Betty Brinn Children’s Museum, which plans to leave its longtime Downtown space overlooking Lake Michigan, has considered three other lakefront spaces, as well as a pair of spots in the planned Iron District development and a former tannery building in Walker’s Point.
An open records request revealed conversations between the Department of City Development and Betty Brinn’s top executive concerning potential new spots for the museum, which has occupied a space at Museum Center Park, formerly O’Donnell Park, since its inception in 1995.
Betty Brinn has outgrown that site, so museum management initially decided in 2020 to co-locate with the Milwaukee Public Museum, which will be renamed the Nature & Culture Museum of Wisconsin, at its new site in the Haymarket neighborhood just north of the Milwaukee Bucks’ Deer District.
Betty Brinn announced in April 2022 that it was no longer pursuing that move due to financial concerns and opted to remain at its current location while pursuing other potential sites.
The children’s museum began a search for another site in Milwaukee that would provide more space and allow the museum to attract a more diverse group of patrons.
“While our lakefront home has served us well for 30 years, growing demand for additional exhibit and programming space is compelling us to seek a new location. A new home will allow us to expand our footprint and in turn, expand our impact in the community,” the museum said in a statement on Wednesday to Milwaukee Magazine. “We’ve explored a number of potential locations as part of our due diligence, but no final decisions have been made. Together with the city and key stakeholders, we are exploring opportunities that will position us to fulfill our long-term goals and better serve the community.”
It’s time to pick your Milwaukee favorites for the year!
It’s time to pick your Milwaukee favorites for the year!
It’s time to pick your Milwaukee favorites for the year!
Six sites considered by Betty Brinn leadership have been discussed with and analyzed by Milwaukee’s Department of City Development.
In a January email exchange between Sam Leichtling, deputy commissioner of city development, and Tina Quealy, CEO of Betty Brinn, revealed that two spots in the planned Iron District development have been under consideration by the museum. Leichtling described a location at North Sixth and West Michigan streets as “a very prominent site with good visibility.”
“There is great potential here for a mix of uses that complement the future proposed Iron District,” he wrote. “A signature public plaza for the Iron District would be appropriate here, similar to the (Deer District), and potentially the new facility could integrate as part of a larger mixed-use development.”
Leichtling said a museum is a permitted use on the property but noted that a “smaller standalone tax-exempt use may not be the highest and best use for this high-profile development site.”
The second potential Iron District site at 803 W. Michigan St. provides a “unique opportunity” to reuse an existing building on the property while taking advantage of underground parking already in place, Leichtling wrote. The vacant building formerly housed UMB Fund Services and was sold it to Marquette University in 2014. Marquette then sold it in 2022 as part of the Iron District development. “Developing space in an existing building would likely be significantly more cost effective for the project,” he wrote.
The Iron District is a development that would transform a long-neglected Downtown property into a new sports and entertainment area. Proposed in May 2022, the only work that has begun at the site is for a 99-unit apartment building known as Michigan Street Commons, which opened for leasing late last year.
Among the lakefront sites that have been discussed is the proposed Lakefront Gateway Plaza, which is intended as an anchor to help reconnect the lakefront to Downtown while adding a signature year-round public space. The plaza is planned for an area adjacent to the Couture high-rise apartment building.
Leichtling wrote that a future Betty Brinn museum “contained within a sculptural building surrounded by high-quality public space with direct connections to the Couture may be a catalyst to anchor the plaza and allow it to advance.”
The exact locations of the other two lakefront sites were not disclosed in the emails, and Betty Brinn officials did not provide further information.
One of the sites was described in the conversation only as part Milwaukee World Festival’s leasehold, under the control of the City Board of Harbor Commissioners and “currently well used for a variety of purposes.” Feedback or buy-in from Milwaukee World Festival, which produces Summerfest and other events at Henry Maier Festival Park, would be an important part at an early stage, Leichtling noted.
The third space along the lakefront under consideration would have Milwaukee County as a “key entity to determine whether future exploration of the site is feasible,” according to the documents. The site provides good opportunity to connect to the water’s edge and other lakefront and adjacent parklands but is not served by transit or other nearby amenities, Leichtling wrote, adding that new surface parking along the lakefront at this location would be discouraged and that a special zoning approval would be required.
The Walker’s Point site that has been considered is the former Pfister & Vogel tannery site along West Virginia Street west of Sixth Street. That location is described in the documents as a “logical site for adaptive reuse of an historic building,” near many neighborhood amenities and where parking needs appear to be met with existing spaces. A museum is a permitted use at the privately owned site, the documents noted. The former tannery complex has been a target of considerable redevelopment and includes the River Place Lofts, a luxury apartment development along the south end of the Sixth Street viaduct.
Leichtling also noted the Betty Brinn may have other opportunities that arise for co-location with other existing or pending Downtown developments.
