Resources for Businesses During the COVID-19 Crisis
Restart 2.0 will focus on the importance of businesses continuing to operate under the Moving Milwaukee Forward Safely Order and implementing Restaurant and Bar COVID-19 Safety Plans. Home based businesess will be eligible in Restart 2.0.
The SBA provides low-interest disaster loans to help businesses and homeowners recover from declared disasters.
The Wisconsin Small Business Development Center Network has created this page to anchor important resources and information amid quickly changing conditions and unprecedented measures during the COVID-19 pandemic.
WEDA continues to work on your behalf and is engaging with policymakers government officials and the private sector to address the economic challenges created by the coronavirus pandemic.
This page is designed to provide the latest, best information to our clients and the citizens of Wisconsin on resources aimed at maintaining the vitality of the companies upon which our economy depends.
We want to share with DWD employees, partners, and the public how DWD and the State is responding to the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19). The situation is developing rapidly and we will update this site with relevant information as it becomes available.
Kiva lenders are providing expanded financial assistance in the wake of Covid-19. They are expanding eligibility, increasing loan sizes and offering additional flexibility and grace periods to lenders.
The Milwaukee Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) serves Milwaukee and Waukesha area businesses by providing short term "gap" financing, typically at a below market interest rate.
The Ethnic & Diverse Business Coalition (EDBC) is a coalition of 14 ethnic and diverse chambers of commerce and partner organizations that serve the State of Wisconsin. This grant application is to assist small ethnic and diverse businesses of any industry that are a business member of one of our coalition members during the COVID-19 pandemic.
As the coronavirus develops, MMAC's top priority is the safety of its employees, members, investors and other partners/guests. While there is a large volume of information being circulated from a wide variety of sources, we encourage you to use the resources and information to help make the decisions that are best for your organization. We know that the Milwaukee region's business community and our citizens should plan for the outbreak to spread quickly, and to rapidly change our routines in response.
Financial assistance at this critical time can make the difference between staying in business or closing permanently, leading to lost income and jobs and economic instability. Thanks to support from funders like Verizon and Sam's Club, we are providing grants to small businesses, to help them keep functioning and remain vital facets of their local economies through this challenging period.
The Economic Development Division markets tax-deeded foreclosures for all county municipalities with the exception of the City of Milwaukee.
Projects
Innovation Campus is a portion of land in the northwestern quadrant of the Wauwatosa Life Sciences District, sold to UW-Milwaukee in 2009 for the development of a new College of Engineering and Applied Science campus. While this land has seen some development in the past 11 years (the UWM Industry Accelerator Facility, Echelon Apartments, Residence Inn by Marriott, ABB, Inc. offices), the planned construction of the new UWM campus on this site has become impracticable.
In evaluating potential uses for this parcel of land, UWM has decided to sell a large portion to a third party for development. Local commercial real estate development company Irgens is hoping to purchase this land to create a high-quality business park, similar to their Research Park development nearby.
The below presentation illustrates the history of the land now known as Innovation Campus, as well as its current status, and plans for future use. Irgens hopes to develop this currently-unused property into a business park that should prove a valuable addition to the community, bringing in new companies and additional jobs, while retaining elements of natural landscaping and leaving untouched the protected environmental areas nearby.
Irgens Presentation
Milwaukee County is proud to partner with Heartland Housing, Inc. to create a permanent supportive housing at 1004 N. 10th St. in Milwaukee. The re-use development will transform a vacant five-story building, formerly St. Anthony's hospital and the Milwaukee County Correctional Center. This newest development will assist a variety of households including the chronically homeless person and those persons at risk of homelessness.
The project was completed in early 2019.
Learn More
Milwaukee County has reached a series of agreements to sell land associated with the Milwaukee Regional Medical Center (MRMC) to members of the MRMC. Copies of the relevant real estate option agreements are available below.
Land Bank Option Agreement
Children's Hospital Option Agreement
Children's Hospital II Option Agreement
Froedert Hospital Option Agreement
Froedert Hospital (Kathy's House) Option Agreement
Medical College Option Agreement
BloodCenter Option Agreement
Opportunity Zones
The Economic Opportunity Zones program was created as part of the Tax Cuts & Jobs Act passed by the Federal Government in 2017. Within Milwaukee County, 37 census tracts have been approved as Opportunity Zones.
Map of Milwaukee County's Opportunity Zones