It looked so good on the drawing board – a glistening glass and brick renovation of the 94-year-old Auditorium, with a two-tiered performance hall that would seat 4,200, a honeycombed-domed rotunda and an outdoor terrace.
The Milwaukee Theatre would be a building for all occasions – civic and corporate, conventions and concerts, even Broadway musicals.
But the luster has already tarnished.
Last August, the DNR accused developers of violating asbestos laws, and in January, construction crews discovered cracked floor slabs, broken structural beams and rotted pilings underground. Costs went through the roof, jumping $10 million to nearly $42 million. Suddenly, with an unlikely completion date set for November, the historic Milwaukee Theatre has morphed into a white mastodon.
From the start, the project was fast-tracked. In the driver’s seat was attorney Franklyn Gimbel, chair of the Wisconsin Center District, the quasi-public owner/operator of the Auditorium, Midwest Airlines Center and U.S. Cellular Arena. Wheeler-dealer that he is, Gimbel beat his Bradley Center counterparts to the punch. He admitted to the Journal Sentinel last summer that he stole the theater idea from a Bradley task force that had weighed ideas to generate income for the Milwaukee Bucks. Renovating the Auditorium was a defensive move, Gimbel said, to ward off competition to the Arena and enhance the use of the convention center.
But in the race to break ground, Gimbel and his board have sent rumbles through the city’s sports, entertainment, performing arts and convention businesses.
• Thrown into question is funding for the cost overruns. Gimbel initially suggested boosting the rental car tax. The Wisconsin Center District then voted to consider jacking up the hotel tax. But either would need the improbable approval of the state Legislature.
Additional revenue bonds could be issued to supplement the $30 million in bonds sold in 2001. But new bonds would require a rating equivalent to the original bonds, not a sure thing considering the construction problems. Naming rights could be sold, and indeed calls are diligently being made to the city’s well-heeled. But no one has rushed forward so far.
• As costs skyrocket for the theater, the convention center sinks into obsolescence. In January, Gimbel said the $120 million expansion of the Midwest Airlines Center was dead in the water for at least a year because of the state budget crisis. A study last year showed that if the center isn’t expanded, Milwaukee will lose precious market share to cities such as Cleveland, Indianapolis and Kansas City, says Doug Neilson, president of the Greater Milwaukee Convention & Visitors Bureau (who is rumored to be shopping for a new job after just two years in town).
• The new theater will split the local entertainment market. Though some industry experts see room here for a mid-size venue, the Milwaukee Theatre will compete with the Marcus Center, the Potawatomi Northern Lights Theater, the Pabst Theater (beefing up its concert schedule under new owner Michael Cudahy), the Rave and the Riverside, which insiders say is likely to go out of business or change its format.
The Milwaukee Theatre itself will see direct competition. Summerfest’s scuttled plan to build a mini-amphitheater on the north edge of the grounds has been revived; a 5,000- to 7,000-seat stage will go up at the southeast end, where the midway once stood.
And so the question: With the arts and entertainment dollar already stretched thin, how will the theater recoup if operating expenses slip into the red?
• Last but not least is the strain on the Bucks. By state law, the Wisconsin Center District is the taxing authority to raise funds for the Bradley Center. Not only did Gimbel’s gambit shut the door on the Bradley’s theater plan, it derailed its $75 million proposal to upgrade its aging facility with public backing.
In January, Sen. Herb Kohl announced he’d be willing to sell the Bucks if the prospective buyer would keep the team in Milwaukee. Some say the timing was no accident. With plans to revamp the Bradley Center turning sour, Kohl – a college fraternity brother of Gimbel’s – saw the handwriting on the wall.
So, what have we got? A half-built theater with a faulty foundation whose costs have jumped by a third. An NBA team with an outdated arena and dubious future. An undersize convention center whose bookings are already lagging. And no unified vision of how to put together a Downtown sports and entertainment district.
There’s plenty of blame to go around. The Bradley Center bobbled attempts to merge with the Wisconsin Center District. Gimbel, whose term on the board is up for renewal May 1, has been the district’s frontman, but sitting with him on the 15-member board are eight public officials, including two legislators, Sen. Alberta Darling and Rep. Steven Foti (who faces a felony charge for misconduct in public office), and two candidates for mayor, Marvin Pratt and Tom Nardelli.
In January 2002, Mayor John Norquist and then County Executive Tom Ament hosted a “summit” to discuss collaboration between the Bradley Center and Wisconsin Center District. Within a few short months, Ament was gone, Norquist was a lame duck and members of the Common Council and Assembly were mired in their own messy scandals.
Ill-timed and poorly scrutinized, the Milwaukee Theatre project is just one sign that the city’s leadership crisis is coming home to roost.
