New Proposal For College/Pennsylvania Corner

Nearly everyone agrees that a giant mail-processing facility will probably never be built at the corner of Pennsylvania and College avenues in Oak Creek.

So then, what will?

The answer to that question may be coming into focus. Cobalt Partners, the Milwaukee development firm involved with the postal service project, brought forward a proposal for a mixed-use development to the Common Council Tuesday that includes retail, industrial and multi-family housing.

This type of development is more viable than a postal facility and would also give the United States Postal Service an exit strategy to get out of its , said Scott Yauck of Cobalt Partners.

Oak Creek officials like the proposal because it would get the land back on the tax rolls - the land is currently non-taxable since it's owned by the U.S. government.

It would also seem to be exactly the type of economic development with a new-and-improved College Avenue.

But neighbors of the would-be development, just like they opposed the United States Postal Service building, voiced their displeasure of the plans Tuesday.

Most of their angst seemed to center on the multi-family housing aspect. Residents said they were fine with retail located directly next to the intersection of College and Pennsylvania. An industrial component, as proposed near the railroad tracks, would probably be something along the lines of an electrical parts distributor and unlikely to be seen from the residential neighborhood.

But residents said they did not want multi-family housing that close to their single-family neighborhood. They worried about the increase in traffic, impact on their property values and the type of people who would move in, among other concerns.

"The people who live there all care. They are very angry at you, city, for doing this to us," said Caroline Kobb, a resident who lives in the nearby Chapel Hills subdivision.

Yauck argued that this type of development would probably be better for them than the one they so adamantly opposed back in 2008.

He added that plans are still very preliminary and could change based on residential input.

The Common Council approved the proposal on a 4-2 vote, with Aldermen Steve Scaffidi and Dan Jakubcyzk opposed. Scaffidi said there were still too many unanswered questions, while Jakubczyk, who represents the area, said he couldn't support the multi-family housing aspect.

Other aldermen stressed that the plan was in concept only. The developer will have to go back to the Oak Creek Plan Commission for approval on all of the specifics, such as design, size and architecture of buildings.

Before any of that can happen, of course, Cobalt Partners must find people interested in building on the property. Yauck said he wanted the council's approval this week so that he could begin marketing the land to prospective tenants.

The 64 acres of vacant land in question was originally designated for a 900,000-square-foot mail-processing facility approved in 2008, just a few months before the economy tanked.

The meeting Tuesday came just a day after the postal service announced major service cuts and facility closures across the country.

"The idea of this ever being the 900,000-square-foot facility, I think will never happen," Yauck said. "I think that we can say with certainty. It's probably likely that there may be nothing from the postal service here."