Proposed Deer District Music Venue Moves Forward

The Milwaukee Zoning, Neighborhoods and Development Committee voted unanimously to approve the detailed planned development for a proposed Deer District music venue following their meeting on Oct. 25. This action will allow FPC Live and the Milwaukee Bucks to move forward with the first phase of development.

The plans outline a 4,000-person capacity concert venue and an additional 800-person capacity room in the same building. The venue would be built at the former site of the BMO Harris Bradley Center, in close proximity to the Milwaukee Bucks arena, Fiserv Forum.

“The Bucks feel great responsibility to continue to develop the Deer District into the best, most activated entertainment district in our city,” Milwaukee Bucks President Peter Feigin said during the meeting.

In addition to the venue, the plans include a plaza and private service drive for staging needs. The building would also house spaces for other uses, such as meetings and events, and have outdoor balconies and rooftop patios, according to Sam Leichtling, City Planning Manager for the Department of City Development.

An area of the block has not yet been proposed and is reserved for later development. Feigin said this space will be used for future residential and hotel development.

“The people in Milwaukee deserve the best,” Feigin said. “Really, when it comes down to it, this project is about continuing to bring the best amenities, the best cultural assets, to the city, and we’re excited about this project. We’ve gotten momentum in our city, and we need to keep building on it. We’re betting on Milwaukee, we’re betting on the future of the city, and we’re betting on the people of the city.”

The $50 million project has been met with both support and opposition. The company developing the venue, FPC Live, is partly owned by Live Nation, which is also the parent company of Ticketmaster. Some fear this could hurt nearby independent venues in the city of Milwaukee, such as The Rave/Eagles Club.

Adam Peterman is a concert promoter from Wisconsin who spoke in opposition of the project during public testimony. Peterman said that many artists’ arrangements with Live Nation would require them to play at this venue instead of existing venues of a similar size.

“If and when Live Nation gains a stronger foothold in Milwaukee, none of the current venues or promoters will have an opportunity to compete for booking acts as they do now,” Peterman said. “Currently, since Live Nation does not have a small or mid-size venue, acts which play those venues in Milwaukee are free to negotiate their best deal with any of our iconic locations.”

Joel Plant, CEO of Frank Productions, the Madison-based parent company of FPC Live, said this type of venue does not yet exist in Milwaukee. Plant said the project will help both downtown and the city as a whole.

“The project is great for a growing Milwaukee,” Plant said. “It will help Milwaukee’s music scene grow. These two rooms fill a void in the Milwaukee market, and filling this void gives Milwaukee a true vertical pipeline for the development of artists at all levels of their careers. This means more artists in Milwaukee.”

Another issue that concerned some members of the public during the meeting was the proposed venue’s proximity to Turner Hall.

“This proposal includes an 800-person venue,” said Arthur Heitzer, president of the Board of Milwaukee Turners Inc. “Turner Hall, the ballroom is essential for our continued operation, has 900-something capacity. So, it’s right across the street, absolutely direct competition.”

The plan for the venue includes a requirement to be sympathetic to Turner Hall in its architecture. Design Principal Greg Uhen said the new building has been designed to honor and not compete with Turner Hall, bringing further attention to the historic architecture.

“Very appropriate for that requirement,” Uhen said. “Turner Hall is an absolute gem, as an architect, it’s a building that is a great example of Romanesque Revival architecture here in Milwaukee and should be respected. So, there’s been a lot of discussion about how you do this.”

During the meeting, the topic of safety was also discussed in regard to the new venue. The company has made investments in technology and will provide a two-person beat patrol on nights when the 4,000-person venue is in use, according to Capt. James Campbell from the Milwaukee Police Department.

“With the additional people that are coming down to this venue, there are additional concerns,” Campbell said. “However, I believe those concerns are alleviated by the investments that they’re making and the things that we are going to do collectively to mitigate them.”

Those in support of the development say it will attract people to Milwaukee and bring new jobs to the area, including jobs for minorities and residents.

During the meeting, Troy Brewer spoke for the Milwaukee Area Service and Hospitality Workers Organization about the potential impact of new jobs.

“With these venues going up, it will mean good service sector jobs for a lot of us,” Brewer said. “It will mean year-round work for a lot of us, and it will mean living wage jobs for many of us who work at the Fiserv Forum. It would mean that some of us don’t have to work two and three jobs to make ends meet. It would mean that we will be able to put food on our tables, clothes on our backs, and shelter for our families.”