MILWAUKEE — With the COVID-19 public health emergency in the rear-view mirror and summer right around the corner, more Milwaukeeans are out and about. That means more money for the city.
The I-Team obtained new numbers showing the downtown region is seeing more revenue than the rest of the state. This comes as good news after businesses in almost every sector struggled to survive since March 2020.
"It was very humbling living through the pandemic," Omar Shaikh said.
Shaikh's the co-owner of Carnevor and 3rd Street Market Hall. Despite feeling the pandemic impacts, the restaurant co-owner and entrepreneur opened 3rd Street Market early last year in the heart of downtown Milwaukee.
"This was kind of a dead area for decades," Shaikh said referring to the area where 3rd Street Market now lives.
Shaikh and other business owners and developers are now on a mission toward revitalization.
"We started off relatively strong last year and had a really good year, but this year here to date, we're up about 36 percent," Shaikh explained.
A spending boom, that isn't unique to 3rd Street Market.
Fiserv's Chief Data Officer said downtown Milwaukee specifically is seeing a significant increase in overall consumer spending in quarter one (Q1) of this year compared to Q1 of last year.
"The downtown area, the spending was up 12%. That is twice the pace nationally, three times the pace of the state, and about six times faster than the pace of the rest of Milwaukee metro area," Prasanna Dhore, Fiserv's CDO, said.
Dhore said it's higher than other Midwest cities too. The I-Team checked the numbers and Detroit is seeing an 11.2 percent increase. Just south of that, Indianapolis is just above five percent. Heading west, Kansas City is seeing a 5.5 percent increase.
Dhore said Milwaukee's increase stems directly from the more than $1B of completed or under-construction investments in downtown Milwaukee. The downtown Business Improvement District said that a massive number of investments are projects like new hotels, new apartment buildings, and new commercial space.
"The strong consumer spending patterns that we're seeing in Milwaukee's downtown area is a strong indicator that local businesses and owners to grow, and that means that they'll attract more consumers, more people," Dhore explained.
The I-Team brought these numbers to Shaikh.
"I'm kind of surprised to tell you the truth, but I tell you, I can only look at it from the lens of what I see, and I see a lot more people coming downtown. I see a lot of people spending, it feels great, and I do feel optimistic, absolutely it's great to hear," Shaikh said.
Optimism for the city as a whole and opportunity for small and local businesses looking to thrive.
It’s about time to watch on your time. Stream local news and weather 24/7 by searching for “TMJ4” on your device.
Available for download on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and more.