Wall towers over MSO plans
Stage requires structure to be moved 30 feet
A tour of downtown’s Warner Grand Theatre shows why Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra executives and players are excited about plans to convert it into their new performance hall.
The elegant, sleek Art Deco lobby. Portraits of figures who could be stepping out at Versailles. A grand staircase. And the high ceiling, rectangular shape and ornate features give the building ideal acoustics.
However, it’s the theater’s rear wall, behind the stage, that is drawing attention from city development officials and MSO President Mark Niehaus.
That wall, known for its decorative terracotta exterior, will have to move about 30 feet to accommodate an expanded stage, Niehaus said. And that will be a complicated process overseen by a federal agency that would help fund the $80 million conversion project.
“It was built in 1930, and it’s French terracotta,” Niehaus said wryly about the wall and the difficulty in moving it. “Good luck.”
It will take a lot more than luck, of course.
The wall will be detached from the building, braced with a steel frame and then placed on tracks so it can be slowly rolled eastward into N. 2nd St., said Niehaus and Dan Casanova, senior economic development specialist for the city Redevelopment Authority
“There’s really no other way to use the theater as a performance hall without doing it,” Casanova said.
A similar method is used to relocate historic buildings short distances.
The symphony’s plans to
renovate the Warner Grand Theatre will be overseen by the National Park Service.
That’s because roughly $14 million to $17 million of the project’s $75 million to $80 million cost would be covered by state and federal historic preservation tax credits, Niehaus said.
The Park Service operates the federal tax credit program and has tentatively approved the symphony hall project, Niehaus said. A similar approval has been obtained for state tax credits.
“In order to get the historic tax credits, you need to preserve that wall,” Casanova said.
One concern is what will happen as the wall is detached.
“Is it movable?” Niehaus asked. “Will the wall crumble as soon as we touch it? Can it be put back together?”
While the theater’s main entrance is at 212 W. Wisconsin Ave., facing south, the theater and future symphony hall’s rear wall faces east, along N. 2nd St., north of the avenue. Patrons will enter the theater lobby, walk to the building’s back and take a right turn into the auditorium.
Moving the wall is the best solution to the problem of making sure every symphony hall patron has a good view of the stage, Niehaus said.
The current stage is too small to accommodate a typical symphony performance, with 70 to 85 musicians.
When the orchestra did acoustic tests at the theater, Niehaus said, several front rows of seats were removed so a temporary plywood stage could be built for the orchestra.
However, if that forward stage extension were made permanent, views from the balcony seats of the stage’s front portion would be cut off, Neihaus said.
“If Yo-Yo Ma is playing a concerto in that theater, everyone in the audience wants to see the pin sticking out at the end of the cello,” he said.
Also, extending the stage forward could cover some of the building’s interior historic features, Casanova said. That could affect the project’s ability to obtain preservation tax credits, he said.
So, that means extending the stage to the rear, Neihaus said, which means moving the wall and building an addition to the east.
The city would help cover that expense under a financing package approved last Thursday by the Redevelopment Authority board. The city would provide a $750,000 grant for moving the wall about 30 feet into N. 2nd St.
Roughly half the street, between W. Wisconsin Ave. and W. Wells St., would be vacated to accommodate the relocated wall, Casanova said. Also, N. 2nd St. between W. Wisconsin Ave. and N. Plankinton Ave. would be reconstructed at a $2.5 million cost.
The street reconstruction costs would include relocating underground utilities, he said.
The overall $7.9 million financing package approved by the authority board includes other nearby street projects.
The financing package, which needs Common Council approval, also would provide $1.9 million to help finance renovations at the Boston Store building. Those renovations will keep the department store and store operator Bon-Ton Stores Inc.’s corporate offices at that building, 331 W. Wisconsin Ave., until at least 2028.
The city funds would be repaid through property taxes from the Boston Store building, the adjacent Shops of Grand Avenue mall and other commercial buildings attached to the mall.
The theater stopped showing films in 1995. But Marcus Corp., which controls the property, has kept the building in good condition, Niehaus said.
Along with extending the theater and its east wall, another building east of the L-shaped theater and its adjacent 12-story office tower will likely be demolished, he said.
That mostly empty two-story building, 200208 W. Wisconsin Ave., which now has Kiku restaurant, would be replaced with a new twostory structure that will feature an expanded lobby, including a bar area, box office, coat check and restrooms, as well as upper-level gathering space for patrons, Niehaus said.
“You get to experience a concert with the grandeur of 1930,” he said, “but with the amenities of the 21st century.”
The new two-story structure also would be extended into N. 2nd St., Casanova said.
Meanwhile, the 12story office building could eventually house the orchestra’s administrative offices. And symphony officials are working on plans to connect the future 1,750seat concert venue and the nearby Grand Avenue’s parking structure.
Work on the theater’s conversion is expected to begin this fall if progress continues on raising funds, Niehaus said. The goal is for the orchestra to begin operations there in fall 2019.
The orchestra has raised more than half its $120 million goal.
Along with $75 million to $80 million for the concert hall renovations, that goal would provide $20 million for the symphony’s endowment and additional funds to retire a pension liability and meet other expenses.
The orchestra now shares Uihlein Hall, at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts, with the Milwaukee Ballet, the Florentine Opera and the Marcus’ Broadway series. The symphony wants a new hall so it can play more weeks and more favorable weeks, schedule major guest artists further in advance and have a new revenue source for renting the building to other groups.
“Our business model fails if we cannot have access to our building,” Niehaus said.