Ballpark Commons moves forward as questions remain

If one subscribes to local business publications, they're sure seeing a flood of news coming in regarding The Rock and the surrounding Ballpark Commons development. The project, slated to help launch a "Downtown Franklin" initiative, is receiving press on several fronts, but also leaves a key aspect unanswered at this time. Let's break it all down.

The project scored a win earlier in the week when Sprecher Brewing decided to open up a Sprecher Soda Bar for the kids and a beer garden for the adults at The Rock. The unique shipping container concession stand will include an upper level viewing deck of Pirates Field at the sports complex. Needless to say, it makes having baseball games at The Rock more appealing, and by the complex striking a deal with Sprecher it opens more avenues for other collaborative efforts for the overall Ballpark Commons. Sprecher does have a restaurant/brewpub arm with locations in Middleton and locally at Bayshore Town Center. Could another location happen at Ballpark Commons?

The County negotiations have had its ups and downs. With the land the project sits on, developer Mike Zimmerman hit a minor setback as the Milwaukee County Board sent back to committee the land sale of The Rock to Zimmerman. Speaking with Supervisors on the matter, the general issue had to do with ensuring the public had enough time to comment in committee. The excuse being used is since Zimmerman and his development partners were slow and steady with the City of Franklin, taking close to a year to ensure city support, an extra month at the County level shouldn't be too much to ask. Unfortunately, as summer is about to get into full swing, Zimmerman might disagree with that observation and instead have a strong desire to get shovels in the ground ASAP. Fear not though, on the plus side they did approve decommissioning County Hwy K, locally known as Crystal Ridge Road, which would allow the developers to tear it up and incorporate their mixed use "sports village" aspect between The Rock and lands adjoining Loomis Road.

This is where questions remain. In FT's view, the concern to be had with the project overall shouldn't be what residents have complained about - the apartments, the landfill cap, or the amount the city will be putting aside for the TID. The issue should be focused on what exactly are is being brought in beyond the golf center, baseball stadium and apartments. There's a "main street" vibe between Rawson and the golf center with unnamed tenants housing these buildings. That "sports village" mentioned earlier also has zero discussion going on as to what the plans are. How many buildings will be built? How tall will they be? What size will they be? Who are the developers seeking to fill in those spaces?

While the press or common resident might get the "sorry, we cannot reveal any names while in negotiations" response, the local politicians should have the right to know what's going on. After all, they are committing public taxpayer dollars to make the project happen. Yet here we are, a year later, and even the politicians don't give up even a hint that they might know anything at all about what's happening.

FT finds it hard to believe that when the Town of Brookfield was pondering whether or not to spend $32 million on a TID for The Corners of Brookfield, or the City of Oak Creek was considering a TID for Drexel Town Square, that they handed the developers such a wide berth without a ton of knowledge on what's slated to be built there, and which tenants are being sought after.

For Franklin's leaders, it seems all the developers needed to do was incorporate a conceptual plan that included buildings with names like "sports village" with the notion of future restaurants, sport-themed shops, offices and hotels to get their vote. Sadly though, as residents who've been around for The Shoppes at Wyndham Village when it was proposed - showcasing a village-like atmosphere with children holding balloons alongside happy parents strolling through the "shoppes" ultimately ended up with several strip mall buildings, a Target, a food store where one grocer failed and the current one is on a speculative list of being marked for closure, with a massive amount of asphalt separating everything.

FT doesn't prefer taking the "glass half empty" approach, and has faith the Ballpark Commons developers will deliver something truly great for residents. But the lack of anything concrete in terms of who's going into the project when built should raise eyebrows. With the other two mega projects discussed earlier - the public was quick to hear about tenants for both The Corners and Drexel Town Square. Ballpark Commons has had over a year to ponder out names to reach out to and hammer out deals. Perhaps announcing some tenants would help secure more support from the public as well - especially the overly vocal NIMBYs nearby. FT hopes it won't be much longer to wait for these announcements to happen.