A new plan for the Mitchell Park Domes would not only rehabilitate the existing Domes, but also create a courtyard and a new building addition and after an initial matching contribution would ease cost of the Domes for Milwaukee County.
The Domes Reimagined plan – a partnership between the Friends of the Domes, Milwaukee County Parks and Madison-based real estate developer The Alexander Company – was presented to the Milwaukee County Committee on Parks and Culture Tuesday morning as an informational item.
“The Domes Reimagined project is visionary, but it also fiscally responsible,” said Friends of the Domes Executive Director Christa Beall Diefenbach. “It removes the Domes as a liability from the County’s ledger and places Friends of the Domes in charge of operations. The result is a sustainable business model with limited ongoing support necessary from the County. It is truly a win-win-win for our community.
“There are no vanity projects in this plan. Every aspect achieves two goals: improved visitor experience and greater revenue.”
No action was requested, nor was any expected to be taken by the committee on the potential plan, which was presented as an informational item. Public comment was to be heard at the meeting.
The Domes – designed by architect Donald Grieb and constructed in stages in the 1960s – were closed briefly in 2016 after a piece of concrete fell from the ceiling of one of them. Discussion of their fate has not abated in the years since.
Read more about the condition problems facing the Domes in this article.
“Milwaukee County Parks has worked collaboratively with the Friends of the Domes on a campaign to reimagine the Mitchell Park Domes,” notes an Aug. 16 memo from Parks Director Guy Smith to County Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Marcelia Nicholson. “This campaign has the potential to fix the Domes and make them sustainable.
“It is based upon a historic rehabilitation of the Domes that would be funded with a capital campaign that significantly leverages a County capital funding commitment with private philanthropy and tax credit financing. The project introduces new uses to the Domes while, in its initial phase, expanding services within the existing building footprint and growing the facility in a future second phase.”