Deer District could get 4,800-seat concert venue

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The Milwaukee Bucks joined a concert promoter to announce plans Monday for a new concert venue near the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee.

The plans for the development – with one venue with 4,000 seats and another with 800 seats – come days after a separate pair of developers announced plans to build a 3,500-capacity venue less than half a mile away near the Marquette University campus. The concert complex planned for the Deer District will be built by the Bucks in partnership with Frank Productions, which owns runs several venues in Madison and other cities.

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Frank Productions had been pursuing the construction of a similar venue in Milwaukee’s Third Ward but backed away from those plans amid complaints from residents. The new venue is expected to cost $50 million and would be built on a section of a vacant 5.7-acre parcel owned by the Milwaukee Bucks, where the Bradley Center once stood.

FPC Live, the Madison-based division of Frank Productions, plans to begin development this year if it wins zoning approval from the Common Council and Mayor Cavalier Johnson. The project is expected to be by complete by 2023.

As for the separate venue planned for near Marquette’s campus, it’s being built by a partnership involving the Pabst Theater Group, which runs various venues in Milwaukee. It will be part of a complex also containing a soccer stadium, hotel, residential housing, shops and food sellers. It will be built on a site bounded by West Michigan Street to the north, 6th Street to the east and the Marquette interchange to the south and east.

Construction on the project is scheduled to get underway this year, and the stadium and concert venue are to open in spring 2024.