"A largely abandoned college campus on Milwaukee’s west side is set to be transformed. Most of the former Concordia College campus near 32nd and State Street has been sitting vacant since the early 1980s, ever since the college moved to Mequon. Now, the Forest County Potawatomi plan to renovate many of the historic buildings and create new office and industrial space. WUWM’s Erin Toner was there when the announcement was made.

The Forest County Potawatomi invited neighbors to the celebration in the old Concordia College gymnasium. The tribe finally succeeded at having the campus property rezoned, so it can be upgraded. Tribal Chairman Harold Frank turned his glance to one side of the gym while making the announcement.

“And I see that broken window up there and if that was going to be any indication of what was going to happen to this property if we didn’t come up with a plan very soon that the destruction of this property just started to begin,” Frank says.

The tribe – which operates the Potawatomi Bingo Casino in Milwaukee – has owned this property since 1990. The blueprint for redeveloping it calls for the renovation of five historic buildings and the demolition of five non-historic ones. The project’s first phase also includes building new tribal government offices here and a business incubator to help small companies get off the ground. That’s all going to cost around $29 million. Eventually, the tribe will add more facilities, including for light manufacturing."

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Potawatomi to Transform Old Concordia College Site (WUWM 11/23)