The indoor venue plan for the Third Ward announced in December by Summerfest and booking partner, Madison-based FPC Live, has been canceled.
Construction on the venue – which would have risen on a parking lot south of the Summerfest administration building – was tentatively slated to begin in early 2022. It was to house two venues, with capacities of up to 800 and 4,000 people, that could host concerts all year long.
But on Friday morning, Milwaukee World Festival, Inc. and FPC Live released statements jointly, saying the plan for the site was dead.
Some community members organized opposition to the project after it was announced, citing traffic, noise and parking issues.
However, FPC's statement said it still hoped to develop a multi-performance space indoor venue somewhere in Milwaukee.
Along with the statements was the notice that neither MWF nor FPC would conduct interviews at this time.
Here are the statments in full:
Milwaukee World Festival, Inc. Statement
“Henry Maier Festival Park is Milwaukee’s home for live music, showcasing a diverse line-up of artists every summer for over fifty years. With this legacy in mind, Milwaukee World Festival, Inc. (MWF) was exploring the prospect of adding to our community’s music scene through the proposed indoor venue being developed by Frank Productions on land owned by MWF.
"Accordingly, the parties have determined for multiple reasons, not to pursue the site adjacent to Henry Maier Festival Park for this proposed venue. MWF will continue to focus on its core business of producing Summerfest presented by American Family Insurance, as well as providing our community with a full summer calendar of ethnic and cultural festivals along with special events. This also includes an ongoing partnership with FPC to co-promote concerts at the American Family Insurance Amphitheater and BMO Harris Pavilion, continuing to bring blockbuster artists to Milwaukee’s lakefront.”
FPC Live Statement
“After a thorough process, we have determined that the site available near Henry Maier Festival Park is no longer under consideration for our proposed two-venue development in Milwaukee. We remain committed to developing this state-of-the-art project in Milwaukee, preparing the city for the next several decades of live entertainment, and we will announce more details in due time,” said Charlie Goldstone, President of FPC Live.
“We remain dedicated to the Milwaukee live music landscape, we’re thrilled with our continuing partnership with MWF, and look forward to promoting concerts at the lakefront and throughout Milwaukee for years to come.”
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
