Surf Cat

“It’s the people,” said Antaramian, who nears completion of his 20th year as Kenosha mayor. “When you think of all of the issues we’ve gone through as a community — and there have been a lot of tough times — the people have always come out with the right attitude and have succeeded in keeping our community alive. It’s a pretty good place.”

Running unopposed in the spring election, Antaramian enters his sixth, four-year term in office. The 65-year-old was elected Kenosha mayor in 1992 and served 16 years before announcing his retirement in 2008. Following an eight-year stint as a business consultant and visiting Carthage College professor, Antaramian left the sidelines and returned as Kenosha’s mayor.

The Kenosha native immediately shifted the city’s focus to infrastructure — road reconstruction, shoreline protection, underground lead piping and drainage — to rebuild a foundation capable of accommodating Kenosha’s rapid growth and evolving future.

This year, local residents should witness the early stages of a massive downtown redevelopment. The mayor’s $400 million Downtown Vision Project is an eight-square block (25 acres) undertaking proposed to include a new city hall, performing arts center, public park and hundreds of private residences.

Brindisi Towers, a $79.5 million apartment/condominium high-rise is in line to become the first major development of the project this spring. The mixed-use structure is slated for a 1.6-acre parcel located directly north of the dilapidated Kenosha Municipal Building on 52nd Street between Seventh and Eighth avenues.

As numerous downtown projects get underway in 2020, planning continues for a major facelift of the Uptown neighborhood and redevelopment of the former Chrysler Engine Plant site.

The Uptown Neighborhood Streetscape Design Project, which will take place along the 22nd Avenue corridor between 60th Street and 64th Street, will create 38 additional parking spaces, a landscaped median (similar to 56th Street in HarborPark), upgraded LED lighting, entry columns, pavement designs and improved pedestrian walkways.

The revitalization project is intended to fuel what Antaramian describes as the beginning of what will become a “renaissance” of Kenosha’s older neighborhoods.

Former Kenosha Police Chief John Morrissey was hired this month to lead that initiative as director of the city’s newly created Department of City Inspections.

The 107-acre Chrysler site, located east of 30th Avenue between 52nd and 60th streets, was demolished in 2012. It underwent years of soil remediation and will soon be ready for development.

Technology hub

City officials hired a Texas-based consulting firm to help transform the site into a future technology hub, including an education/research/technology center focused on jobs of the future, public and private partnerships and on-site education and training.

A goal of the technology hub is to provide high-paying jobs and attract young professionals to Kenosha, according to Antaramian.

“One of the reasons I came back, and this really bothers me, is we haven’t done a good enough job of keeping our young people here,” Antaramian said. “We have a lot of bright, young folks who can do so many different things. We don’t keep enough of them. Part of that is type of jobs and cultural activities offered. We have to create an ecosystem where young people want to be here.”

A three-part interview series with Antaramian and a look ahead at big things in store for Kenosha begins on Monday.