Marcus Center sees renovation delay
Historic designation process could cause costly setbacks
To be sure, Paul Mathews doesn’t want the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts to be permanently designated as historic.
Mathews, Marcus Center president and chief executive officer, says that isn’t appropriate for a 50-year-old building that went through substantial changes in the 1990s.
But, if the center is going to have that status — which would require the Marcus Center to obtain city permission for future exterior changes — Mathews wants it to happen soon.
That would remove some uncertainty now hanging over the Marcus Center’s renovation plans, he said. That uncertainty could bring delays to that project — hurting efforts to raise funds.
“There are some specific things that cannot wait,” Mathews said.
He spoke to the Journal Sentinel after the Milwaukee Historic Preservation Commission voted to grant temporary historic designation for the Marcus Center.
That temporary designation can last up to 180 days — which would go to early August.
It’s designed as an emergency measure to stop a building from being altered or demolished while the commission considers permanent designation.
A property that’s designated as historic cannot have exterior changes without the commission’s approval. Any denials can be appealed to the Common Council.
The petition to designate the Marcus Center as historic was filed by by Jennifer Current, a landscape architect at Quorum Architects, and Mark Debrauske, an architect at Tredo Group.
They and other preservationists are opposed to
the Marcus Center’s plans to remove the grove of chestnut trees north of East Kilbourn Avenue.
The grove’s designer, Dan Kiley, was an important figure in the world of landscape architecture. His other works included the Cudahy Gardens in front of the Milwaukee Art Museum.
The commission’s Monday ruling for temporary historic designation relied on a city report that included references to both Kiley and Harry Weese, the Marcus Center architect, as prominent modernist designers.
That report also said the Marcus Center’s 1969 opening “was symbolic of rebirth for the city and gave Milwaukee a renewed focus on the performing arts.”
Mathews and other Marcus Center representatives spoke against the historic designation.
When is something ‘historic’?
Jim Shields, the architect for the proposed renovations, said the performing arts center has undergone such significant changes that it no longer meets the city’s criteria for historic status.
That includes the 1994 removal of white Italian marble from the exterior, and its replacement with limestone and granite cladding. The marble was removed because it was cracking and peeling.
The building’s main entrance was redesigned and expanded in 1996.
Also, there have been changes to the grove, with the 1989 addition of concrete benches, said Shields, of HGA Architects.
The hearing for permanent designation hasn’t yet been scheduled.
Mathews and other Marcus Center officials hope to have a decision soon on that permanent designation request.
The first phase of Marcus Center’s renovations was scheduled to begin this spring, and be completed by September — coinciding with the start of the 2019-’20 performing arts season.
“That is really the most pressing issue,” said Heidi Lofy, Marcus Center vice president of sales and marketing.
It would be helpful to know whether Marcus Center representatives need to plan on appearing before the commission to seek permission for that first phase, Mathews said.
“We’re going to be in front of them constantly,” he said.
That initial work includes creating a special lounge for big donors, Lofy said.
The plan is to have that room open by September — which will help entice more giving, she said.
A delay in opening the donor lounge could hurt the Marcus Center’s fundraising efforts, Lofy said.
The donor lounge will be built on the building’s south end, with large windows facing a new, thinner group of trees to replace the Kiley-designed grove, she said.
The Marcus Center wants to replace the horse chestnut grove, totaling 36 trees, with a more open, grassy space fringed by 18 mature shade trees.
The new 25-foot trees would be honey locusts, Lofy said, and would be less dense than the current grove.
Without that change, she said, the view from inside the donors lounge would be “a wall of trees.”
The new lawn and trees, unlike the current grove, also would be fully accessible to people who use wheelchairs, Mathews and Lofy said.
And it would create a more open, welcoming feel for the Marcus Center, they said.
In response, Current said it was difficult to comment on the new tree plan because there hasn’t been much information provided about it.
“I don’t think it will be a like-for-like replacement,” Current said in an interview.
Meanwhile, the chestnut grove has four trees that are in bad shape and need to be removed as soon as possible, Mathews said.
Leaving those trees standing could create liability issues for the Marcus Center, he said, especially with outdoor programs scheduled to begin in June at the Peck Pavilion. That stage is next to the grove.
The other renovations include a new atrium and terrace overlooking the Milwaukee River, a projection wall where performances can be seen live from the outdoor plaza along Kilbourn Avenue, and new seating in the center’s main performance space: Uihlein Hall.
All of the work is to be completed by 2021. The overall cost is still being finalized.
Milwaukee County will provide $10 million, with a private fundraising campaign planned for additional cash. The county owns the property, and leases it to the Marcus Center, a nonprofit corporation.
The center is home to the Milwaukee Ballet, the Florentine Opera Company and First Stage. It also hosts touring shows such as the recent “Book of Mormon.”
However, the center is losing one of its largest tenants, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra.
MSO plans to move in 2020 to its own concert hall at the redeveloped former Warner Grand Theatre.
Tom Daykin can be emailed tdaykin@jrn.com and followed Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.