When we last heard about Wisconsin music promoter FPC Live's plan to build a two-venue complex in the Deer District, the $50 million had received approval from Milwaukee's Common Council to move ahead. That was in Nov. 2022.
The former Bradley Center site lot adjacent to Fiserv Forum has since sat empty, surrounded by a chain link fence and stirring questions about the status of the project.
We received a major update this week courtesy of the Milwaukee Business Journal: the two-venue plan is no more, with a slightly larger one-venue plan now in place.
In a follow-up from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Joel Plant, CEO of FPC Live's parent company Frank Productions, said the costs of construction are the primary reason for the new plan. From the JS:
"We either had to strip out the fan and artist amenities for both rooms or focus our efforts to build one exceptional room that will drive the most impact in the market," Plant said. "It was an easy decision."
The original plan called for a 4,000-seat main venue and an attached 800-capacity more intimate space. It's now a single 4,500-capacity building that could be scaled down to host about 2,000 people, according to the Journal Sentinel. The cost of the revised project is over $60 million, Plant said.
A smaller footprint means more free space on the 5.7-acre lot, which Milwaukee Bucks president Peter Feigin said could welcome a hotel in the near future.
FPC Live will submit new plans to the Department of City Development this week, with more approvals from various boards needed to follow. The delayed music venue plan now tracks to a 2025 opening.
