MPM Needs $35 Million To Begin New Museum Construction

Rendering of new museum viewed from the west side of N. 6th St. Rendering by Kahler Slater.

Milwaukee Public Museum (MPM) officials are planning to begin construction on the new museum next year, but between now and then, the museum needs to secure at least an additional $35 million in donations before it formally breaks ground.

MPM officials and their consultants are working to develop a new $240 million, 200,000-square-foot museum at the northeast corner of N. 6th Street and W. McKinley Avenue. Demolition at the 2.4-acre site began this spring. Some work to prepare the site for construction remains, but MPM is planning for a groundbreaking in Spring 2024 and to open the new museum by early 2027.

MPM has raised approximately $66 million in private donations, MPM President and CEO Ellen Censky said Tuesday during a meeting of the county board’s Committee on Parks and Culture. In total, MPM needs to raise $150 million in private funds for the project. The capital campaign is expected to take five years and run through four phases, with MPM soliciting large donations at the beginning and gradually stepping down its solicitations until it is going after any gifts it can get, including penny drives. The final phase is expected to begin shortly before the new museum opens.

But to break ground in 2024, MPM hopes to have at least $100 million and preferably $108 million in private donations committed to the project. Construction will not move forward until this funding is secured, Censky told county supervisors. Though the holiday season “is our big time of year” for fundraising, Censky added.

The design process for the new museum is almost complete and the museum has already begun packing some of the 4 million items in its collections for transfer to the new building.

MPM officials have been working on the new museum project since 2016. The current museum building at 800 W. Wells St., built in the 1960s, faces major ongoing maintenance challenges. The disrepair of the building has jeopardized the safety of the museum collections stored there. The deterioration at the building was underscored when museum officials reported that the institution was at risk of losing its accreditation because it could no longer ensure the long-term safety of its collections.

Development of the new museum kicked into high gear in 2022 after MPM secured $40 million from the State of Wisconsin and $45 million from Milwaukee County for the project.

Donors told MPM that the new museum project needed public funding to generate confidence in the project, Censky said, with the caveat that it cannot be viewed as a solely public venture. “They made it very clear to us that this project could only happen if it was this public-private venture,” Censky said.

The deal between the county and MPM for the new museum includes a cut in annual support for the institution from public taxpayers. The new museum building will not be owned by the county, but instead by a nonprofit entity incorporated by MPM to manage the project and run the future museum.