters on the way to Door County do not know enough about Manitowoc. We were drawn to the authenticity of the town – the farmers market, library………..kudos to a local restaurant (Courthouse Pub) that had a notice up that they would drive over and get boaters! We loved that and tipped our waitor/chauffer very well! We are excited about helping to grow our new community – there is so much here already!
Manitowoc is great in my eyes. Overall a clean conservative town, that I enjoy and call home.
Hopefully Downtown Manitowoc Real Estate like the Schuette Building and the River Lofts proves to be successful in time.
I have noticed that anchor tenants like Harborside Restaurant & Legend Larry’s continue to remain stable even during an economic downturn.