By Everett Eaton and La Risa R. Lynch, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

North King Drive is in a state of transition, and that is why Angela Mallett, owner of HoneyBee Sage Wellness and Apothecary, chose to open her store along the stretch in 2018.

“King Drive, for me, was a way to centralize ourselves and be able to serve all people, but definitely reach underserved communities,” Mallett said.

HoneyBee is one of 600 operating businesses in the historically Black commercial district known for drawing in businesses and developments that seek to intentionally serve and invest in the surrounding community.

Most recently, the corridor has seen a surge in community-focused projects such as the Bader Philanthropies headquarters, ThriveOn King Collaboration and the new Milwaukee Public Library Martin Luther King Jr. Branch – each designed with community well-being in mind.

This approach has led to a distinct tradition of collaboration between developers, business owners, residents and organizations connected to the corridor.

According to Lafayette Crump, commissioner of the Milwaukee Department of City Development, this tradition serves as a blueprint for equitable development for other King Drives across the country.

“We want this to be the best King Drive in the nation … and that is our North Star,” Crump said. “We want opportunity for everybody and this area to thrive and be reborn and continue to create new opportunities for folks.”

The most recent wave of investment into King Drive comes with major wins, but some residents and small-business owners say there is still work to be done.

The history of King Drive

King Drive, formerly Third Street, has been a bustling commercial district since the mid-1800s. The area was first settled by German immigrants, who built homes, churches and schools, according to the Historic King Drive Business Improvement District.

Soon after, the area became a hub with saloons, butchers, bakeries and department stores.

By 1920, the area welcomed more African American families, who added to the neighborhood by establishing more businesses and services.

“You didn’t have to go downtown. Everything we needed was right there in the community, until it wasn’t,” said Wanda Montgomery, whose parents bought a house on Third Street in 1968.

In 1967, there was a shift. That year, civil unrest swept through the area in response to years of segregation and housing discrimination against the city’s Black residents.

White residents began to slowly move out of the surrounding area, and the corridor saw a drop in investments from local businesses and government, according to Clayborn Benson, founder of the Wisconsin Black Historical Society and Museum.

Jack Edelstein, whose family previously owned Crown Hardware and Plumbing, was just 10 years old during the 1967 demonstrations.

He said his family store didn’t see a lot of damage during the unrest, but it was clear that the demonstrations chipped away at the once-thriving corridor.

“Businesses within a year of that were moving out like [a] mass exodus,” Edelstein said.

Collaboration is the key to revitalization along King Drive

As time went on, the corridor saw several waves of reinvestment between the 1990s and early 2000s.

In 1992, the Historic King Drive Business Improvement District was created to revitalize the area through key public and private partnerships.

Between 1992 and 2015, the semi-governmental organization invested about $350 million into the area and its businesses. From 2015 to the end of 2025, the entity invested another $400 million.

Increases in available funds for the improvement district are one indicator that the area is experiencing growth, according to Ray Hill, executive director of the Historic King Drive Business Improvement District.

The Martin Luther King Economic Development Corporation and its former executive director, Welford Sanders, were another key component behind King Drive’s renewal.

Sanders is credited with bringing to life the King Drive Commons, among other housing projects, before he died in 2015. The Commons is a 108-unit development that was constructed in four phases from 2004 to 2013.

“He wanted to focus on housing and homeownership. The density [increase in population] would bring customers to sustain businesses,” said Carolyn Esswein, who previously worked with Sanders and is currently a professor of urban planning at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Sanders set the standard for ensuring community members were involved in decision-making as new developments sprang up in the neighborhood. He was known for hosting public input sessions or “charettes,” according to Esswein.

This is when conversations about the area began to evolve, leading to more multifaceted developments created with the community in mind, according to Hill.

“I think in the early 2000s something really unique happened on King Drive, and that is the housing development community started talking to the business improvement community,” Hill said.

Community-forward developments anchor corridor

Fast forward to today, and this practice of inviting community members to the table continues with almost every new development along the corridor.

Bader Philanthropies was one of the first major organizations to intentionally choose King Drive as home for its headquarters in the most recent push for development.

The renovations to the historic 1927 Green Bay retail and theater building cost about $18 million and were completed in 2018.

Before construction started in 2016, Bader’s vice president of engagement, Frank Cumberbatch, said he went around the neighborhood introducing himself to gather feedback on their new headquarters. This eventually evolved into a series of listening sessions with coffee and doughnuts.

“We try to make people feel important,” Cumberbatch said. “And we treat everyone who comes through our doors the same and listen with the same attentiveness.”

With those insights in mind, Bader has continued to invest around $16 million into the Harambee neighborhood and the surrounding area since opening in 2018. That investment includes supporting community programs, neighborhood nonprofits, block parties and other small grant programs, according to Cumberbatch.

Developments like the Bader Philanthropies headquarters demonstrated that there was an appetite for new, thoughtful developments that improve the quality of life for the surrounding neighborhood.

This same level of thoughtfulness inspired the shared vision for ThriveOn King, a redevelopment led by the Greater Milwaukee Foundation, Royal Capital and the Medical College of Wisconsin.

Before breaking ground, ThriveOn King hosted “community visioning sessions” with nearly 500 community members to gather feedback from neighbors, according to Greater Milwaukee Foundation CEO Greg Wesley.

“Developments like ThriveOn were really proof of concept,” said Hill of the King Drive Business Improvement District.

Located in the former Gimbels-Schuster’s department store, the ThriveOn King Collaboration is home to major organizations such as Greater Milwaukee Foundation and the Medical College, as well as several small businesses and community spaces, including Kinship Cafe. The building also includes 90 affordably priced apartments.

The project cost about $125 million. It aims to support economic and housing opportunities in the area, as well as early childhood education, according to Wesley.

Since 2020, the Greater Milwaukee Foundation has invested $41 million into the ThriveOn King building, grants to neighborhood nonprofits and small business loans to entrepreneurs located in the corridor, according to Jeremy Podolski, a spokesperson for the foundation.

The first floor of the mixed-use building welcomes thousands of people to its community room, cafe, gallery and community events.

Kinship Cafe, the healthy-eats food shop, serves about 3,000 customers a month, according to Podolski.

The latest example of this attempt at equitable development is the Milwaukee Public Library Martin Luther King Jr. Drive Branch, at the corner of King Drive and Locust Street.

The project cost about $39 million, with $915,000 funded from city tax credits and $6 million from the American Rescue Plan Act.  It was completed in August 2025.

The library features several spaces that were informed by community feedback, including a community room and a Maker’s Space, where visitors can use 3D printers or take cooking classes.

The MLK Library Apartments, right above the library, feature 93 affordable housing units.

“The library is definitely an anchor institution,” said Joan Johnson, director of Milwaukee Public Library. “If the library wasn’t there, what would it be? An office? A vacant lot? The library brings a lot of comfort to people.”

In addition to the new library and its apartments, developments like Union at Rose Park, an affordable housing complex, and the Bronzeville Center for the Arts African American Art Museum have begun development along King Drive. The Franklin Lamar Lofts recently opened and is accepting tenant applications.

Investments in the corridor are not just in buildings.

Events like Juneteenth, which is one of the longest-running Juneteenth celebrations in the country, and Bronzeville Week provide entertainment, shopping and strengthen neighborhood pride.

There is still progress to be made along the corridor

The recent successes in revitalizing the area do not mean there are no challenges.

A driver traveling north on King Drive, past West North Avenue, will see that there are fewer new developments and more vacant and dilapidated properties scattered throughout the area.

“My concern for King Drive is there are still vacant and blighted parcels,” said Esswein.

Without significant financial backing, local businesses and entrepreneurs may find it difficult to invest in the corridor, according to Esswein.

“It doesn’t mean someone local can’t be engaged, but you probably are partnering with somebody who can contribute those finances,” Esswein said.

There are also concerns about the safety of the street itself.

The city of Milwaukee estimates that up to 12,500 people use the thoroughfare every day.

There are traffic calming measures on the southern portion of King Drive that have made traffic safer and the area more walkable, according to Ald. Milele Coggs, whose district includes most of King Drive, but the northern portion of the street has fewer traffic calming measures in place, creating a higher risk for pedestrians.

In January, the city announced $8 million worth of traffic calming measures from the U.S. Department of Transportation‘s Safe Streets and Roads for All Implementation Grant and a $2 million city-match, which would take place on King Drive and Forest Home Avenue.

Between 2018 and 2022, there were two traffic-related deaths, 15 serious injuries and 38 bicyclist and pedestrian injuries along the corridor, according to the city’s project description.

The grant money will cover designs to narrow lanes and reconfigure parking along the northern parts of the corridor.

What do residents and businesses want to see next?

For some business owners in the corridor, progress on King Drive has not improved their business despite claims that the new developments would revitalize the area.

Trudy Kralj currently runs and grew up working at Bruno’s Flowers at 2926 N. King Drive. She said she was told developments like the King Drive Library and its associated apartments would bring additional business to the shop, but she has yet to see that promise fulfilled.

 The flower shop has been open for 76 years, surviving the civil unrest of 1967 and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now, after almost eight decades, Kralj said she is considering closing the store. She said people are not buying flowers like they used to, and her store has experienced a number of break-ins in recent years.

“Give us some incentives to want to be here, and make it safer for us,” Kralj said.

Al Flowers, who has lived on King Drive for about four years but has stayed in the area nearly his entire life, wants neighbors to continue to host public meetings about future developments to ensure residents like himself have a voice in how the area is changing.

One thing he said he has not seen is the displacement of his neighbors. He is leery of the change to come and hopes it is done in a way that keeps residents around.

“Things are changing,” Flowers said.  “I want Black people to continue to have a stake in the community.”

If community engagement remains a priority for officials and developers, the positive changes seen in the corridor may progress without losing its identity.

According to Hill, this is a priority.

“It is just so unique based on its roots and culture,” Hill said. “If you come to Milwaukee as a visitor, you gotta come to King Drive.”

 

This story was updated to include the correct cost of the Milwaukee Public Library Martin Luther King Jr. Drive Branch development.

Everett Eaton covers Harambee for the Journal Sentinel’s Neighborhood Dispatch. Contact: ejeaton@usatodayco.com.

La Risa Lynch is a business reporter with the Journal Sentinel. Contact: LLynch@usatodayco.com.

Neighborhood Dispatch reporting is supported by Bader Philanthropies, Zilber Foundation, Journal Foundation, Northwestern Mutual Foundation, Greater Milwaukee Foundation, and reader contributions to the Journal Sentinel Community-Funded Journalism Project. Journal Sentinel editors maintain full editorial control over all content. To support this work, visit jsonline.com/support. Checks can be addressed to Local Media Foundation (memo: “JS Community Journalism”) and mailed to P.O. Box 85015, Chicago, IL 60689

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