Stadium Authority Seeks Study to Redevelop Brewers Parking Lots

American Family Field. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

A new study will explore the potential to convert the parking lots around American Family Field into more productive uses.

A request for proposals (RFP) released by the the ballpark’s owners, the Wisconsin Professional Baseball Park District, seeks a consultant explore the feasibility of developing mixed-use, entertainment or residential buildings.

Its an idea that is required to be studied as a result of the 2023 subsidy agreement, which provided more than $500 million in public funding in exchange for the Milwaukee Brewers signing a lease extension through 2050.

During the public funding debate, Mayor Cavalier Johnson took issue with the lack of development on the “sea of parking” that surrounds the stadium. Johnson, in September 2023, pointed to the success of the Milwaukee Bucks‘ Deer District development.

The state-controlled stadium district owns approximately 260 acres of land, approximately 160 of which is used for parking, in the Menomonee Valley.

“I would like to challenge the Brewers, to challenge the organization to really consider, to really push out, this idea of building a district of American Family Field and not be surrounded by a sea of parking,” said the mayor. “You can still have parking, you can have parking structures, whatever, but there should be something more than just places to store cars.”

Ancillary development around stadiums has become increasingly common as teams seek to create non-game-day revenue streams and host cities attempt to generate more activity and recoup public subsidies.

In addition to the Bucks’ Deer District, which includes a hotel, health clinic, apartments, bars and restaurants and, soon, a concert venue, the Green Bay Packers have developed Titletown District, a mixed-use development with office space, a hotel, sledding hill, brewery, health clinic and other venues. The Chicago Cubs, St. Louis Cardinals and Atlanta Braves ownership groups have added mixed-use districts around their ballparks and other Major League Baseball teams have similar districts under development.

“The consultant will provide a high-level overview of demographic and economic conditions and forecasts relevant to the baseball park facilities, summarize comparable sports redevelopment case studies, and identify potential development options (e.g., mixed-use, entertainment, residential) for consideration. This assessment is intended to include the statutory feasibility study and PILOT recommendation, not to prescribe specific projects or uses,” says the RFP.

As required by the subsidy agreement, the study must analyze how a payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) agreement could work with the city and Milwaukee County. Each of the entities is contributing approximately $68 million to subsidize the ballpark, but does not receive property tax revenue because the ballpark district is tax exempt.

The consultant is to review the suitability of infrastructure, environmental conditions, traffic and pedestrian flows and parking to support new development.

The study is also to include contemplation of the impacts of the Interstate 94 expansion project, which includes an entirely new Stadium Interchange near the ballpark. That project is already expected to require the stadium district to cede several acres of land for a larger, diverging diamond interchange. Compensation could include funding for a parking structure or a transfer of other state land for parking.

Responses to the RFP are due by June 10.

The final report is to be completed by Dec. 7, satisfying Act 40’s two-year deadline.

The team has given limited signals about its interest in developing the site, as Bruce Murphy reported in 2022 before the subsidy debate emerged.

“Can real estate development coexist with our tailgating culture and with our parking? Yes, but the devil is in the details,” said team president of business operations Rick Schlesinger during an October 2023 public hearing

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