Heritage House - Kenosha; http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos

The Lakota Group, a Chicago-based organization that has been commissioned to do a downtown redevelopment study for the city of Kenosha, has released their preliminary report.  Highlights are:

• Lakefront access and use has improved over the last twenty years;
• More needs to be done to get people from I-94 to downtown Kenosha;
• Vacant buildings need to be addressed;
• Parking is adequate.  It might need to be addressed if larger businesses move in;
• Decisions need to be made regarding the Municipal Building, empty Harbor Park property, the Kenosha Theatre, and Heritage House (the former Elks Club)(pictured above).
• A better branding and marketing vision is needed for downtown.  Partnerships with local organizations can help in this area.

To read the five-page executive summary for yourself, click here:  Executive Summary.  To read the entire 157-page report, click here:  Complete Report.

The next steps are community workshops which will take place in late May/early June.  The final implementation plan and strategy should then be completed by the end of July.  An action plan will then be created to work on identified roadblocks to improving the downtown.

Click here to read a previous article on this study:  Downtown Strategic Development Plan Meeting.