LITTLE TWIN

Car wash owner says his design was chosen before Bucks arena unveiled

The remodeling and expansion of a Brookfield car wash include a swooping roof that’s strikingly similar to the new Milwaukee Bucks arena.

“We have been getting a lot of comments on how the building resembles the new Bucks arena,” said Tyler Leikam, vice president of Full Service Car Wash.

“A lot of our customers really like it.” The family-owned company has five area locations, including the one drawing attention at 19050 W. Blue Mound Road in Brookfield.

Leikam said he agreed that the new car wash “looks very similar to the arena.” However, he said architect Keith Schultz “actually modeled it after a Chicago parking garage from the 1960s.”

The design, Leikam said, was selected in the fall of 2015 — before the Bucks unveiled the plans for the $524 million arena under construction in downtown Milwaukee.

The swooping roofline of the Bucks arena drew a similar response when it was unveiled in 2016. The arena was

designed by Kansas City, Mo.-based Populous and Milwaukee-based Eppstein Uhen Architects.

Some thought the new arena resembles the BelAir Cantina at North Water Street and North Humboldt Avenue. . That building was constructed in the early 2000s.

Others thought the Bucks’ future home looked a lot like the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky. That arena, home to the University of Louisville basketball teams, also was designed by Populous and opened in 2010.

The Bucks arena, being built with $250 million in public funding, is scheduled to open in the fall of 2018.

The car wash’s $2 million redesign and expansion will triple the size of its detail shop and better handle traffic so cars don’t back up so much on the frontage road. The car wash is open, and construction will be done in a couple weeks, Leikam said.

“We really want to make this a great car wash for the community,” he said.

Bucks President Peter Feigin said he was wasn’t concerned that the car wash would resemble the new arena.

“I’m not going to send them a ‘cease and desist letter,’ ” Feigin said with a laugh.

PAUL GORES/MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL The Full Service Car Wash in Brookfield bears a striking resemblance to the new Milwaukee Bucks arena.

MARK HOFFMAN/MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL Construction work continues at the new Bucks arena this month.

COURTESY OF POPULOUS Some compare the curving shape of the KFC Yum! Center, a downtown sports arena in Louisville, Ky., with the dramatic, arching roof of the Milwaukee arena.

MIKE DE SISTI/MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL BelAir Cantina on the corner of North Humboldt Avenue and North Water Street.