MKE County

Supervisor Adds Domes Project to 2025 Budget

Board advances plan to redevelop the Domes, transfer operations to nonprofit.

By Graham Kilmer - Oct 24th, 2024 01:11 pm

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

A new plan to save the Mitchell Park Domes has found its way into the 2025 Milwaukee County Budget.

The plan was created by the non-profit Friends of the Domes in partnership with Milwaukee County Parks. It was unveiled in early September and proposes a $133.4 million redevelopment of the iconic local structures and a transfer of operations to the friends group, which was formed in 1989.

Sup. Juan Miguel Martinez, whose district includes Mitchell Park, drafted a resolution that would effectively incorporate the plan into the 2025 budget, and the board’s Finance Committee unanimously approved the amendment Thursday.

The full board must still approve the amendment.

The plan was developed by the Friends of the Domes in partnership with Milwaukee County Parks with a goal of saving the structures, which are in need of significant investment. It would use $30 million in public funding and $35 million in private funding on top of a stack of grants and tax credits.

Martinez’s amendment, which has co-sponsorship from a majority of the board, authorizes the county to negotiate an agreement with the Friends of the Domes that includes a long-term lease allowing the nonprofit to assume operational control, supports listing the Domes on the National Register of Historic Places and commits the county to providing $30 million in support for the project over an unspecified six-year period.

The county has sought a solution for the seemingly insurmountable maintenance backlog 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 proposed in September. 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.

“This has been years in the making,” Martinez said.

Martinez noted that the amendment was redrafted to allow the county to commit to funding the project without immediately beginning to budget for it during the next cycle. The friends group, though, can still seek donations with proof the county is backing the project.

The amendment asks Parks, the friends group and the county administration to present a draft agreement and a plan for funding the county’s commitment by May 2025.

If approved as part of the 2025 budget, Martinez said the project gives the county a “chance to really get to get the Domes to where it needs to be, get it off our books and revitalize the 12th District.”

The department supports Martinez’s amendment and the group’s plan, said Guy Smith, executive director of Milwaukee County Parks.

The full board will next vote on the amendment during adoption of the annual budget.

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Comments

AttyDanAdams says:

October 24, 2024 at 5:16 pm

This is crazy! Way too expensive for County taxpayers to bear these costs. If there is such great and widespread public support for keeping these (as opposed to an extremely vocal and organized minority of interested activist) – user fees should and could be the primary financing vehicle. But in actuality, we should start thinking outside of the box about a tear down and building something new on this land. It is sad that Milwaukee is clinging to the 1950s Domes – go to Las Vegas and check out the Sphere. It’s 2024, folks!
J.A.M. says:

October 25, 2024 at 2:00 pm

AttyDanAdams – And how much do you think demolition and an equivalent new building that can accommodate the horticultural collection would cost to design, build, and outfit with the necessary mechanical and plumbing systems? What is the environmental cost of disposing of all that existing construction material? What is the cultural cost of Milwaukee of losing one of its icons?
mpbehar says:

October 25, 2024 at 4:38 pm

AttyDanAdams: Friends of the Domes had a very detailed (and excellent) presentation at the recent Parks Commission meeting where they discussed their plans to renovate the Domes, mostly under their direction and expense, with a little bit of help from the County. This link is a very brief summary: https://milwaukeedomes.org/about-the-domes/the-future-of-the-domes/. Compared to the cost to a) demolish, b) repair, c) replace, their plan is the very best and is a model for all such projects.
frank a schneiger says:

October 28, 2024 at 9:50 pm

Dan Adams offers a good summary of the standard anti-Domes position. It is a perspective defined entirely by cost and a static view of The Domes future, including an underestimation of the dollar and community costs of demolition. It is a view that readily accepts decline.

Instead of this static view, there is an achievable vision for this extraordinary place. That vision starts with having The Friends of the Domes as the managing and fundraising entity, as opposed to the cash-strapped and austerity defeated County Parks. The Friends have excellent organizational and managerial skills, along with something even more important.

That more important “something” is an understanding that The Domes can be a major destination for both local residents and visitors. One that rivals the Art Museum as a destination. That understanding is matched by something equally important: a marketing perspective that will drive visits and revenue.

A revitalized Domes can also be the anchor for a restored Mitchell Park and a healthier and more peaceful southside neighborhood. In past comments, I have used the parallel of the barren, empty and dangerous Central Park in New York City and its rebirth as today’s most visited public park on earth. That has been achieved under the direction and fundraising of The Central Park Conservancy, a role model for Friends of the Domes.

Respondents have said that it is a false analogy, that the south side of Milwaukee can’t be compared to Manhattan and all of its rich people. That argument is 95% bull****. There is money in Milwaukee, and the community and the potential social and economic impacts in Milwaukee can be comparable to what Central Park has done for the neighborhoods surrounding it.

This is a big opportunity. It is time to think big, and Friends of the Domes is the best possible vehicle to deliver on it.
SiddyMonty says:

October 31, 2024 at 11:40 am

Give the Friends of the Domes a chance.
It’s an exciting time for this wonderful, iconic property.
Their proposal is well considered.

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