Miller Park Land Interests

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Challenge

In 2009, the Southeast Wisconsin Professional Baseball Park District (the District) sought Kapur’s help with preparing an American Land Title Association (ALTA) survey. The 82-acre Miller Park site included several land exchanges as part of the stadium development and associated freeway improvement. The goal of this project was to clarify the layout and ownership of the site and protect the District’s land interests.

Solution

Unbeknownst to the three primary entities with land interests on the site (the District, the City of Milwaukee, and the State of Wisconsin), Kapur completed a preliminary ALTA survey in 1998 when the initial deals were forged and lands were exchanged to build Miller Park. Consequently, Kapur was able to quickly update the District on the status as well as what else needed to be accomplished.

The complexity of the property is easily apparent, with 133 property corners in a configuration resembling a puzzle. Not long ago, a portion of the site was owned by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, which had since transferred to private ownership by CMC Heartland Partners. The City of Milwaukee had roads and utilities running across the site. Milwaukee County owned the northern portion of the site, and the State of Wisconsin had an interest because WisDOT has right-of-way within the site. Therefore, researching the real estate records required accessing the city, county, state, and federal archives, as well as our own information.

Because the Kapur team was involved in the topographic mapping of Miller Park from the earliest stages of development, we had 15 years of historical information going regarding the site’s development at our disposal.

Our staff gathered and provided utility and boundary information, including researching and developing the right-of-way along the interstate highways. This information became critical in resolving utility issues and vacates between the City of Milwaukee and the District.

Services Provided

  • Survey
  • Platting
  • Easements
  • CSM
  • ALTA survey
  • Title research

 

Industries Covered

Survey

Results

When Kapur started this project, there were 33 owners with interest in the property with more than 40 easements within the site. The number of owners with interest in the property was reduced to seven, and new easements were established for We Energies, Ameritech, and Milwaukee Water Works.

After completing the ALTA survey and noting the conflicts in the records, Kapur recommended completing an assessor’s plat to secure a clear and defendable real estate title. Through coordination with city, county, state, and federal officials this was accomplished in 2016.