This is Lean Local, your host, former
Green
Bay mayor, Jim
Schmidt.
Welcome everybody to another episode of Lean Local, where we do what we say in the title.
We lean local into the local issues, local realities, and the people who deal with them every day.
I'm Jim Schmidt.
I'll be your host.
And this season, we're asking a simple question.
What does a thriving Green Bay look like in the next 10 years?
What will it take for us to get there?
And today we start where we should start, meeting with one of the city leaders who measures the city's confidence.
He runs the downtown.
My guest is Jeff Murkis of Downtown Green Bay Incorporated.
Jeff sees downtown up close every day, not just in event days or ribbon cutting days, but this is what he does, the ordinary rhythm of business development and street life.
Thanks for coming in.
Very good to see you, Jim.
Thanks for having me on.
Always fun to be on your podcast.
Yes, and we worked together for, how have you been doing this?
So I've been with Downtown Green Bay for 26 years and worked with you for 16.
Yeah, that was a good times.
Well, you sit every day though, Jeff.
What's improved?
I mean, a lot of stuff has improved.
I remember we did a campaign, I don't know if that was me, not even Paul, looking up.
in downtown and you've run a series of campaigns, but like in the last four or five years, what's happened?
Well, energy is coming back post-COVID and we are beginning to see now vibrancy, confidence, activity, rivaling what it was like in 2018 and 2019.
I sometimes say that those were two of the best years in downtown Green Bay.
Everything was working.
And so things are really coming back.
I believe that there's good event energy that brings people, but I often look at the impact that the city deck had on our downtown and that motivated Schreiber to do a development.
And we continue to build on that energy today.
That was a great project.
And what I liked about that project, and a lot of people worked on that, but it was bold.
It wasn't another...
Trail and trails are great.
I remember the plan.
Well, we had three choices.
Let's just do a walking path in a trail Let's just do something halfway there or let's build a world-class boardwalk and with your leadership We the Dan result was a city deck and that motivated a quarter of a billion dollars of development.
Yeah, and That's I just I love it.
I love going down there and it's great that we have this so So people outside downtown
Do they really know what's going on?
I mean, you deal with them too, because we have not tourism, but people just come in dinner for events like the Meyer Theater, right?
I mean, they bring a ton of people in there.
Right.
We look at all of Brown County.
About 275,000 people is our main market.
But we also look at all of Northeast Wisconsin.
And it is true that sometimes it's a single thing that brings someone down, a special occasion.
They're at a wedding at the Hyatt Regency.
or a special dinner at Republic Shabhouse, or someone invited them to Angelina Restaurant.
Events bring hundreds of thousands of people downtown, both Broadway District and downtown and Old Main Street.
So those are really big generators, but you have special places like the automobile gallery and the Meyer Theater and the KI Convention Center.
But a lot of people come downtown for different reasons.
If when they're there, something appeals to them to bring them back, or maybe
Someone they know landed their first job there and they discover a fun restaurant and they invite that friend to that restaurant.
It keeps them coming back
But sometimes if I talk to people outside and these misconceptions like do some people still think it's It's dangerous or there's no parking or we have their misconceptions out there.
There's maybe that one is not a misconception There's some common gripes.
Okay, right common gripes, you know a common gripe and there's some reality to it that
You don't park downtown like you do at the Bay Park Square.
But you also may walk a half a mile when you're on your way to that shopping mall.
We do have about 5,000 parking spaces in the downtown area.
There is an abundance of parking for everything that's happening downtown right now.
In terms of safety, downtown Green Bay is a safe city.
It is a safe place.
And it is about to get even safer.
because with people and with activity brings more safety.
Oh, there's nothing better.
I mean, right.
Masters bring safety.
That's why the trail, the Fox River Trail, everybody's worried about stuff happening.
There's so many people on it that there's safety in numbers.
For many years, when my mom would come to the Meyer Theater and bring her friends, I would just say, if you park at the Chase Bank or had same friends in and walked to the Meyer Theater, I never had any fear that she was going to be unsafe walking to the Meyer Theater.
Yeah, I agree with that.
Let's just look at an ordinary weekday.
What feels stronger downtown than it did a few years ago?
Well, as the
weather is getting better even this year, we are seeing more cranes in the air and more development.
And there are a few projects that have been vacant for a long time that are now getting Lisa's sign.
And when people see
the Schauern-Schumacher building, both sides of that building.
The corner building, at least was signed recently, and just announced is an entertainment venue coming to that corner.
Private Banquet space upstairs and a concert venue on the lower level and a law firm taking, you know, the Everson law firm committed to that space.
It was Everson law firm's leadership that motivated that developer to buy the building.
Then the activity on that corner with Angelina being down the street Manjari and Delilah's all of a sudden Adam Street has some energy Yeah, so what one one of the biggest things that is changing the face of downtown is the influx of residential We have 465 units under construction in the heart of the downtown right now Those are all market rate units all for the most part most of those are opening this summer another 128
along the Fox River opening next summer.
That development called Aster Park, one Aster Park, that project is rising as the coal piles are shrinking.
So that's pretty exciting as well.
So I think you struck on a key word there.
And look, we'll get into this a little bit later in the interview, but these are market rate apartments.
Green Bay hasn't always done all market rate.
And I think some people are like, whoa.
And I sure hasn't seen any in some of the suburbs.
You know what I mean?
I just think Green Bay was doing a lot.
And look, they need housing.
I mean, I bless them.
But we also have a huge county here that should really, that's the responsibility is to add housing for different levels.
All levels.
All levels.
All levels.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
One thing that's interesting is that we did a housing study eight, 10 years ago, and people wanted townhomes.
Townhomes weren't really readily available.
So Garrett Bader bought an entire block, put up 10 townhomes, and sold all 10 of them.
That motivated another developer to put up townhomes on Van Buren, the redevelopment of the Whitney School.
And it is quite surprising that as the lease up begins for the NOVA project downtown, the townhome product that's along Cherry Street.
those are getting scooped up.
They already have almost half of those fully leased.
That's those are rentals as well?
The townhomes?
So NOVA is all rentals.
It's all rentals.
269 units.
There's the townhome feature along Cherry where you can walk right out onto the sidewalk and then most of the units are studio ones and twos with a few very nice penthouses that you might be interested in.
I tell you who's interested in that is my wife, but I Jeff I just gotta tell you I'm You know a little older than you, but I just I'm an equity guy and I just can't pay rent I gotta get that out of my head because it's it's
some people who are in transition This is what they want.
They love it or and I know people who sold their three bedroom ranch and want to move downtown for a year or two Just to try it out, right?
So they may not be renters for a decade, but it
It's an opportunity for them to lighten the load and try something different and get rid of the snowblower and the lawnmower
Yeah, right.
I've been I've had so many of these conversations a second about Here's the deal like you get to be my age.
You don't really like snow blowing.
You don't like lawn care You don't like washing windows.
You don't like maintenance But you can pay for that because there's a lot of people who do that in our community, which is great, but
No, I think she really wants to do this condo or living on that.
I want to see that.
I'm interested to see April.
I mean, August 1st, right?
They are.
It will open August 1st.
That's her birthday.
Great.
So I'll just
bring my check for $700,000.
That'd be a great day to sign a lease.
They're already offering hard hat tours.
So tours are being given.
They've already signed leases.
And so yeah, there's a lot of wonderful units.
That development has a rooftop swimming pool, golf simulator, pet washing station.
And we are also working with that developer in attempting to recruit a very nice restaurant for the corner space Okay, so we have a great prospect and hope to have that put together in the weeks ahead
So let me ask you when you talk about the dog wash and station and that you and I went to Indianapolis together to look around and they had some really like I think Nova I had some great living places So and you travel a lot do a lot of conventions plus.
I know with your family you travel a lot
Do you look at our downtown?
Is there something out there that you want to duplicate or model after that?
And I did when I started, but I'm just curious as to what you see.
I saw a riverfront development in Washington, DC.
That was very impressive.
And when I saw that development, which was not far from the Capitol and the federal buildings, a beautiful waterfront, it reminded me of the city deck.
And I saw a mix of hospitality and residential.
And the first thing that came to my mind was the Wisconsin Public Service site.
That's a 16-acre parcel that's available for development at the confluence of the East River and the Fox River.
And so boat docks, pubs, sitting area, residential, wide variety.
I think that space could be activated.
Boy, that's a magnet.
We see Port Village in San Diego.
There's just a lot of, I think what you're talking about is just really focuses on
people congregated with a variety of choices.
I think that would be awesome.
Who owns that WPS
site?
So it is on the market.
It is being marketed as a development site right now.
Two eight acre parcels are being marketed.
It is still owned by the utility.
Okay, all right, all right.
I hope that falls into the right hands, right?
I mean, didn't last time.
Prime property as we see Light Park being developed, the views there.
you know, the views toward the Leo Frigo bridge are also outstanding.
We would love to see a 5,000 seat soccer stadium considered for that site as well.
Yeah, I want to talk to you about that.
We'll bring that one too.
Because that's, I've gotten some, I've got a friend of mine who's kind of chasing that and I think it's great.
I mean, I just, I think the market is there now in terms of the facility and
Can we do that?
I think we can, but I want to talk to you about that.
And by the way, we're going to continue this conversation after the broadcast at greenbayway.com.
So just go to type in greenbayway.com where we'll have more time to get really drilled down into the parts of the downtown that usually get compressed on radio.
But that's after this show.
But right now we're on the radio with Lean Local.
I don't know.
I don't want to be the guy that teases the next episode, but that's soccer field.
That's real.
I'm so pleased that the City of Green Bay has entered into an agreement with the USL to find a prime location within the City of Green Bay.
They would like to bring men's and women's professional soccer to the Green Bay area.
A 5,000-seat stadium would require about four to five acres of property, somewhere in that vicinity.
A 16-acre parcel, that soccer stadium could be a catalyst for significant development close by.
We think the public service site is a prime location for it, river views could be a catalyst for development.
Then the city deck is in walking distance.
In five minutes you can be at Hagemeister, plenty of restaurants, residential.
As much as you wanted as the director of downtown Green Bay,
What did they think?
Have you given site tours?
I'm not directly involved with the site selection process.
I sure would love to be if given an opportunity to have some fun
with them.
Those are fun.
Remember when the
clinic
came here?
Sure.
I hope to be a resource to them.
And you should be.
All right.
We, it's running out of time here.
We're going to be right back.
We're talking to Jeff Merkis, who is honestly a well-known figure here in Green Bay, director of downtown.
We'll be right back.
Talk about your highlights and lowlights if you want, but I want to stay on the stock of your life.
I'm not excited.
I think I'm probably is You know what a catalyst it could be I don't know if I'm as excited about having Indiana getting the Bears Boy, they need that.
I don't know figure to get it either.
They still might be Arlington But I mean they are going all in on something major to just change the whole climate and not that downtown needs a change in the climate but
I hope people look at more than soccer, like you said.
There's a lot of things that can happen with
that.
Absolutely.
Well, we think a sports venue in the downtown area on a site like this would be optimal, and it would be a major catalyst for progress.
Yeah.
So the way that, again, I'm not in office, but there were site tours.
You know, you bring the people in.
So I would just think you should be part of that, because that's where you sell the sizzle.
Absolutely.
Is there another site downtown?
I've heard downtown, I talked to Eric about it too.
Is there another site downtown or is that?
So in terms of having a four to six acre parcel, that might be optimal.
Some have talked about the Day Street Mill as a potential, that's probably a little further out.
There's probably a lot of demolition and environmental that's needed there.
So at some future date, that could be another 50 acres to expand the downtown footprint, but that could be a ways out.
But the WPS site, when people hear that, they may think of Pullium.
But that was just offices.
That's a clean
site.
Part of it is remediated.
And some is being worked on now.
So one half of the site is available for development along the Fox River.
That's the half you want, itself.
All right.
So I want to look a little bit at, I mean, you're there every day, Seagiven tours.
You do that.
And talking to you, I mean, you think it's New York City.
I mean, you sell the sizzle, but where are we a little bit weak?
I mean, if you want to be honest about it, like where do you think we're a little bit weaker than even sometimes is reported?
Is there some?
You know, in terms of some things, there's nothing easy about developing downtown.
It takes time and it takes patience.
and resources, absolutely.
I think the city departments that I frequently work with are very eager.
They're outstanding to work with.
Even some of the developers that are spending tens of millions of dollars in our downtown compliment the city team that's making that happen, providing some incentives, and the permitting and the services, et cetera.
There are certain industries that are easier to bring than others.
you know, since COVID, there's not a lot of demand for new office space, but Green Bay is well known for some great headquarter companies.
And so there are sites available.
The next time a company wants a major headquarters, you know, Imperial did it, Associated Bank did it, Shriver did it.
So we want to be raring and ready to go when corporate leadership like that steps up and needs a site.
But, you know, a challenging area is
you know, a lot of the national retailers want to be in the suburbs.
They want to be on the highways.
They want to be next to the demographic and the rooftop.
So, I mean, I'll admit that attracting, you know, a plethora of retail is not easy, but we are going to continue to go after specialty retail.
We have some good retailers there.
When you have clusters, that's better.
I think the Broadway district is characteristic of having boutique retail.
and some nice walkability.
We did just recently see a lease signed across from Nicolet Bank right on Washington Street, right next to local WISCO, on a high-end furniture company that wants to feature their artistic furniture.
We're delighted to have a company like that.
Drardon Design will be opening soon.
It's kind of almost full circle because Sean Schumacher, of course, was right across the street, right in that corner we just talked about.
You don't have to have everything there, but you need a showroom.
because especially people who are going to be living in Nova and, you know, some people in Astropark and things, they want to look at some good stuff.
So I think
that's awesome that's coming in.
There's another property that is going after specialty retail, and we're thankful that Daniel Whitman bought the Chase Bank site.
And in the months ahead, he will be moving his Haberdasher men's retailer.
an outstanding store.
They will be really upgrading their presence on that site.
Romney's Jewelers is right in the same neighborhood and they have plans to recruit some other specialty retail.
So that could be a retail hub.
He also bought the fire department and is attracting a hospitality business just a few blocks away.
And that's always been a cool area.
And I'm so thankful that Romney's stayed the course because there were some times where they weren't 100% sure and I'm sure
Knowing the suburbs were recruiting them heavily, but I'm glad that you know Tracy stayed the course absolutely and You know that haberdasher.
That's gonna.
I mean you get a couple more of those in there.
That's Not that it's rodeo drive.
That's could be a
nice hub with for some special specialty retail, right, right and American Express So yeah, I mean it's that's great.
We need that
right?
We don't have to be all right That's so true.
We're an NFL city right when people come to Green Bay, Wisconsin for an NFL game
They don't, you know, I'd say, yeah, 1265 and the vicinity and the title town district is very appealing.
It's outstanding.
They have great hospitality.
People want to venture out and they want to go out and check what else out.
And if you want authentic, if you want authentic and historic and culture, you'll find that in downtown Green Bay.
Right.
You're not going to go to the mall or to Walmart.
And I think they look for that.
Even if they don't buy, it's fun to look.
And that's why, really, I think it was so great that we landed that automobile gallery.
I just think that.
I mean, there's so many, everything's, well, that's a car museum, but there's so many events that take place there.
Weddings, fund raise.
I'm on a committee there and really impressed by what they attract and just how unique it is.
They have over a hundred years of automobiles.
They have a hundred on display and another hundred in storage.
People are beginning to donate their cars to the automobile gallery.
As much as you talk about those cars and James Bond and the Rolls Royces,
They also, don't they do close to 100 events a year?
I think they're...
Yeah, they have a lot of events.
Events are their main bread and butter.
Yeah, I think that place is awesome.
I'm so glad we have that.
And that, what you talk about surrounding that could all be part of this, I don't call it higher end, but just something very, very unique.
All right, we're going to continue.
We're going to pick this up after a short break here.
In our next segment, though, I really want to...
little bit more concrete about the projects, the timelines.
And we mentioned a bunch of them.
And that's great that we mentioned a bunch of them, but we'll talk about when they can realistically be opened.
We'll be right back.
This is Lean Local with Jim Smith.
This is Lean Local, where we lean into local issues and try to get past the slogans.
So I'm back here with Jeff Merkis of Downtown Green Bay, the director.
Then you're 20, what do you say?
25?
26.
I love
it.
Okay, 26 years.
So Jeff, let's just make this practical.
If people want to judge downtown honestly over the year, what do you think they should be watching?
What do you think we should be looking at if you say like this downtown?
I think they want to see plans really come to fruition.
And they hear about, oh, this is coming here, this is coming here.
We are going to see activity in the months ahead.
We are going to see a law firm move into the shower building.
And we're going to see a venue open later this year, an entertainment venue.
I think the completion of a couple of residential development, NOVA will be leasing during July and August.
So we will see move-ins.
much part of the reason why they wanted to accelerate the completion of that development is there is a beautiful rooftop swimming pool and a full swimming pool during July and August that will lease units.
We're also very confident that we are getting extremely close to an outstanding restaurant operator and if we can have that restaurant under construction this year that would be stellar.
I think it can happen.
Just down the street some of us know it as the US Bank Building.
That was quietly acquired.
a plan to redevelop the site.
It is now going to be known as Skyline at 425, opening this June.
66 market rate residential units, beautiful rooftop patio, and some nice amenities.
They also have golf simulator, pickleball courts in the basement, a nice project, and people will be leasing those units this summer.
Okay, look, I'm all for it.
I mean, you keep building, but do you ever think we're overbuilding?
Do you have studies that back up the need for higher end?
And I think you do, because I think I read one of them one time.
We are confident that a vibrant downtown will attract more residential.
So there are more great sites for a mix of uses.
We think that there is probably some demand for townhomes, condominiums.
People have been asking, can they buy a condo?
You're an equity person.
And so there are a lot of apartments.
A lot of development portfolios are growing in the apartment stock.
And I'd rather live in an apartment in an urban setting than out on a highway.
Oh, yeah.
Absolutely.
And the churches are there, too, for some people that, you know, Don and the library is right there.
And there's just a lot of things.
They talk about the walking city, a 10-minute walk.
And can you get everywhere in 10 minutes?
And I know you get asked about a grocery store.
That's something that I guess you're going to just put in the category of we're working on it.
The number one requested and as there's more residential and no one has a crystal ball as to how many more hundreds or thousands of people need to be living downtown before that grocer pulls the trigger and builds one.
But you know that that definitely is high on the list.
I just and it's been high on the list for a long time.
Yes.
So good luck with that.
And, you know, I wonder what it is, because we've had plenty of people look at the downtown.
Local, you know, Skogun, we've had
Trader Joe's.
Came really close.
Yeah.
And it's just, I don't know what the trigger is, but you're right.
When they finally say, these are the incomes and this is the number of people at Skogun, but that will happen.
I just, right, I think it's going to happen.
I think another gauge of success is entrepreneurial interest.
I'm confident that we are going to see more small businesses, technology companies, companies that want to hire millennials, that they may want to locate downtown, where it's cool, where there's things happening, where people may want to live, where there's activities happening all the time, you walk across the bridge and go to the Broadway market.
So getting small and medium-sized companies to grow in the downtown, I believe we'll see more of that in the years ahead.
And I think you will too.
It's funny because, you know, my family had three daughters and with their husbands, there's always a debate, you know, where are you going to live?
You know, you're going to live in, you know, Eshwabana, not, they don't live here.
They, like I told you, they live out east.
But the debate between rural or suburbs, which is suburban to the urban, and I will say they,
They've won every fight because they're right downtown in Nashville and right downtown in Manhattan.
And there's just to experience that, I think that was interesting what you said earlier is that there's some people that really go in and say, we're going to try this for two years.
And I think that's the beauty of renting.
You can test it.
Whereas if you slap down 20, 30%, it's like, maybe you're not going to get that out.
So I hope people really try that.
And I think they will.
I think it's going to be great.
So you kind of answered this a little bit.
Real momentum from wishful momentum.
And I think there's a lot of, this is going to happen, but I think you answered that when you, if there's an opening date, that means it's under construction.
And that's what you strive
for.
I think Shriver's corporate leadership motivated others.
And I even think that we are going to see more growth in hospitality.
It is a fun place.
Over the past year, we have seen a couple of restaurants close, a couple of them change hands.
Ned Kelly's is under redevelopment and it's going to become a Latin lounge.
Tequila's Mexican Bar on Main Street is changing hands and it's under new management soon.
So we're seeing some of that, but it also creates opportunities for a young chef who's looking for a space, move and ready.
And there are a couple of types of cuisine that you can't find in the heart of downtown.
Downtown Green Bay doesn't have a pizzeria.
You have great pizza and gelina and glass nickel.
But right in the heart of the downtown, there are some types of cuisine that don't exist yet.
However, with that, you still want to stay away from the chains.
You still want that you talked about.
in the first segment.
We love authentic locally owned.
And if the nationals want to be in the suburbs, we're not recruiting them.
People come to downtown for a unique experience, and they have local hospitality and local ownership, and they're supporting small businesses.
Yeah, I want to stay positive, but a kick in the head, I thought, was Captain's Walk.
And I'll tell you, we like that place, right?
It was walking distance for us, for one.
But you can bring your dog and sit him on the front porch.
I'm not a wine drinker, but a lot of people are.
We were very surprised also when that closed.
I spoke with the realtor who is marketing it today, and he has numerous parties looking at it.
It is price-right.
It's an excellent historic property, prime for hospitality, and it's in an area where more and more is happening.
It's right in that area of Chase Bank.
I've
been seen very across the
street.
We could see that in new hands within the upcoming months.
Okay, and I liked her, and I know that changed hands, and look, running a business is tough.
I mean, I know it firsthand, and it just looks easy, but man, if it was that easy,
I really would do it.
Right.
So, you have these young entrepreneurs, they can maybe match with a mentor or something along the way, too, because there's a couple mistakes you can't do yet.
And again, I'll move off this, but the Ten of One Club, I read about that.
And it's just, I don't think that ever, the way I read it in the paper was just tough always.
And I spoke to that owner just recently as well.
He's willing to sell the property or sell the business.
You know, it is closed right now.
Right.
Yeah, over the past few years, there have been some challenges there.
You know, sometimes maybe it's a location, maybe it's a parking situation.
I'm not really sure in that particular situation, but we're very hopeful that that historic property finds its groove.
So you look at downtown, I think when we're talking about downtown, we're kind of talking about the east side of the Fox River and some of those things, but downtown is much larger than that.
I mean, you got Old Main, which you're in charge of that.
And then, of course, the Broadway district.
But what do you think, what part of downtown do you think is hardest to really grasp from an outsider?
You know, I think people know the city deck, and
they're
better.
But like somebody from who hasn't really been downtown, is there an area that hasn't clicked yet?
Like the arts
or
something?
You know being involved with both the central business district and also the Main Street district Main Street is more linear.
It goes from Monroe Street to Baird You know that the walkability is a little more difficult, right?
But we know the team that's dedicated to beautification and event management and marketing is just as diligent We have dedicated leaders in the Main Street district, but
you don't have the commercial density like in the central business district.
The speed of traffic is a little faster.
So some of those characteristics add to the challenge when it's attracting businesses, but our team doesn't give up.
And you know, we're really delighted by the positive things that happen there as well.
Properties like Main Street Commons and Old Town Crossing.
There are a lot of practitioners, hair care, cosmetics.
And a lot of those businesses do very well.
These are good restaurants too.
Some great restaurants, yes.
Yeah,
they are.
I forgot the name.
I've been there.
Curly lamb will go there.
It's got some history.
I'm like, you got to talk about this more because people love history.
Right.
I mean, people just love
it.
I think you're referring to Crown in Common.
Yeah.
Yes.
And they have good pizza, too.
Yes.
But the skeptic, right?
Living in the birds or something.
thinking of being a resident in downtown, but says, you know, it's more talk than action.
Do you give tours and you call them or do they see you?
What happens to that person?
It's
like, no,
you don't get it.
This is happening.
You know what I mean?
It feels like, and it's not for everyone, and I get that.
And some people are just fine with their favorite restaurant, but we are always willing to introduce, give a tour, a walking tour.
provide information.
I think the local media also watches closely the progress in the downtown area.
If we're going to be in NFL City, we want a city center that we're proud of.
That's one of the things.
A sign of a healthy city is people are proud of its downtown.
They're going to take them to St.
Brennan's Inn, to Angelina.
They're going to take them to the city deck because they want to get their
You know, the sculpture that my coworkers coordinated and it was funded by Trevor is the I Heart GB sculpture.
We're seeing that on the news.
It seems like when politicians want to make announcements, they go out to the city deck.
That's the heart of your city.
Yeah.
And I think I want to pick up on what you said about that pride factor.
That's it's tough to measure, but it's kind of not tough to measure because you hear it, right?
You hear people talking about it.
To see if you're coming to visit, you know,
sure you're going to go to Lambeau and you might take them to the casino, but you've got to take them downtown and show them the Northland and the city deck and become an ambassador of your own city is what we really need.
And I think we're doing a good job of that.
We're going to pick up a little bit more of this, Jeff, as we said in the Green Bay way, which that's a cool name, huh?
The Green Bay Way.
I like that.
That's good.
It
is.
You had to come up with that.
I did.
And we own it too.
So, but it's just civic is great.
I mean, I love the opportunity they're giving me.
But and our talking to someone like you or so many people, you know, it just it goes quick.
And there's just a little bit more that we can talk about.
And we'll be doing that after after this show.
And we'll keep keep this all going.
Is there anything that, oh, we only got a minute, we're going to break, but is there anything that, the number one thing like, maybe you don't want to see it publicly, that you're like, wow, this would be awesome.
Wow.
Let me just see a sports venue, okay?
It'd be awesome.
Yes.
But I have another one.
And I mean, another one would be the redevelopment of the Watermark building.
That would be awesome.
Yes.
And so I will put that on the list.
It is of my board director's nose.
That's one of my priorities in the year ahead is to see a transition of ownership and redevelopment of that property.
There's so much potential.
The current owner really didn't invest to the point needed.
And it's for sale.
I'm glad to say that there are interested parties, but the watermark coming back to life will be big for downtown.
Yeah.
Okay, do you ever look at just tearing it down and building something like really unique and new?
Because that's not that's not the most attractive building.
I agree with you.
I hate look I tried to but hey, we're gonna come back.
We'll pick up on that and we gotta wrap this thing up.
But I will be right back.
You're listening to Lean Local with Jim Schmidt, Jeff Merkis, downtown Green Bay director, our special guest.
All right, welcome back to Lean Local, where we lean into local issues and try and leave you with something more useful than a headline.
I'm Jim Schmidt.
I'm here with Jeff Merkis, who is the director of Downtown Green Bay.
We're going to use this final radio episode to talk plainly about what matters most right now.
But before I jump to this next question, I want to follow up on the last one.
The watermark was Yonkers.
Right.
And the warehouse and it's a big building and I don't know how many square feet that is.
But sometimes, Jeff, if you try and I try and people try, sometimes you just got to clean the slate and say, you know what?
We're going to do something like the mall.
How many times we try to repurpose the mall?
Oh, do this.
Make a health care clinic.
Make it do this.
Do this.
And it's like, you know what?
What would it look like if I was gone and then Shriver's like, you know, it'd look like, you know, 70 million dollar corporate office instead of this four and a half million dollar
Empty you know to me and I don't know maybe that needs to be looked at it's hard to look at that though I mean, I you know, it's conservative time and money's tight and but Sometimes you talk about you know catalyst projects like the soccer field Not that downtown needs something but could really do something very very cool.
So anyway, just
Just my thought.
You're the downtown guy.
I'm just a voter.
So, okay, when you sit with city leadership about downtown, and I've been in those meetings with you, but not lately, but what issues are you pressing hardest against right now?
You know what I mean?
Like, we just had this election, right?
And sometimes they have an agenda, and is it their agenda, your agenda?
They understand your role.
You know what I'm saying?
I want to talk about the pushback.
Are you in the pundit on the desk?
I have a long history of working with members of the Redevelopment Authority and the Plan Commission.
They are very supportive of the progress that's taking place downtown.
They support it in many ways.
Gary Delvoe's leadership on the RDA is stellar.
And the Plan Commission is outstanding as well.
They approve our annual plan to support our organization.
The departments that we work with, you know, close to the Economic Development Parks and Public Works also
We have great relationship with them.
You know, we work well with our Green Bay Police Department because they recognize the needs of the downtown might be different than some of the neighborhoods.
And over the past few months, we've kind of stepped up our conversation with police leadership to make sure that as downtown changes, as the demands for services might intensify, and our police chief is very responsive to that.
businesses are having better interface.
And we're gonna see more boots on the ground.
Downtown is safer when we have a police presence and they are there.
And so, you know, in the months ahead, this is when the beautiful weather comes out and more kids are out there as well.
We wish they would all behave, but they don't all.
And so, but no, we're on top of
that.
And I agree with the bikes and boots on the ground.
I just think that's a presence in.
It's just the presence alone.
I'm not gonna do that anymore.
You know what I mean?
So I think that's cool.
So we're talking about the downtown and maybe some of the struggles.
And we've got a few minutes left.
I don't want you to talk about homelessness because I live there, right?
And I see it every day.
Where are you at with that?
And are you leading that?
Or is that somebody else's job?
Because the public will tell you it's growing.
Now, you may throw some different numbers at me, but...
Again, perception is something that we have to take seriously.
Right.
Our organization is not directly involved with that equation.
We are involved, but not at the forefront.
Where our organization is an event planning company, a marketing company, a business development group, and we get involved with downtown beautification.
Those are our four main focuses.
Now, when
when there are challenges such as challenges that come to us when there's a proliferation of homelessness or when the homeless population is doing things that are inappropriate, we work closely with leadership.
And so there's agencies and entities that are professionals and are focused on that.
We collaborate with them, we communicate with them.
but we are not directly involved with.
Now, we do have concerns.
There are certain areas where we're seeing behaviors that are inappropriate.
We do have ongoing meetings with agencies and with police leadership, although that we're not staffed to be directly involved with
it.
I'll give you that, but you are the marketing arm.
You are the economic development.
I mean, the city is, but.
Do you tell me you you're down there every day although I'm pretty much down there every day, too Is it getting better or worse?
Will you tell me that honestly like what do you think?
Yes, right in the very core of the downtown it is not as It is not as challenging as it was a couple years ago.
I think in some areas in some neighborhoods.
It's about the same
but we do not get many calls for major issues.
I have not had a business call me about a problem in months.
So let's talk about residents, businesses.
What can they do to be part of the solution?
You know what I mean?
Some people complain.
We have
a resource guide for our businesses when they encounter issues, who to call and what are the appropriate steps.
I believe that it's finding
appropriate housing for some of the individuals.
I was delighted to read the newspaper about the 41 units that are under construction at the NAW community shelter.
Outstanding project.
That's a step in the right direction.
I think, you know, Green Bay and the surrounding communities need more of that.
I'm of the belief that it should not all be the city of Green Bay's responsibility.
So when you picture downtown in a few years, Jeff, I mean, what?
Change would tell you that we're making
it.
More foot traffic?
We don't have a ton of for lease signs.
We have a few that stand out, but the Schauer-Schumacher building is going to be a vibrant building a year from now.
And so I'd say more foot traffic.
And it's tough to really measure confidence.
But anecdotally, we hear about it all the time.
Before we let you go, I just want to say that if there's anything, you listeners want to keep an eye on, or anywhere you want to point them, where do they do, Jesse?
Our two best resources for information is downtowngreenbay.com.
And if they find downtown Green Bay on any social media platform, Facebook, or Instagram, et cetera, those are really good ways to follow.
There are events happening all the time.
The Saturday Farmers Market is going to be good cop in May.
We've got a new event called DJs on the Deck and Fridays on the Box.
All right, we're going to continue this conversation right now at Green Bayway.com.
Hope to see you there.
Thank you, Jeff.
