Marty Brooks, president and CEO of the Wisconsin Center District, assumed the post on Jan. 22, 2018.
The arrival of a new president and CEO of the Wisconsin Center District isn’t likely to get much attention from the media or the general public. Marty Brooks assumed the post with little fanfare on Monday, Jan. 22, taking command of an organization whose name draws mostly blank stares when mentioned—or the misassumption that it’s the parent body of the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts.
And yet, the Wisconsin Center District (WCD)—overseen by a board appointed by the governor, the mayor of Milwaukee, the Common Council president and the Milwaukee country executive—is at the heart of what’s happening in Downtown Milwaukee.
The WCD encompasses three structures around the corner from the new Milwaukee Bucks Arena: the Wisconsin Center, the convention mecca still fondly remembered by many locals under its former name; the Midwest Express Center; and two venerable halls—UWM Panther Arena and Miller High Life Theater—the latter reconstituted a decade ago as the Milwaukee Theater from the bones of the grungy Milwaukee Auditorium. The WCD is also the landlord of the new Bucks Arena, for which the team has a 30-year lease.
Marty Brooks comes to the job with experience as a producer for sports television and the Miss Universe pageant, as well as property management. He was an executive with New York City’s Madison Square Garden and the Hartford Civic Center. After coming to St. Louis in 2008, he managed an ambitious $79 million renovation—a public-private collaboration—that transformed the derelict Kiel Opera House into the Peabody Opera House. He then became senior vice president and general manager of St. Louis’ America’s Center, a district that includes five convention halls and the Dome at the America’s Center—a 66,000-seat, NFL-built, multiple-use stadium. Under his tenure, the Dome became a top-tier concert venue, hosting shows by Beyoncé and Guns N’ Roses.
“I love doing events. I love doing big events,” Brooks says. The biggest show he had booked, U2, cancelled its concert during the unrest that followed the Ferguson shooting. The St. Louis Police said (Brooks quoting their statement from memory) that they were “not in a position to provide the standard protection for our audience.”
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A Great Time For Milwaukee
Perhaps it was time for Brooks to move on, given the situation in St. Louis? “I want to be part of a very exciting market at a time of an explosive growth spurt,” he says of his decision to come to Milwaukee. “It’s not that everything is rosy here,” he continues, adding that his mission during his first months has been to meet the city’s business and political leaders, his tenants and even his competitors. “But in all these meetings, what I hear is the enthusiasm for what’s going on. The engine is going faster and faster. I’ve worked in many markets, and I’ve never experienced such a unified, contagious enthusiasm. In St. Louis, people often compared themselves poorly to places like Chicago. I’ve never heard anyone in Milwaukee say, ‘I wish we were Chicago!’”
The record of his time in St. Louis suggests a man who makes quick decisions and likes to get things done. “I don’t live in the past, but I want to learn from the past and not replicate the mistakes,” he says. “The Wisconsin Center District has not been run as a business but more as a government entity. Some things seem to have been handled very rigidly. In order to grow, you can’t get bogged down in process. What I’ve been hearing in the community is that the District has been difficult to do business with. I want Milwaukee to know who we are. We need to promote our brands—the Wisconsin Center, the Miller High Life Theater, the Panther Arena—to increase and improve and get people Downtown.”
