Milwaukee Bucks and Music Promoter Team Up to Plan New Music Venues in Deer District | WUWM 89.7 FM
The Milwaukee Bucks want to expand their presence in the local concert scene.
The team has formed a joint venture with Madison-based venue promoter and operator FPC Live, which promises to spend $50 million to develop two concert venues in part of a vacant area just south of the Fiserv Forum. , where the Bucks play basketball and hold concerts. .
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson helped unveil the plans at a news conference on Monday.
“Anyone who’s been to the old Bradley Center site since it was deconstructed must have been like, ‘You know, what’s next for this place?’ Well, now we know at least part of the answer. It’s good for downtown. It’s good for the city of Milwaukee,” Johnson said.
The announcement of the development in the so-called Deer District comes ten days after shootings downtown following a Bucks game left 21 people injured.
Bucks and Fiserv Forum President Peter Feigin said security inside and outside new buildings will be a priority. “It’s always on our minds, especially in design,” he said.
The Bucks say the two concert halls will only occupy the northeast section of the former Bradley Center site.
One venue will have a capacity of around 4,000, the other 800. The team plans 135 events per year at both venues, with plans to open them later next year.
FPC Live, parent company Frank Productions and partner Live Nation produce about 550 events a year in Wisconsin, including some at Fiserv Forum.
FPC recently pulled out of a proposed concert venue near Summerfest. But the company promises designs inside Deer District venues that don’t look like competing concert halls in the Milwaukee area.
Milwaukee Common Council President Jose Perez has heard competition concerns from other music site owners.
“You know, I know some venues are nervous about it. But I’m told it hits a sweet spot, fills a void from other gigs that either don’t come here or turn Milwaukee down for that reason. These guys know the market. It’s their investment. We’re going to see what the plan looks like and figure out how we get it through,” Perez told WUWM.
Perez said council would have a say in the zoning of the two new sites and could address other issues.
The Bucks promise to honor community benefit agreements affecting salaries and organizing rights in the Deer District. Peter Rickman, president of the Milwaukee Area Service and Hospitality Workers Organization, said he was looking forward to working out details for the two new concert halls.