State Street Pizza Pub Planned Near Fiserv Forum

Milwaukee nightlife veterans Jake Dehne and Seth Dehne are bringing a new bar and restaurant to the historic building at 322 W. State St.

“We are calling it State Street Pizza Pub,” said Jake in an interview Friday.

The name gives away the focus: pizza, particularly personal-sized pizzas that are quickly made.

“You will come in, you will order your pizza and it will be ready in less than 10 minutes,” said Dehne. The strategy is designed to take advantage of the crowds that attend events at Fiserv Forum, Turner Hall or the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena, each of which is only a block away. “You can get in and get out on your way to an event. You don’t have to do the traditional sit down, wait for your server.”

But the Dehnes and operating partner James Sanchez also are hoping the sixteen 60-inch televisions and beer menu gives people a reason to linger. “It’s a sports bar with a focus on beer and we are going to have wings also,” said Dehne.

The business will have a “clean, modern twist” on traditional sports bar decor. But it’s a building that is loaded with history. The three-story structure was designed by Charles Kirchhoff, Jr. for the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company as a company-owned tavern.

The Dehnes know the Westown neighborhood bar well. They opened Upper 90 Sports Pub in the space in 2011 and acquired the now 133-year-old building in 2015. But Upper 90 was closed in 2017 in favor of a new partnership, Point Burger Express, which itself closed amidst the pandemic in 2020. They spent the past two years searching for a tenant before deciding to give it a go again themselves.

The partners are also very familiar with the nightlife scene in the adjacent Old World Third bar district (now officially renamed N. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr.) and throughout Downtown. Through the Sydra Group, they own and operate Red, White and Blue (RWB), Buckhead Saloon, Nicole’s Third Ward Social and Red Elephant Chocolate.

Taylor Korslin applied to open Backwoods Tavern & Oasis in the pizza pub space earlier this year, but those plans are not moving forward said Dehne.

Sydra Group hopes to open State Street Pizza Pub in May.