Wisconsin Center to vote on hiring consultant
The $300 million proposed expansion of downtown Milwaukee’s Wisconsin Center could get a major push next week when the board overseeing the facility will be asked to approve hiring a key consultant to oversee preconstruction planning.
It’s a first step in what officials hope will lead to breaking ground on the project either late next year or in early 2021.
Marty Brooks, chief executive officer for the Wisconsin Center District, laid out a preliminary timeline during two committee meetings Thursday.
Besides the Aug. 16 full board vote to hire a consultant, another key vote could come as early as April, when the board could be asked to approve a final financing package.
The aim is to have bonds issued by June 15, Brooks said.
The project has picked up momentum in the past year, culminating in the state Legislature providing a “moral obligation pledge” for new debt that the Wisconsin Center District would issue.
Brooks said to take the next step, the project needs a firm to identify infrastructure needs. Under the tentative timeline, the plan would be to select an architect and construction manager around March or April of next year.
Democratic National Convention plans
In other developments, Brooks said the Democratic National Committee agreed to take over the Wisconsin Center’s ballrooms a week later than planned.
The move for the DNC to take over the ballrooms June 8 was made so that the Milwaukee Urban League can hold its annual Black & White Ball, Brooks said.
With the Democratic National
Convention scheduled for July 13-16, plans are taking shape with how the Wisconsin Center facilities may be used.
Brooks said convention officials are looking to hold caucuses on the first two floors of the convention facility as well as in the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena. Convention center ballrooms could be used as a hospitality area for delegates, he said.
The third floor of the convention center may be used as a media compound, he said. During the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, media tents were set up by the convention venue and had to be evacuated twice during thunderstorms.
But plans on how the convention center will be used remain in the early stages and are subject to change, he added.