Milwaukee Downtown, BID (Business Improvement District) #21 is an organization established in 1998 to support the interests of the downtown Milwaukee business community. Through BID #21 assessments, Milwaukee Downtown funds specific initiatives aimed at creating a clean, safe and friendly downtown. The district currently manages 150 blocks representing approximately 500 commercial property owners.
The Milwaukee Downtown BID partnered with Starkmedia on a total website redesign, replatform, and overall more updated look. The BID site is responsible for coordinating, monitoring, and distributing information about the city’s activities. It needed to be a very visually appealing and engaging depiction of all of the things that make Downtown Milwaukee a great place to work, live, entertain and do business. From a beautiful video on the home page to large engaging images and interactive carousels for special events, the site has an active vibe that reflects the energy of the downtown district.
As a result, Milwaukee Downtown site would house a vast amount of visual information as well as accommodate a robust database of resources for the city natives. With these goals in mind, Starkmedia was eager to get started.
After meeting with the Milwaukee Downtown team multiple times to discuss the direction of their new site, the conclusion was made to move forward with a CMS platform capable of handling all of their information. Drupal was chosen as the CMS backbone of the site. Starkmedia provided training during the process to ensure the BID staff felt comfortable with populating content and updates after launch. We chose Drupal because of its diverse capabilities as a CMS platform as well as its user-friendly backend interface for the BID team to make updates in the future.
Because the site caters to a variety of audiences from prospective business developers to local and out-of-town visitor, a series of interactive maps were integrated into the site. Utilizing the Mapbox platform, maps were created offering multiple layers so that a tourist can see how to get around and a business developer can easily see developments that are proposed, underway or completed and their proximity to various forms or transportation or parking.
Click the link below to check out the vibrant new site for an exciting business district!
If you are interested in improving your online presence, contact us at Starkmedia today! We have a team of professional programmers and designers ready to help move your brand forward with a new website!
