New hope could bloom for the Mitchell Park Domes if the Milwaukee County Board plants the seeds for a restoration project Thursday.
Supervisors will vote on whether to commit $30 million to a $133.5 million plan that would renovate the iconic conservatory and hand control over it to a nonprofit group that hopes new visitor amenities could help the Domes become financially self-sustaining.
The Domes Reimagined plan also would add children’s attractions and a separate nature center building, while revitalizing the surrounding park. And it could open the way to new programming, such as themed docent-guided tours and QR codes to access details about each plant, says Christa Beall Diefenbach, executive director of the Friends of the Domes.
“It would be a similar but enhanced experience,” Diefenbach says.
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Although the county’s commitment would come through a proposed amendment to the 2025 budget, the measure would not appropriate any money right away. Instead, it calls for local tax dollars to be paid out over an unspecified six-year period – and only if the Friends of the Domes succeeds in raising the rest of the cash from the state and federal governments and private donors.
Supervisor Juan Miguel Martinez, the amendment’s sponsor, has rounded up 11 cosponsors, a veto-proof two-thirds majority of the 18-member board, including Chair Marcelia Nicholson. A spokesman for County Executive David Crowley calls the plan “a good faith effort” to ensure the future of the Domes and the park, and says Crowley “is reviewing the proposal to ensure it is financially feasible.”
County parks staff worked with the Friends and shared the cost of hiring consultants to prepare the plan, Deputy Parks Director Jim Tarantino says. “I felt better about it than about all the other years of planning combined,” Tarantino adds.
And that’s a lot of years. The fate of the Domes has been debated since early 2016, when a chunk of concrete fell from the ceiling of the Desert Dome. County officials closed all three of the domes until wire mesh netting could be installed to ensure visitors’ safety.
More than eight years later, that temporary fix is still in place as uncertainty shrouds the unique glass structures. Elected officials have been reluctant to commit the cash to restore them, as the county’s backlog of deferred maintenance exceeds $1 billion and its need to replace the outmoded Safety Building with a new criminal courts complex casts a half-billion-dollar shadow over long-term capital spending. Yet leaders also have been hesitant to call in the wrecking ball for the beloved conservatory.
The Friends plan would preserve all three domes in essentially their original state, Diefenbach says. That’s a contrast to some of the more drastic options that county officials previously discussed, such as razing two domes and restoring just one, or converting the Show Dome into either an Adventure Dome, featuring zip lines and climbing structures, or an Eco Dome, with live animal exhibits, aquariums and butterflies.
But the new plan also would add visitor-friendly features intended to increase revenue. Overhauling the entrance would speed up admissions and eliminate the long lines that sometimes discourage would-be visitors from coming in, Diefenbach says. Adding food service and doubling the size of the gift shop would make it easier for people to stay longer. And the somewhat drab lobby — designed for dramatic contrast to the sunlit domes — would become more inviting, perhaps offering a chance to sample the smells of different plants, she says.
One of the biggest changes would come to the “transition dome,” a smaller domed greenhouse that is now closed to the public and is used as a staging area for upcoming floral displays. The Friends plan would turn that building into a children’s area called the Little Sprouts Dome, opening up its existing connection to the rest of the complex, between the Show Dome and the Desert Dome.
As an interactive garden, the Little Sprouts Dome would inject more kid-level fun into what is now a “don’t touch, don’t run, don’t do anything space for children,” Diefenbach says.
Changes within the main domes could include rotating exhibits in the Tropical Dome and the Desert Dome, which now are more static than the Show Dome, Diefenbach says. The Tropical Dome also could return to its roots, when it was organized into different sections to represent the world’s different jungles, just as the Desert Dome’s sections showcase different deserts, she says.
Visitors could scan QR codes to learn much more about each plant than they get from current signage, Diefenbach says. And docents could lead tours built around themes like “rare species” or “plants that changed the world,” she says.
The plan also would set aside $1 million to improve Mitchell Park itself. Neighbors would have a say in how that money is spent, says Martinez, who represents the neighborhood. He would like to add a soccer field, renovate its basketball courts, dredge its lagoon and remove buckthorn to clear its hill for sledding.
All that would be included in the plan’s $107.5 million first phase, which the Friends plan envisions running from 2026 through 2029. No county money would be used for the $26 million second phase in 2030, which would add a separate nature learning center building, with space for educational programs and special events, as well as a Wisconsin-themed outdoor garden. The garden would be irrigated by rainwater collected on the nature center roof, and the watering system itself would provide an educational display of stormwater management, Diefenbach says.
In addition to the $30 million in county support, the first phase of the Friends plan would rely on $35 million in private donations, $30.7 million in federal and state tax credits and $11.8 million in other state or federal aid. The Friends would seek additional federal grants to supplement private donations for the second phase.
The tax credits would include a mix of state and federal historic preservation tax credits, as well as federal New Markets tax credits, an economic development tool for low-income communities that also was used for the Urban Ecology Center in Washington Park.
Wisconsin hasn’t doled out many major state grants for local cultural institutions, but the state has committed $40 million to construction of a new Milwaukee Public Museum, a contribution that could lead to a name change. Like the museum, Diefenbach says the Domes could make a strong case that it’s a statewide attraction, with about 60% of its visitors from outside the county.
Raising money from private donors could be a challenge, says Supervisor Sheldon Wasserman, chair of the County Board’s Parks and Culture Committee. In contrast to the long history of philanthropic backing for the Milwaukee County Zoo and the Public Museum, “the Domes over the years have not developed that kind of support,” Wasserman says.
But Diefenbach says consultants have found that the plan’s fundraising goals are realistic. Martinez and Supervisor Steve Taylor, the panel’s vice chair, say they’re impressed by the Friends’ confidence.
This level of fundraising would be part of a broad expansion of the Friends’ mission to meet the Domes’ challenges. Since she was hired three years ago to spearhead that transformation, Diefenbach has boosted staff to 25, increased membership from 1,800 to 5,000, and brought in consultants with expertise in fundraising and historic preservation.
The Friends now run about half the Dome’s operations, including the gift shop, special events, marketing and educational and family programming. Under their new plan, they would take over the rest of the operation, except that the parks system would remain in charge of the horticultural staff. The county would lease the complex to the Friends on a long-term basis while retaining ownership of the park land.
If the budget amendment is approved, the Friends would negotiate details with county staff over the next six months, with a goal of bringing a final agreement back to the committee in May.
