Welcome to the Department of City Development. We promote an atmosphere where jobs can be created, neighborhoods can flourish, tourism can be maximized, and families can realize their dreams.

Mayor Tom Barrett appointed Rocky Marcoux to serve as Commissioner for the Department of City Development in 2004. Under his direction, the department has focused its land and economic development tools to leverage more than 11,000 jobs and strengthen neighborhoods throughout Milwaukee. Marcoux has overseen the successful redevelopment of the Menomonee Valley, the growth of companies like Bucyrus International and Manpower, the addition of a Milwaukee Job Corps Center to the region, rehabilitation of the downtown Amtrak Station, redevelopment of the Park East Corridor, creation of a Neighborhood Business Development Team to support entrepreneurs, and launch of a large-scale project to put the 30th Street Industrial Corridor back in business as a jobs generator.

Described as part bull-dog & part evangelist, Marcoux is an advocate for Milwaukee's future and a passionate promoter of the city's assets and opportunities. He spent the bulk of his career working for the top-rated City of Milwaukee Housing Authority, where he found creative, cost-cutting ways to redevelop superblocks of typical public housing into superneighborhoods linked with supportive resources. His belief in 'public housing with a purpose' is what led to today's public housing: environmentally sustainable, accessible to people of all abilities and a neighborhood center for job resources. Marcoux's work helped earn the Housing Authority a World Leadership Award for Transforming Neighborhoods. He is a graduate of Marquette University and is a member of the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU), the American Planning Association (APA), the Urban Land Institute and the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials.