Milwaukee County breaks ground on first health and human services center

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Milwaukee County and city officials on Monday broke ground for the Marcia P. Coggs Health and Human Services Center at 1230 W. Cherry St., named after the late Wisconsin State Assembly Representative.

Project plans call for a 60,000-square-foot, four story building to replace the Marcia P. Coggs Human Services Center at 1220 Vliet St., which formerly housed the county Department of Health and Human Services. The project is located near an award-winning county behavioral and mental health services center. J.P. Cullen is the construction manager in charge of building on top of a surface parking lot.

The contractor will work with Engberg Anderson Architects and Concord Grup, who will serve as the owner’s representative. Construction started in August of 2023 and is expected to be completed in early 2025, according to construction officials.

The project is supported by more than $32.3 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding, which the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors approved in September of 2022. At the time, the county estimated total construction costs at around $42.2 million. The remainder of the funding after ARPA will come from Milwaukee County capital funds.

County Executive David Crowley said this construction was aligned with his long-standing goal for health equity.

The project represents “an upstream investment, in not just race, but health equity as well for an entire community. The future center of services will provide alignment well within Milwaukee County’s vision, that by achieving racial equity, Milwaukee County will be the healthy county in the state of Wisconsin,” Crowley added.

This is the first purpose-built health and human services building in the county, the county executive noted.

Marcia P. Coggs, the namesake of the new building, served as the first African American woman in the Wisconsin State Assembly and on the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee. In attendance were Coggs’ extended family, some of whom hold office at the city and county levels.

The county released a request for information (RFI) in February for ideas on what to do with the previous Coggs Building, which is around 212,000 square feet.

The county will need around 250 dedicated parking spaces when the health and human services building is completed. There are around 127 parking spots available.

If the county can’t find a suitable or feasible idea for redevelopment, it may demolish the Coggs Building to free up space for parking. The RFI deadline expired March 6.

Milwaukee Mayor’s budget includes $1.4 million for new bike lanes

Both Crowley and Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson recently presented their 2024 budget proposals to their respective governing bodies. Johnson’s proposal included an $80 million investment in core infrastructure such as city streets and bridges. A total of $500,000 was earmarked for existing bike lanes and another $1.4 million to develop new bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure.

The mayor said the proposal was a marker to increase the amount of protected bike lanes in Milwaukee. During his city address, he said he wanted 50 miles of bicycle lanes under construction by 2026.

“You’ll see some of that not far from where we are, bike lanes going up in Walnut Street,” Johnson added, noting similar projects on East North Avenue and Villard Avenue.

The Milwaukee Common Council was scheduled to hold a public hearing on Monday at 6:30 p.m. for the mayor’s proposed 2024 budget.