Plan Commission advances arena design
Construction set to begin this summer
The new Milwaukee Bucks arena’s proposed design received its first city approval Monday, helping prepare the $500 million project for a planned construction start this summer.
The Plan Commission voted 4-0 to recommend approval. The detailed plan development also needs Common Council approval.
The preliminary endorsement came despite concerns raised by some commission members about what they said was a need for additional landscaping to better blend the arena with the surrounding neighborhood.
In some ways, the arena is “a beautiful building,” said Whitney Gould, a commission member. “But it seems like there’s still a ways to go to integrate it into the cityscape,” she said.
The basketball club will be creating a more extensive landscaping plan, said Peter Feigin, Bucks president. He agreed that it’s important to activate the space.
Other commission members praised the design by Kansas Citybased Populous and Eppstein Uhen Architects Inc. of Milwaukee.
“I think it’s really an amazing plan,” said Stephanie Bloomingdale, who contrasted it with the “closed in” feeling of the BMO Har-
ris Bradley Center, current home to the Bucks.
“I was not a big fan of the swoop at first,” said Larri Jacquart, referring to the arena’s curved roof at its main entrance overlooking N. 4th St.
“I’ve warmed up to that considerably,” she said.
The arena’s large windows, praised by Jacquart, were designed to make the building “as transparent as possible,” said Brad Clark, a Populous senior principal.
The idea, Clark said, is to allow people to connect to the building from the outside, while also allowing people within the building to connect with the city through panoramic views.
Clark also discussed the zinc exterior panels, which will be treated to provide a brown-rust color.
“It’s going to hold its color over time,” Clark said.
The arena will be just north of the Bradley Center.
In separate votes, the Plan Commission also recommended design approval for the new arena’s parking structure, to be built north of W. Juneau Ave. and east of N. 6th St., and the Bucks training center, to be just west of the parking structure.
The proposed parking structure is to include apartments and street-level commercial space, with Feigin saying the Bucks hope to develop the housing component at the same time the parking structure is constructed. The Plan Commission will conduct an additional review on the proposed apartments once those details are available.
The arena will be owned by the Wisconsin Center District, a state-created agency that also owns the downtown Wisconsin Center convention facility, the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena and the Milwaukee Theatre.
A lease between that agency and Deer District LLC, a Bucks affiliate, hasn’t yet been completed. The Bucks plan to begin the arena construction in June.
The arena is to be completed in time for the 2018-’19 National Basketball Association season.