First phase of Harbor District Riverwalk breaks ground in Milwaukee

Construction of a significant extension of Milwaukee’s Riverwalk has started.

The city of Milwaukee and the Harbor District on Wednesday broke ground on the nearly $30 million Harbor District Riverwalk, which will run along the Kinnickinnic River from South Kinnickinnic Avenue to the Komatsu South Harbor Campus. At three quarters of a mile long, this is the longest single Riverwalk expansion to date, officials said.

The project is split into two phases. The first phase includes continuous pedestrian and bike path, a bridge over an inlet and shade structures. Overall plans call for a wetland area, a floating boardwalk and a “harbor theater.” The second phase includes “The Node,” a 4,300-square-foot extension with an aquatic habitat with ADA ramps and stairs for accessible viewing.

It took nearly seven years to plan the Harbor District Riverwalk, from an item on the redevelopment authority board to finally getting shovels in the ground, said Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson, who served on the board that advanced the project. The groundbreaking also coincides with the Harbor District’s 10th anniversary.

LaLonde Contractors and Zenith Tech Inc. won bids for the north and south sections of the extension respectively. Zenith Tech’s bid price was more than $7.15 million and LaLonde Contractors bid for more than $2.7 million, data from the Wisconsin Project Center showed.

The first phase of construction is supported by a Transportation Alternatives Program from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, which requires the city to pay for 20% of approved construction costs, said Alyssa Remington, an economic development specialist with the city of Milwaukee Department of City Development. The rest of the funding comes from tax increment financing dollars, she added. In 2022, the city announced it would commit $14.5 million.

The second phase will be funded with tax increment financing, a Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation grant and a Fund for Lake Michigan grant, Remington said. The WEDC grant is specific to The Node, she added.

The city wants to bid out the next phase in six to eight months and hopes the project will wrap up by the end of 2026, Remington said. Construction vehicles will start work in three to four weeks, she added.

With an October deadline, crews will build an occupiable structure like a shipping container, canopies and custom-build kayak storage and launches, documents showed.

SmithGroup was the project designer.

Editor’s Note: A previous version of this story mistakenly published that designer SmithGroup partnered with the Kubala Washatko Architects UrbanLab. Kubala Washatko Architects and UrbanLab Architects didn’t work on the project.