Well, they look OK, but people who have lots of money don't necessarily see the flaws, for whatever reason. I have worked in some of the apartment developments and they cut corners to save money, then spackle over the flaws.
One thing the renters/buyers of these new places gain- distance from the areas in the city where crime is increasing. Locked lobbies, security guards, close to the lake, nice view (unless someone builds a taller building within less than 50' away, completely blocking any view of half of the lakefront- this actually happened, after a tower was already occupied).
The city's skyline was recently rated as the 15th best skyline in the world by Architectural Digest. That's astounding. It's better than it was, but I'll have to read the article because I don't understand that and in order to see it, someone needs to be on the water because it's very close to the lakefront. 'Skyline' tells me that the buildings should be tall and these, generally, aren't.
The last two Mayors had visions for the city but Milwaukee has only elected five Mayors since 1948- think about that. MKE keeps things for far too long and then, people complain about nothing changing unless it becomes worse.
The Mayor who left after he had an affair with an aid saw himself as a great urban planner and he didn't get along with the Police Chief he appointed, even though that guy had been one of the Mayor's bodyguards- he was in office from 1988-2004. That Chief was hated by the officers and more than half of them quit while he was in that position. The next Mayor, in office 2004-2020, wanted a trolley and he got it, but left office before his term had finished, to become the Ambassador to Luxembourg. That trolley has never been profitable, overran the budget, was finished late and the last two were because of bad planning and work. It serves part of the downtown area and nothing else, but was very expensive, disrupted traffic for several years and has caused parking to be worse that it was before and that's quite an accomplishment. He was clueless on crime and had several Police chiefs, but neither of these two Mayors would let the chiefs do anything on their own. The current Mayor has been in office since 2020 and talks about the changes he caused, but at 37 years of age, he doesn't seem to understand what the city was- clean, safe, a nice place for families and a large manufacturing hub and that has changed- manufacturers are leaving and if they return to the area, it's on the outskirts, partly because of taxation, and the city still has large parcels of land that have old buildings or are vacant.
Safety needs to be Job #1- I didn't watch the DNC, but the Mayor of Milwaukee spoke- his name is Cavalier Johnson. He thinks crime is down. Some crimes have decreased, but nobody should consider the city 'safe'.
