There's no denying that Alterra Coffee Roasters has left its design mark on greater Milwaukee. This spring, the company will continue its commitment to good urban design with the development of a new bike parking island at its recently remodeled location at 2211 N. Prospect Ave.

Working in concert with its development and its lease deal with Crank Daddy's, Alterra will transform its loading zone area in front of the store into an well-designed space for bike parking only.

Milwaukee is quickly making headway in becoming more and more bike friendly, and the Alterra owners studied other bike-friendly cities like Portland and Seattle before they recently submitted their new plan to the city.

Co-owner Paul Miller tells me that implementation will begin this spring and that the bike corral will create will reward bikers while creating a buffer on the one-way East Side street that sees traffic move too quickly at many times of the day. "A lot of folks ride to our stores, and we are often short on bike parking," said Miller.

The corral also will help add another new design element to the strip of Prospect Avenue that's still suffering a bit from the dark, old Prospect Mall.