After 4-hour debate, FPC Live scores narrow victory at Milwaukee Plan Commission for proposed Deer District concert venue complex
After nearly four hours of debate and by a thin margin, a polarizing proposal for a $50 million, two-venue concert complex in the Deer District moved one step closer to reality Monday, with the Milwaukee Plan Commission voting to recommend a necessary zoning change.
The commission's vote sends the project on to the Common Council's Zoning, Neighborhoods and Development Committee for review.
The decision marked a victory for FPC Live, the Live Nation-backed, Madison-based concert promoter seeking to operate the proposed venue at the site of the former Bradley Center, land owned by the Milwaukee Bucks.
Critics line up to block or slow the Deer District project
But it was a narrow victory, with three commissioners voting in favor and two opposing. Two other commissioners recused themselves due to conflicting professional interests.
The measure passed with a few conditions, including the results of a traffic study currently being financed by FPC Live's parent company, Frank Productions. Results of the study are due in a few weeks, CEO Joel Plant said Monday.
Critics of the proposal, including independent venue operators in Milwaukee who have consolidated behind a new effort called Save MKE's Music Scene, are likely to continue their campaign against the project, after nearly successfully derailing or delaying the project through lengthy debate Monday.
John Wirth, an attorney with Mallery representing the effort to block the project, argued at the hearing Monday that the venue would reduce other development capabilities for the site, while Craig Peterson, spokesman for the effort, raised concerns about crowd congestions and safety, saying fans will likely line up for general-admission shows.
Emilio de Torre, executive director for nonprofit Milwaukee Turners, expressed “grave concerns” that the new venue would take away business from Turner Hall Ballroom, a Pabst Theater Group-operated venue that Turners owns. De Torre said that business is critical to the nonprofit’s operations.
Adam Peterman, promoter with Stellar Spark in Milwaukee, argued FPC Live would launch an “endurance game” with a new venue that would take away business, and increase losses, for independent promoters and venues in Milwaukee.
Service workers union backs project
Milwaukee Bucks president Peter Feigin countered that, with the pandemic having slowed Deer District development, a new venue will attract other potential businesses to fill out the former Bradley Center site.
Frank Productions CEO Joel Plant said they had begun talks with Turners to ensure they would be a supportive neighbor, including bringing up the notion Monday of providing marketing support for Turner Hall. Plant also suggested there was room for the concert marketplace to grow, arguing that venues run by independent operators continue to exist in Madison despite FPC Live’s multiple venues there.
The project also received an endorsement at Monday’s meeting from Peter Rickman, president of the Milwaukee Area Service and Hospitality Workers Association, the local union that Rickman said Monday has struck a deal with FPC Live for the proposed venue.
Another cause for concern, expressed by commissioner and local architect Allyson Nemec, was that one wall, intended to be obscured by further development that has yet to come to fruition at the site, could be a long-time eyesore in the district.
Feigin assured Nemec the Bucks would work with the Department of City Development on a short-term solution to beautify the lot prior to development.
Ultimately, the zoning change passed, with city planning manager Sam Leichtling saying before the four-hour debate that the Department of City Development was recommending approval for the zoning change because the project fulfilled the development plan for that area of downtown.
Commissioners Brianna Sas-Perez, Ranell Washington and Catrina Crane voted in favor of the zoning change for the proposed venue. Nemec and commissioner Willie Smith opposed. Commission chair Stephanie Bloomingdale, who serves on the board of directors for one of the parties in the debate, and commissioner Tarik Moody, who works in the music industry as program director for Radio Milwaukee's new station Hyfin, recused themselves from voting.
A lengthy and contentious debate is sure to follow at the next stage for the project, a public hearing by the Common Council's Zoning, Neighborhoods and Development Committee. After that, the full Common Council would vote on the committee's recommendation. The council also will need to approve a liquor license for the new venues.
Concert giant Live Nation backs FPC
FPC Live was the 33rd-largest concert promoter in the world in 2021, selling 187,548 tickets, according to concert trade publication Pollstar. It's also backed by Live Nation, by far the largest player in the concert world, which owns a majority stake in FPC Live's parent company Frank Productions.
FPC Live has grown in stature since Frank's sale to Live Nation in 2018, adding to its venue portfolio in its hometown — including the Majestic Theatre, the Orpheum Theater and High Noon Saloon — with built-from-scratch 2,500-person-capacity club the Sylvee that year.
In Milwaukee, FPC Live is the primary promoter for concerts at Fiserv Forum, and in 2019, became the preferred promoter for the American Family Insurance Amphitheater and BMO Harris Pavilion at Maier Festival Park, outside of Summerfest shows.
FPC Live announced plans late last year to expand its footprint in Milwaukee's concert scene, initially proposing building the complex — a 4,000-person-capacity venue and a 800-person-capacity venue — in the Third Ward, on land owned by Summerfest parent Milwaukee World Festival Inc. The complex is expected to host about 135 events a year.
That plan faced fierce opposition from neighboring condo owners and developers, who united behind a pushback effort, Save The Third Ward. The effort's spokesman, Craig Peterson, owner of public relations and governmental affairs agency Zigman Joseph, was a key player in the termination of a proposed House of Blues at the former Pabst Brewery complex 17 years ago.
In May, FPC Live and Milwaukee World Festival announced that the project would no longer proceed in the Third Ward, with FPC Live announcing the Deer District as the new location just 10 days later.
Occupying about 1.6 acres of the 5.7-acre lot, the former Bradley Center site was sold to the Milwaukee Bucks by the state for $1 as part of the 2015 public financing agreement for Fiserv Forum. The sale conditions included the Bucks assuming the cost of demolishing the Bradley Center, and conceptual plans at the time included a hotel.
In years past, local independent venues like the Rave and the Pabst Theater Group have hosted Live Nation concerts, promoted locally by FPC Live. Live Nation club and theater tours would almost certainly be exclusively booked at FPC Live's new venue should it open.
Last month, Peterson became the spokesperson for another oppositional effort, Save MKE's Music Scene, on behalf of the Pabst Theater Group, the Rave, Shank Hall, and the Cactus Club. In recent days, the Rave has repeatedly posted Save MKE's Music Scene messaging in its social media channels and in newsletters to its subscribers.
But the Pabst Theater Group — which runs the Miller High Life Theatre, the Riverside Theater, the Pabst Theater, Turner Hall Ballroom and the Back Room at Colectivo Coffee — is also seeking to open its own built-from-scratch, 3,500-person-capacity venue in the proposed Iron District in 2024, anchored around an 8,000-seat soccer stadium.
Details are currently scant regarding the venue portion of the Iron District project. AEG, the world's second-largest concert promoter, will partner with the Pabst on the venue, according to a recent report by the Milwaukee Business Journal. AEG representatives have not returned requests for comment, and Pabst Theater Group CEO Gary Witt declined comment to the Journal Sentinel.
Pending further city approvals from the Common Council's Zoning, Neighborhoods and Development Committee and the full Common Council, FPC Live hopes to open its venue complex in early 2024. Local firm Eppstein Uhen Architects have designed the building, and on Monday, FPC Live and the Bucks announced that it would be built by Miron Construction, in partnership with JCP Construction.
Journal Sentinel reporter Tom Daykin contributed to this report.
Contact Piet at (414) 223-5162 or plevy@journalsentinel.com. Follow him on Twitter at @pietlevy or Facebook at facebook.com/PietLevyMJS.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: FPC Live gets Milwaukee Plan Commission OK on proposed concert complex
