UW-Shorewood East to build an on-campus arena

[Ari Gold]

Just thought about this... and kind of wanted to speculate:

IF UWM moves out of the US Cell, what happens to that building? The wave certainly can't hold it on it's own. With the combination of the BC, Pabst, Milwaukee Theater, PAC etc... The market is pretty full for concert halls/arena. The Admirals couldn't move (at least I don't think) and I'm not sure of the financial future of the Wave or Iron is secure enough to bank on them saving that building. -Are the Bonecrushers still around?-

Given that that space of land (and if you want to include the Midwest Express Building, which is nearly always empty) is there a chance/opportunity/need for a new arena in Milwaukee? (as long as it's not taxpayer funded) It seems like a logical in that what will be left in the cell won't be able to maintain it. i'm just kind of shooting from the hip here and just wanted to put this to the forum.

[bma725]

The footprint of that site isn't big enough for a modern day arena.  They'd have to tear down the Milwaukee Theater as well just to have enough space, and the Wisconsin Center District would never admit that they made a mistake pouring funding into the Theater.  Plus, doing it without public funding is going to be a near impossibility.  The Admirals won't pay for another stadium, the Wave can't pay for another stadium, and I doubt Senator Kohl would finance all of it given his age and desire to sell the Bucks at some point in the near future.

[martyconlonontherun]

Ari- Not sure if the "chance/opportunity/need for a new arena" was referring to the UWM arena. But another OT arena subject would be what happens with the Bradley Center. Whether or not this will happen/should happen, the Bucks only chance in Milwaukee would be if there was a new arena downtown. And the only way for it to be profitable would be for it to be surrounded b restaurants/shops/etc. It will be interesting to see the state of arenas and basketball teams in Milwaukee in 5 years.

[martyconlonontherun]

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=4th+and+state+milwaukee&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=W+State+St+%26+N+4th+St,+Milwaukee,+Wisconsin+53203&gl=us&ei=CE98S9WLKI6INOXHha0F&ved=0CAsQ8gEwAA&t=h&z=16
Anyone know if anything is planned North and North West of the BC?

[Hards Alumni]

I've always wondered why that entire strip of land has remained abandoned since the late 90s early 00's.

[GGGG]

Just thought about this... and kind of wanted to speculate:

IF UWM moves out of the US Cell, what happens to that building? The wave certainly can't hold it on it's own. With the combination of the BC, Pabst, Milwaukee Theater, PAC etc... The market is pretty full for concert halls/arena. The Admirals couldn't move (at least I don't think) and I'm not sure of the financial future of the Wave or Iron is secure enough to bank on them saving that building. -Are the Bonecrushers still around?-

Given that that space of land (and if you want to include the Midwest Express Building, which is nearly always empty) is there a chance/opportunity/need for a new arena in Milwaukee? (as long as it's not taxpayer funded) It seems like a logical in that what will be left in the cell won't be able to maintain it. i'm just kind of shooting from the hip here and just wanted to put this to the forum.

Well, something will have to be done...probably within the next decade or so.  And to think that a replacement could be built without tax money is a pipe dream - there aren't Jane Pettits out there getting rich off the sale of Allen-Bradley out there right now.  My hope is that they simply extend the Miller Park sales tax to build a new arena.

[MU111]

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=4th+and+state+milwaukee&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=W+State+St+%26+N+4th+St,+Milwaukee,+Wisconsin+53203&gl=us&ei=CE98S9WLKI6INOXHha0F&ved=0CAsQ8gEwAA&t=h&z=16
Anyone know if anything is planned North and North West of the BC?

JSOnline has a picture of the Bradley Center's proposed mixed use development at this link:
http://www.jsonline.com/business/81051877.html
and the article on the proposal itself, dating back to May 2008 is here:
http://www.jsonline.com/business/29586364.html

The BC has floated proposals for years for the land directly north and northwest of the arena.  They proposed a theater several years ago to increase revenue but renovating the Auditorium into the new Milwaukee Theater killed that plan.  This newer plan calls for a mix of commercial, retail, and residential but it isn't much more than a pipe dream at this point.

A 15 to 20 story hotel proposed a block east of the strip of land bordered by McKinley, Juneau, 4th, and 6th, died recently, as well, because the developers couldn't secure financing.  The main problem at this point is that the county owns most of the land created by the removal of the Park East freeway.  They don't want to split up the land into smaller, more manageable parcels, meaning that a very large, very expensive development would have to be created to be economically feasible.  At this point, no one is going to be willing to provide financing for something so large.  Therefore, unfortunately there might not be anything going up for at least a couple of years.

[MU111]

Well, something will have to be done...probably within the next decade or so.  And to think that a replacement could be built without tax money is a pipe dream - there aren't Jane Pettits out there getting rich off the sale of Allen-Bradley out there right now.  My hope is that they simply extend the Miller Park sales tax to build a new arena.

I think the Bradley Center is the 4rd oldest arena in the NBA, behind MSG, the Izod Center (Nets) and Arco Arena (Kings).  It's definitely outdated for the NBA, at least, and probably has less than ten years left.  It was built with the intent of luring an NHL team to Milwaukee so the sight lines are obviously bad for basketball.  Not to mention, there basically no club seats, fewer lower level seats than newer arenas, and no year-round amenities like restaurants.

I'd agree with you that the sales tax should be expanded for a new arena.  Unfortunately, I don't think most people in the area share that sentiment, as the current sales tax probably won't expire until late this decade and a new arena would easily cost $300 million.

Something needs to be done though because the Bucks will be gone if there are no plans for a new arena in place when Herb Kohl sells the team.

[wallybinghampton]

the idea of UWM needing an on-campus arena, besides the facility they already have, is absurd. they need to come to terms with their station in life.