Milwaukee: The city that time always seems to forget

An article in the most recent Business Week magazine (7/23/07) noted that despite the slowdown in housing development, there is a continuing explosion in office and hotel building nationwide. In May, according to the article, nonresidential outlays jumped 2.5%, with office space spending up 1.6%. CB Richard Ellis Group, the commercial real estate services company, was cited in the article as saying that U.S. office-space vacancy rates fell to 12.6%, from 13.7% a year ago, despite a 21.5% yearly increase in new office space during the second quarter. Would someone tell me where all the office and hotel building is taking place in Milwaukee, specifically downtown? Other than the small Staybridge Suites development on Water & Juneau, there is nothing under way. And all of those pie-in-the-sky proposals for the Park East are just that, a bunch of dreams that will never come true. Once again, Milwaukee is left behind.