Committee Cautiously Approves Domes Development

Mitchell Park Domes. Photo taken July 14, 2025 by Graham Kilmer.

After making a formal commitment to help fund the $114 million redevelopment of the Mitchell Park Domes, Milwaukee County Supervisors are seeking assurances that the project is going to work.

They want to know how fundraising is going. In July, the board passed a legislative commitment to budget $30 million over the next six years, making $5 million installments annually, for the Domes. This will be the county government’s total contribution to a project that restores the Domes, improves the park and transfers all future financial obligations for operations and maintenance to the Milwaukee Domes Alliance (MDA). The MDA, formerly Friends of the Domes, is fundraising and leading redevelopment of the iconic structures.

The county funding is intended to leverage approximately $84 million in private philanthropy and state and federal tax credits for the $114 million needed to restore and redevelop the Domes, James Tarantino, Deputy Parks Director told supervisors.

The Milwaukee County Board is voting on the development and lease agreements for the project this month.

Sup. Juan Miguel Martinez, whose district includes Mitchell Park, said financial reporting from the MDA and parks will be critical to the success of the project. He asked how often supervisors would receive reports.

The answer was once a year.

“I think a once a year reporting is too little,” said Sup. Sheldon Wasserman, who chairs the Parks and Culture Committee.

MDA wants to keep their fundraising numbers confidential, as much as possible, Christa Beall Diefenbach, MDA executive director told the committee. The organization’s fundraising consultant has told them not to publicly share fundraising information, Diefenbach said, because it could “impede donor motivation.”

The board has been through this before. The Milwaukee Public Museum has repeatedly declined to offer regular fundraising updates for the new $240 million museum it’s building at the corner of N. 6th St. and W. McKinley Ave. for the same reasons, instead offering periodic updates.

MDA is trying to balance the need for public transparency with the success of a private fundraising campaign, Tarantino said, noting that supervisors and public officials are more accustomed to public sector rules for transparency. The parks department will receive regular updates from MDA, and the development agreement contains a “pretty strong pledge auditing requirement,” he said.

“So if there’s any aberration, any sign of this project is not on track, that would be part of the discussion at that time,” he said.

Sup. Steve Taylor said he felt like the MDA was asking the board to “blindly” trust them when it comes to project financing. He noted that the $30 million from the county means that much less spending on other county projects. The county board must approve the $5 million allocation each year during the budget process, and Taylor indicated he will not oppose an initial payment.

“But we really do, we will need to know, because I’m not going to blindly give another five,” he said.

Those annual $5 million payments will be set aside during a time of budgetary difficulty. The county is expecting escalating budget deficits in the coming years, beginning with $46.7 million in 2026, so there will be less and less funding to go around each year. The $5 million comes out of the Parks system’s infrastructure budget, meaning it will crowd out $30 million worth of parks projects over the next six years.

The first phase is expected to cost approximately $47.8 million. Total county funding for the first phase is approximately $12.9 million. MDA needs to raise the other $34.9 million before construction. The first phase involves restoration of the Show Domes; redevelopment of a greenhouse as a children’s dome and play area; and redevelopment of the entrance, lobby and gift shop.

The development agreement requires MDA to break ground on the first phase of work no later than 2028. The goal, however, is to break ground in 2027, with later phases starting in 2029 and 2030.

The committee unanimously approved both the lease and development agreements after securing a commitment from MDA to report every six months, and language requiring board approval of any project timeline extensions.

Naming Rights

The lease agreement going before the board will give MDA the authority to sell naming rights as part of the fundraising campaign, subject to county approval. That includes the name of the Mitchell Park Domes themselves.

The county will have 30 days to object to any naming rights requests for something small like a hallway. But for something large, like the Domes, or perhaps just one of them, the county will have 60 days to object.

“So we have the ability to push back,” said Milwaukee County Deputy Corporation Counsel William Davidson.