Domes Group Proposes $133 Million Repair, Redevelopment

Proposed Nature Learning Center addition. Rendering courtesy Friends of the Domes.

There’s a new plan to save the Mitchell Park Domes.

The Friends of the Domes presented a plan Tuesday, co-signed by Milwaukee County Parks, for a $133.4 million redevelopment of the Mitchell Park Domes.

The friends group would assume ownership of the Domes through a long-term ground lease, leaving the surrounding park as public land. The new governance opens the project up to a menu of financing unavailable to the county, and has long been contemplated as a path forward for the Domes.

The group’s plan uses a financing stack that includes $30 million from the county and $35 million in private philanthropy to cover the cost. The project would finally make the millions in repairs needed maintain the iconic structures, but also build a new $26 million addition, expand the gift shop, add a new cafe, create a children’s garden dome out of an existing greenhouse and turn the former sunken garden into a new stormwater garden.

The county has sought a solution for the insurmountable maintenance at the Domes for more than a decade. Pieces of concrete began falling out of the structure in 2013. The county convened a Domes Task Force in 2016, which worked for three years on a plan for the Domes. In 2019, the task force and a consultant, Arts Market Inc., proposed a grand redevelopment of the Domes with a financing stack similar to what the friends group proposes.

But the task force proposal did not have a governance structure or fundraising effort in place, and assumed rapid development timelines that ultimately proved unrealistic. A year later, the COVID-19 pandemic hit and the Domes issue took a backseat for county government.

In 2023, the friends group stepped up and began working with parks to study the feasibility of restoring and redeveloping the Domes. The group has been around since 1989, and currently manages much of the Domes operations including events, marketing, fundraising, gift shop sales and educational programming. The group reports 25 full time staff and a base of more than 250 volunteers and 5,000 members.

As the county came out of the pandemic and took up the issue of the Domes again, the friends group has taken on a greater role planning for their future. Led by Executive Director Christa Beall Diefenbach, the group began working with parks to study the feasibility of restoring and redeveloping the Domes. Working with a general contractor and The Alexander Company, a real estate firm that specializes in historic redevelopment, the friends group developed hard costs for repairs and began working out financing and a sustainable business plan for the Domes.

“We believe that this proposal is fiscally responsible for Milwaukee County,” said Deputy Parks Director Jim Tarantino.

Tarantino noted that the county has significant infrastructure needs all in competition, as well as budget deficits to overcome. “So clearly, we have to be fiscally conservative…what we’re hopeful about is that this is a vision for the way forward that we’re looking at the future, and this is a significant leverage of private philanthropy,” he said.

A spokesperson for County Executive David Crowley said the friends group plan “represents a good faith effort” on the Domes, adding, “As we continue navigating Milwaukee County’s fiscal challenges and considering all other capital needs, the County Executive will be reviewing this proposal to ensure it is financially feasible and supported by the neighborhood before moving forward.”

The proposal has the support of the area supervisor Juan Miguel Martinez, the Milwaukee Preservation Alliance, as well as Bill Lynch, chair of the former Domes Task Force.

Under the timeline proposed by the friends group, the first phase of construction could begin as soon as 2026, repairing one dome a year until 2029. Then in 2030, the second phase of the project would begin, with the development of a new addition and outdoor garden.

The Plan

The friends group is proposing to split the project into two phases.

The first phase, budgeted at $107.4 million, would redevelop the domes, and build out amenities like the gift shop, children’s dome and cafe. The second phase, estimated at $26 million, would develop the new Nature Learning Center and replace the former site of the sunken gardens with a new stormwater garden.

Every aspect of the project is designed to advance the horticultural and community mission of the Domes as well as generate more revenue so the facility can become sustainable long term.

The Domes cost more money each year than it takes in through admissions. This has historically added to policymakers hesitancy toward investing in major repairs for the structures. Without a new business model, the Domes would continue to run a budget deficit every year, Diefenbach said, adding, “The county would always be covering over a million dollars in deficit.”

The friends group plan is designed to attract more visitors and develop new offerings that keep them at the Domes longer. The thinking is that adding more to the experience would allow the group to charge more for admission without negatively affecting attendance.

“Even a nominal increase allows us to achieve that business model that we’re talking about,” Diefenbach said.

Expanding the gift shop will bring in more revenue through retail purchases, and also allow more visitors to access the gift shop while they’re there. The existing gift shop, which is “the size of a postage stamp,” Diefenbach said, already nets approximately $150,000 annually. Visitors sometimes bypass the gift shop because fewer than 10 people can make it look completely full, she said.

A family-focused play area would be built out of an existing greenhouse just northeast of the Domes. “A lot of people don’t realize that we have a what I call the secret fourth dome,” Diefenbach said.

The 5,000-square-foot greenhouse is not a conoidal dome like the others, but it does have a cylindrical shape. The friends group wants to use it to create the play area, called the Little Sprouts Dome.

The cafe also adds another reason, or opportunity, to stay at the Domes longer during each visit. It would also turn the Domes into an attractive place for people to work during the day. Some members already use the Domes to conduct their business, Diefenbach said.

The new Nature Learning Center — proposed in the second phase of the plan — would expand the space available for educational programming as well as event rentals, with room to host events up to 450 people. The center touches on the dual goals of the project to advance the Domes mission and increase revenue.

At the same time the nature center is developed, the area that was once a sunken garden would be redeveloped as a stormwater garden. Using native plantings, this “swampy” area would become a “fourth ecosystem” on display at the domes, Diefenbach said.

Under the plan, the Parks would maintain its horticultural staff at the facility, but the county would no longer be financially responsible for the operations or the maintenance of the Domes. Removing this obligation for the county would mean at least $1 million in annual savings given the cost of annual operation, Tarantino said.

The Funding

The friends group is asking the county for $30 million over six years. Meanwhile, it expects to pull together $35 million in private philanthropy and approximately $42.4 million in various tax credits, including New Market Tax Credits, State and Federal Historic Tax Credits and federal and state grants.

This financing would cover the first phase of the project. “We know this financing structure is doable, and we feel very comfortable with these numbers,” Diefenbach said, adding that it is “very conservative.”

Similar to the fundraising campaign for the new Milwaukee Public Museum, the friends group needs the county’s funding commitment for the rest of the plan to work.

The friends group does not plan to ask the county for funding for phase two of the project. Instead, the group plans to go after a mix of philanthropy and grants. Diefenbach noted the group is currently working on an application for a federal grant that, if successful, would provide $20 million toward the second phase of the project. “Because it is green infrastructure and it also focuses on environmental education. We have a lot of opportunities for various grants,” Diefenbach said.

The friends group began a silent fundraising campaign in early 2023 when it began working on a feasibility study with the parks department. “We have received many indications that a campaign of this magnitude would be successful,” Diefenbach said.

Milwaukee County is currently projecting annual budget deficits over the timeline of the project, and the government’s long running financial troubles have proven a major barrier to Domes plans in the past.

The friends group proposal would “get us out of the death spiral we’re in with deferred maintenance and this project,” Tarantino said. “We have a laundry list of needs that have not been submitted to the county… we have been on the edge of requesting these projects for years, but we haven’t, because we’re looking for that way forward.”

To secure the historic tax credits, the county will have to pursue historic designation for the structures, which is part of the plan.

“And in the past, we’ve had some trepidation about beginning that in earnest.” Tarantino said. “And the reality was, in prior years, we did not have a vision that was this far along. We did not have agreement between ourselves, friends group and the interest from philanthropy to get as far as we have.”

The estimated cost of demolishing the Domes is at least $11.4 million, which does not include the cost of putting anything new on the empty land in Mitchell Park that would be left by demolition.

“We know that the facility is incredibly important to the community,” Tarantino said. “So even if we pursue a demolition option that’s north of $11 million to demolish it, what would the future of that facility be? What would go in its place?”

Conceptual Renderings

Read the Friends of the Domes presentation on Urban Milwaukee.