Image via Milwaukee Bucks
Deer District continues to grow, and its newest development will add another venue to Milwaukee’s music landscape. On Monday, Milwaukee Bucks and Fiserv Forum president Peter Feigin announced that the new 4,000 person venue and 800 person secondary hall in partnership with Frank Productions and Live Nation would occupy roughly one third of the plot of land where the Bradley Center once stood.
The venue is the relocation of a proposed concert hall development from FPC Live, originally slated for the Third Ward near Henry Maier Festival Park. Following the initial announcement, pushback from the neighborhood and the City of Milwaukee complicated the original plans to utilize a section near the Summerfest parking lot for a similar venue with two different sized concert halls. That plan was scrapped earlier this month. The new location will still leave open space on the former Bradley Center land for future commercial development.
The new venue is expected to host roughly 135 concert nights annually. Approximately two-thirds of the concert halls will be general admission, and will also boast reserved club seating, and amenities for VIP concertgoers. During the announcement, Feigin noted that the venue will have features for artists and production companies not generally offered from buildings in the same market size.
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Feigin announced the new development on Friday in front of the vacant Bradley Center location alongside a group that included Mayor Cavalier Johnson, Frank Productions CEO Joel Plant, and Bucks guard Pat Connaughton. Feigin also teased more announcements in the coming months. The speakers touted the number of jobs being created in Milwaukee, as well as the revenue that will be generated from the new development.
“The bottom line is that I want more tourism in Milwaukee, and I want more tourism dollars to come to Milwaukee” said Mayor Johnson. “It’s a good thing for Deer District and a good thing for the city as a whole.”
“We couldn’t be happier to announce this project with the Milwaukee Bucks” said Plant. “We know Milwaukee, we’re committed to Milwaukee, and we’ll be opening a permanent office here in the coming weeks.”
The news comes just days after the announcement that an entertainment district and soccer stadium would be coming to downtown Milwaukee, which also features a 3,500 seat music venue operated by the Pabst Theater Group. Both new venues will be a welcome addition to the city, adding depth to the variety of live event spaces available for not only concerts, but major city-wide events like political conventions. Both new developments will also add hundreds of jobs in Milwaukee, and will likely increase the bottom lines of the many local businesses in the areas surrounding them.
The new music venue is anticipated to break ground this year, for a slated completion in 2023, with a grand opening towards the end of the year. For more information, visit the Deer District website.