House of Blues officials have looked at Milwaukee before, eyeing up The Rave several years ago. But, today HOB-Milwaukee seems to be closer to reality.
As officials of PabstCity gear up for the upcoming International Congress of Shopping Centers annual meeting in mid-May, they announced today that House of Blues has agreed to a Letter of Intent to locate in the project.
The addition would be a major boost to the project that was unveiled in March. House of Blues has long been identified as one of the key anchor venues needed to attract others to this new urban entertainment complex.
With other Midwest locations in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio; Chicago and Cleveland, the Milwaukee venue will be the House of Blues' first and only Wisconsin location. They also operate Chicago and Congress Theatres in Chicago, but will build a new building for their Milwaukee location on a parking lot used by MATC that anchors the new PabstCity location. Milwaukee will be HOB's ninth U.S. location.
The new venue, like its other locations, will be a destination for national music and comedy acts. It will feature a restaurant, retail operations and an amphitheater with capacity for several thousand.
{INSERT_RELATED}The overall Pabst City plan utilizes 20 buildings of the 130-year-old Pabst Brewery and will transform them into an urban "city within a city" with the potential of major entertainment destinations, restaurants, retail, office space and 648 residential lofts.
In addition to House of Blues, other planned uses include family entertainment, cinemas, office space, an ArtWalk and parking. Bucks Coach George Karl also plans to locate his Friends of Hoop basketball facility at PabstCity. This building will provide basketball courts and assistance for student athletes.
PabstCity officials say House of Blues could break ground before the end of the year.
