- Video shows two areas in downtown Green Bay that will soon turn into residential and commercial spaces
- The City of Green Bay plans to "densify" the downtown area. There are no height requirements for the downtown areas.
- City officials said they are recruiting developers from Milwaukee and Chicago and offering incentives to fulfill vision of downtown Green Bay.
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)
Downtown areas provide a variety of entertainment, business, residential and dining options and Green Bay city development officials said all eyes are continuing to be on major upgrades for the city.
Matt Buchanan, Interim Deputy Development Director with the city of Green Bay, said there are already projects that will be coming soon to the area.
"We want to do more housing, we want to do more mixed use with housing above and commercial down on the main floor," Buchanan said. "We worked with the community and the stakeholders to put this planning document together."
Documents for the short term and the long-term goals of the city.
Video show a downtown parking lot and nearby business that will soon by transformed into residential and commercial spaces.
Green Bay resident, Pam Nelson, used to work in downtown Green Bay for many years and enjoys the traditional look.
"You can see all the beautiful things they've done downtown the statuary, the little cobblestones, pretty streetlights," Nelson said. "Even though Green Bay is really growing, I like to see things like this preserved where people can have a nice walking destination."
David Buck, Principal Planner for the city of Green Bay, said there can be both.
"The beauty with traditional is a mixed use building with first floor commercial service or restaurant and a different design on that first floor can give the pedestrian experience that old school flavor," Buck said.
Some of the tallest buildings in town are the Bellin Hospital, St. Vincent Hospital and the Monroe Plaza Apartments.
For the downtown area, Buck mentioned how tall structures are allowed to be.
There are no heights limitations so you can go as high as you like.. The other areas of the city, we have height limitations depending on your districts however all of those height limitations can vary with council approval. We've always had these goal sets to densify."
Buck said that the development team has reached out to companies in Milwaukee and Chicago and offered a variety of incentives to bring developers into town and live out the ever-progressing plan for the future of the city.
