The Milwaukee Public Museum announced today the site in downtown Milwaukee that it has chosen as the location for its future facility.
The 2.4-acre site, adjacent to the Deer District, is located at the northeast corner of North 6th Street and McKinley Avenue.
MPM says that site will accommodate its planned 230,000-square-foot museum, which will include 30,000 square feet for the future home of Betty Brinn Children’s Museum. The natural history museum and children’s museum announced earlier this month their plans to co-locate in the future building.
MPM leaders have been
laying the groundwork for several years to move from the current 400,000-square-foot, county-owned building (completed in 1962) at 800 W. Wells St. to a new building. BBCM has also been examining its options to move out of its home of 25 years at 929 E. Wisconsin Ave.
MPM said it is currently working to secure funds to purchase the site, which includes three parcels currently owned by Jennifer Bartolotta, president and founder of Bartolotta & Associates; James Barry III, president of The Barry Company; and Dan Druml, owner of The Druml Company LLC. The future museum site includes the headquarters for The Bartolotta Restaurants and a building occupied by Gustave A. Larson Company.
“We are thrilled to announce that we have selected the future home of the Milwaukee Public Museum in a place we know to be ideal for our community and our mission,” said Ellen Censky, president and chief executive officer of the Milwaukee Public Museum. “For 140 years and through four homes, MPM has been part of this neighborhood. By locating our new home in the historic Haymarket District on McKinley Street, MPM will remain in a part of the city that is close to neighborhoods and is accessible for all, and will continue to have an integral presence in the minds and hearts of our community for generations to come.”
The new museum will include MPM exhibit space, visitor services, a café and retail store, underground parking, collections research and storage, classrooms, an auditorium, event venue space, offices, a small workshop for exhibit maintenance and back-of-house spaces.
“This is an ideal location for both Betty Brinn Children’s Museum and the Milwaukee Public Museum,” said Brian King, executive director of BBCM. “We could not be more excited to move forward with designing and constructing a new space for Betty Brinn Children’s Museum – one that is designed from the outset to be a children’s museum and enables us to inspire kids to the very best of our abilities.”
MPM plans to engage an architect for the project in the coming months and then determine final cost estimates.
The Sixth/McKinley site was chosen after a review of hundreds of options, the museum said in its announcement Friday.
Barry, who was involved in finding and selecting the appropriate site for the museum, said the buildings located on the three sites will come down after they are acquired by the museum.
He said he thought of the parcels at Sixth and McKinley as a potential location for MPM because he had an "intimate understanding" of the site. Barry said he worked with the city in finding a potential site for Kohl's Corp., back when the Menomonee Falls-based retailer was considering a move to downtown Milwaukee. The three parcels were part of that candidate site for Kohl's.
Barry said there are only so many downtown sites that are plausible for a project of this scope.
"In order to find site for large new construction in downtown Milwaukee, you need to be creative," he said. "I think this reflects the creativity that went into the site search."
Earlier this week, the Milwaukee Bucks announced plans for a 230-room luxury boutique hotel
to be built just north of Fiserv Forum, the
first of two hotels the Bucks hope to attract to the team’s Deer District development area around the arena.
BizTimes reporter Alex Zank contributed to the reporting of this story.
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The Milwaukee Public Museum plans to build a new facility at the northeast corner of North 6th Street and McKinley Avenue in downtown Milwaukee, as shown in this map from Google.[/caption]
