(WI) Milwaukee Journal Sentinel – The final stretch of Greenfield Ave., east of S. Barclay St., hosts UWM’s Great Lakes WATER Institute, where the university might build its School of Freshwater Sciences now that the former Pieces of Eight site on the lakefront downtown is no longer an option. But the street includes huge, unsightly coal piles, a railroad crossing so rough it rattles teeth, and a crumbling former factory that’s nearly 100 years old.

The neighborhood might need an extreme makeover if the institute’s 8-acre grounds are to be considered for the freshwater school’s headquarters. UWM officials and other school supporters had once hoped to see it developed at the Pieces of Eight site, but UWM Chancellor Carlos Santiago dropped that proposal over control and design issues with retired business executive Michael Cudahy, who holds the lease for that site. The university is now looking for a new site, bringing attention to the institute and its immediate surroundings – an isolated area with a heavily industrial feel. More