Demolition Starting on Bronzeville Center for the Arts Site

2312 N. Martin Luther King Jr. in 2016. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

A prominent intersection will soon look substantially different.

The Bronzeville Center for the Arts (BCA) is starting demolition on the former Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources complex at the northeast corner of W. North Avenue and N. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.

It’s the first highly visible step in the nonprofit’s mission of building a world-class museum for African American art and culture.

It also comes with a substantial amount of future work required to actually plan, fundraise and build the museum.

As Urban Milwaukee reported last week, the organization has raised approximately half of the $55 million it once estimated it needed. However, some of that funding is a $5 million grant from the State of Wisconsin‘s American Rescue Plan Act allocation that federal guidelines mandate must be spent by the end of 2026 or returned to the U.S. Treasury.

Managing Director John Russick told Urban Milwaukee the demolition is to begin in June and be completed by the end of September. The 3.4-acre site will then be graded and covered with grass, with a vision for events and possible temporary public usage.

“It was obvious that all the costs were going to increase if we waited, so the opportunity to move now was the right way to go,” said Russick.

The organization is also trying to hire a new executive director. Additionally, as Urban Milwaukee reported, its primary funder Deborah Kern recently stepped down from the board. After publication, Kern, one of the city’s most generous arts benefactors, attributed her decision to step down to a desire to “slow down a bit” in retirement.

“We’re sort of in a moment where we’re taking an opportunity to look at our plans in all honesty,” said Russick. “We had our forever [executive director], or at least we thought we did, in Erin Harkey. [She] went on to lead the Americans for the Arts, her good fortune, the nation’s good fortune, but our bad luck, right? So the board is just taking a minute to sort of step back, assess, ‘are we on the right path?'”

Russick said he expects communications to come in the next four to six months about what the plan is for the museum. “We got a little bit of navel gazing to do to make sure we have things the way we want them,” said the managing director. That includes finalizing a conceptual plan. “We’re a long way from the design-development process before we’re going to break ground.”

A request for public input on the temporary plan for the site will be announced in the coming weeks. “Community involvement is a core principle of the project and BCA encourages residents, artists and local leaders to participate in shaping the vision for this important space,” says a press release.

“From the very beginning of BCA’s inception, we have remained steady with what our vision is and then marching out all the necessary avenues to continue on the commission to accomplish the long-term goal,” said Mutope Johnson, BCA director of creative engagement and partnerships, in an interview. BCA was launched in 2020.

Johnson said the board already achieved its short-term goal of completing its administrative office and gallery space, Gallery 507, at 507-519 W. North Ave. The complex opened last year and its development was partially supported by the state grant.

The museum design team consists of architecture firms BrandNu Design Studio and HGA. Hood Design Studio is leading the landscape architecture design.

“This is more than a demolition—it’s the beginning of a transformative journey for Bronzeville and for Milwaukee,” said board chair Kristen D. Hardy in a statement. “We are thoughtfully moving forward to create a space that honors the legacy of African American art and culture, while inviting the community to be part of every stage of the process.”

In 2022, the organization won a competitive request-for-proposals process to purchase the state-owned site, 2312 N. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr., after the DNR relocated. It paid $1.6 million for the property, which includes a parking lot and a two-story, 33,995-square-foot office building. The complex was developed in 1983 for the DNR, but a portion of it is much older. The neoclassical stone facade and a portion of the interior of what was last a First Wisconsin bank branch are integrated into the former DNR building. The bank was constructed in 1911 to the designs of Kirchhoff & Rose. It is not historically protected.

Conceptual plans from 2021 called for a 50,000-square-foot building to be developed on the property.

Photos

2021 Conceptual Renderings

Existing members must be signed in to see the interactive map. Sign in.