Conceptual rendering of revised FPC Live Deer District concert venue. Rendering by Eppstein Uhen Architects.

A proposed two-venue concert venue next to Fiserv Forum is losing its smaller hall, a cost-cutting move designed to allow construction to start on the delayed project.

FPC Live, a subsidiary of national concert promoter Live Nation and Madison-based Frank Productions, received approval in November to develop the complex with 800- and 4,000-person venues targeted at primarily standing crowds. Frank Productions CEO Joel Plant said in 2022 that the complex, then with an estimated cost of $50 million, would “fill a void in the Milwaukee market” despite the opposition of existing venue operators. But a promised groundbreaking for December came and went, as did a spring groundbreaking. Meanwhile, construction costs continued to climb.

Now a case of “value engineering 101” has occurred. FPC is dropping the 800-person venue and increasing the four-level, larger venue to a maximum capacity of 4,500. Plant, in interviews this week, said the cost of the smaller plan is $60 million, still exceeding the lower estimates.

“We had a choice to make given the cost increases,” Plant told Rich Kirchen, who broke the news. “Either strip out a bunch of amenities for artists and fans and trim the rooms down to being very non-descript and nothing more than utilitarian. Or focus attention on the room with the biggest impact.”

The latest change will require a modification to the zoning package that enabled the building’s development, which would give project opponents another opportunity to publicly make their case against the venue, and the Live Nation-Ticketmaster affiliation. But Milwaukee Bucks president Peter Feigin thinks some of the opposition could fade with the smaller hall eliminated.

“Some of the objections from some of the smaller music houses in town — this now gets eliminated,” said Feigin in an interview with Kirchen. The Bucks president also made the value engineering comment.

Even if construction were to start this fall, it would not be finished in time for the 2024 Republican National Convention. Heavy construction would need to pause during the July 2024 convention, pushing completion into 2025.

FPC owns or operates venues in Madison, Charleston, SC and Columbia, MO. Its Madison venues include The Sylvee, Orpheum Theater, Majestic Theatre and High Noon Saloon. Its plans for a concert venue in Milwaukee would put it in competition with Pabst Theater Group (PTG) and The Rave. The new building would be directly across from Turner Hall, a portion of which is leased to PTG for a 500-person hall. PTG, in an announcement made days before FPC announced its Deer District plan, said it was plotting its own modern concert venue in the proposed Iron District, but those plans have now been substantially downsized to an event venue that could possibly host concerts.

Department of City Development deputy commissioner Vanessa Koster confirmed to Urban Milwaukee that a zoning modification application for the FPC development was submitted to the city this week, with a full plan set to be submitted at a later date. “Project had to be downsized, to bring project to be within the budget limits,” says the one-page application. Eppstein Uhen Architects remains the architect of record. A partnership of JCP Construction and Miron Construction would construct the building.

The building would be located at the southwest corner of the intersection of W. Highland Ave. and N. Vel R. Phillips Ave., atop land most recently occupied by the Bradley Center. It would open up towards the Deer District plaza and arena.

And while the new complex would be smaller, Feigin revealed that another building could join it.

New Hotel Planned

The developer of The Trade hotel, located on the north side of Fiserv Forum, could open another hotel in the Deer District.

Middleton-based North Central Group (NCG) is in discussions with the Bucks to develop a hotel immediately adjacent to FPC’s planned venue. It would be built on another portion of the former Bradley Center site, located south of Fiserv Forum. The south side of Fiserv Forum also puts the hotel within two blocks of another demand generator, the $456 million expansion of the Baird Center.

“We have the prospect now of developing a 160- to 175-room hotel with North Central Group,” said Feigin to Kirchen, who again broke the news. He said the partners could announce the deal in the coming weeks.

The 207-room, four-star The Trade hotel opened in May at 420 w. Juneau Ave. The nine-story building includes a rooftop restaurant and bar, a floor of rooms tailored to traveling basketball teams, a two-level presidential suite and two restaurants and an event venue on its first two floors. It’s part of Marriott’s Autograph Collection hotel line.

A representative of NCG said the hotel has had a “very strong opening” and confirmed the firm was talking to the Bucks, but stopped short of confirming the second hotel was imminent.

An affiliate of the team owns much of the land immediately surrounding the arena and has structured development deals as long-term leases or equity partnerships. Feigin has repeatedly referred to the Bucks’ vision of creating “a place where people live, work, play, stay and have fun.”

In January, Bucks Ventures senior vice president Michael Belot said the team was exploring a workforce housing development at the northeast corner of the area. “I think you’re going to see some news in the next couple of months there,” said Belot during a public appearance. No deal has been announced, but low-income housing tax credit developments often seek zoning approval near the end of the year to meet a spring application cycle.

The Bucks are also working to develop a private street, publicly accessible with an easement, on the Bradley Center site.

2022 Venue Renderings

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Wine and Spirits Distributor Takes Over Bradley Road Facility

8219 W. Bradley Rd. in 2022. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

Wine and spirits distributor Syriana Inc. is using a far northwest side industrial facility as its new warehouse.

Syriana, an affiliate of Dallas-based Misa Imports, will use the 12,800-square-foot building at 8219 W. Bradley Rd. for distribution. According to a permit application, Syriana’s customers include Sendik’s, Costco, Waterford Wine & Spirits and Lupi & Iris.

An affiliate of Misa Imports acquired the property in October for $820,000. For most of the past decade, it was occupied by Biocut Systems. The company rebranded as Xiogenix as part of a relocation to a larger, new building in the Village of Muskego. Misa purchased the property from a company affiliated with Janet Jeske, the widow of Biocut founder Mark Jeske. Before his passing, Mark sold the company in 2017 to a private equity fund led by Jerry Jendusa.

An occupancy permit for Syriana says two employees will occupy the facility. The city issued the permit on Aug. 17.

Prior to Biocut, the facility was occupied by United Tool. It was built for the company in 1980.

Weekly Recap

Garden Homes Sees New Life Through Perseverance

For the first time in years, seeing boarded-up windows in Milwaukee’s Garden Homes neighborhood is a good thing.

The plywood is a sign that a long-awaited rehabilitation project is underway. The result will be 18 newly-renovated affordable houses in an area that has been plagued by decades of disinvestment.

Garden Homes was the country’s first municipally-sponsored housing cooperative when it opened in the 1920s. Ninety-three homes were built around a central greenspace and served World War I veterans and other middle-class families that found employment at the many industrial employers in the nearby 30th Street Corridor.  But it came with a regrettable restriction: it was initially only for white families.

As the Great Migration drew thousands of African Americans from the south to Milwaukee, the neighborhood became majority Black in the 1960s alongside the heyday of nearby employers like A.O. Smith. When those companies slashed jobs and shuttered their plants, the neighborhood’s middle-class fortune fell alongside it. A coalition of long-time residents, including Martha “Mama” Freeman, have worked to maintain a sense of community in the ensuing decade.

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Weekend Blitz of Southside Home Repairs

With their hammers and screwdrivers at the ready, more than 500 volunteers will descend on a southside neighborhood this weekend to make essential home repairs.

Revitalize Milwaukee, a housing-focused nonprofit, will host its annual Block Build MKE event in the Muskego Way neighborhood. Repairs will be performed on 18 homes.

Planned projects include rebuilding porches, overhauling bathrooms, updating kitchens, accessibility improvements, painting and more.

“Each year, Block Build MKE improves the quality of life and stabilizes a Milwaukee neighborhood. The critical repairs completed are essential to helping homeowners stay in their homes,” said Lynnea Katz-Petted, CEO of Revitalize Milwaukee, in a statement. “Block Build MKE affirms Revitalize Milwaukee’s standing as a mandatory community resource. And we couldn’t do it without the support of our volunteers, partners and sponsors.”

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New Arts Organization Opening On Mitchell Street

A former furniture store on Mitchell Street will soon house a new arts organization that aims to fill “a hole in Milwaukee’s quilt.”

Mitchell Street Arts (MiSA) will host an open house Friday evening starting at 6 p.m., the first in a series of openings as it ramps up its offerings.

The goal of the organization, led by executive director and founder Rew Gordon, is to promote “creative abundance.”

“The thing that really separates us as a nonprofit and as an organization is our makerspace,” said Gordon during a tour. But it’s just one of several things the organization hopes will make it stand out.

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Construction Could Start in 60 Days On Massive Bay View Project

The developer of the largest private affordable housing development in Wisconsin history wants to get construction started.

“From a timing standpoint, we would like to start construction in the next 60 days,” said developer S.R. Mills, the CEO of Bear Development, on Thursday afternoon to the board of the Redevelopment Authority of the City of Milwaukee (RACM).

Bear is proposing to redevelop the 10-acre Filer & Stowell factory site at the northern edge of Bay View into an eight-building, 576-unit complex. The estimated development cost is $197 million.

The first of the five-story buildings would open near the northern edge of the site, along E. Becher St., in July 2025. The final buildings would open at the southern edge, E. Lincoln Ave., in October 2026.

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IKON Hotel Dropped In Favor of ‘Sears Market’ Concept

The IKON Hotel is no more, but a new plan, even larger than the first, has taken its place.

In 2019, developer Kalan Haywood proposed to redevelop the former Sears department store at W. Fond du Lac Ave. and W. North Ave. into an 82-room hotel and a conference center, the only such facility in the central city. But public financing support was marred in controversy given the perceived risk by some city officials, and little has come of the plan after initial demolition work took place.

Now, Haywood has assembled a new development team and a vision to create a “regional community and entertainment destination” at a site regarded as the gateway to the northwest side.

The three-story building, 2100 W. North Ave., would be redeveloped into a brewery, art gallery, event space, office space and apartments known as Sears Market. The remainder of the 6.2-acre site would be carved up into separate parcels and redeveloped as housing.

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Planet Fitness Planned For Bay View

A Planet Fitness gym is slated to open near S. Chase Ave. and W. Oklahoma Ave. on the edge of Bay View.

The gym chain is marketed as a low-cost “Judgement Free Zone” that caters to casual users. Membership starts at $10 per month.

The new gym would fill the space last occupied by a Family Dollar store, 121 W. Oklahoma Ave. The discount retailer closed the location last summer.

The shopping center property, addressed as 123 W. Oklahoma Ave., is anchored by a Piggly Wiggly grocery store. A Goodwill store is located at its western edge. The property, excluding the outlot buildings along W. Oklahoma Ave., is owned by PJR Properties, an affiliate of Piggly Wiggly.

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Froedtert Awards $4.7 Million For Community Clinic Expansion

With a ceremonial toss of the dirt, work got underway on a $9 million expansion of the Sixteenth Street Community Health Centers’ (SSCHC) primary clinic and headquarters.

The project will allow the organization to add a pharmacy to the facility, 1032 S. Cesar E. Chavez Dr., and expand the clinical operation to provide more services in one building.

“This new clinic will allow us to expand access to care for thousands of individuals and families and better serve those we are already touching through increased provider capacity and enhanced space for supplemental and community services,” said Dr. Julie Schuller, SSCHC president and CEO.

At a press conference Tuesday morning, Froedtert Health announced it was providing $4.7 million to the $9 million project.

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Sixteenth Street Health Centers Demolishing House for Parking

Milwaukee’s densest neighborhood will soon lose housing for residents in favor of storage space for vehicles.

As part of an expansion plan, Sixteenth Street Community Health Centers (SSCHC) will demolish one city-owned house near S. Cesar E. Chavez Dr. for more parking. It could also demolish four more on nearby blocks.

Demolition of the city-owned house at 1547 W. Mineral St. will result in an addition of 12 parking spaces to the existing 77-space parking lot, which runs from W. Mineral Street to W. Washington Street behind the clinic on S. Cesar E. Chavez Drive.

“While we recognize that not everyone is driving a vehicle to the clinic, whether it’s staff or the patients, it’s not enough to meet their needs,” said Tiffany May, a vice president with Berghammer Construction Corporation, to the City Plan Commission on July 17.

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