Public museum may get $150,000 grant from state
The proposed development of the Milwaukee Public Museum’s new home could be getting a state grant to help fund its site preparation work.
The facility, which would house both the public museum and Betty Brinn Children’s Museum, is to be built east of North Sixth Street, between West McKinley Avenue and West Vliet Street.
That $240 million project is already seeking $40 million from state taxpayers under Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ 2021-2023 construction budget proposal.
The Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee, controlled by Republicans, has yet to review the project.
Meanwhile, the city Redevelopment Authority board on Thursday is to vote on an application for a $150,000 site assessment grant from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp., a state agency.
Those funds would help pay for environmental site work and demolition work in connection with the project, according to a meeting agenda posted Monday.
The site has three buildings, including the offices of Bartolotta Restaurant Group, that would be razed to make way for the museum complex.
The site is owned by Historic Haymarket Milwaukee LLC, a public museum affiliate that would provide additional funds for the site work.
That 230,000-square-foot building would be just north of Fiserv Forum’s parking structure.
Evers’ budget estimates the cost of developing just the museum building at $170 million.
The total project cost is $240 million. That includes the site purchase, the children’s museum space, endowment funds and the cost of moving the collections.
The new building would feature exhibit space totaling 80,000 square feet, underground parking, a café, gift shop, collections research and storage, a classroom, auditorium, an events venue, offices and an exhibit maintenance workshop.
The public museum, with around 150,000 square feet of exhibit space, has operated at 800 W. Wells St. since 1963. That building is owned by Milwaukee County, which provides about 25% of the museum’s annual operating budget.
Renovating the current building, which is too large, inefficient and in need of $30 million in deferred maintenance projects, would cost more than $100 million, according to a museum study. That didn’t include the cost of updating the exhibits.
Betty Brinn Children’s Museum has operated since 1995 at 929 E. Wisconsin Ave. in O’Donnell Park. It would have 30,000 square feet at the new facility.
Museum officials are planning to launch a fundraising campaign this year.