Preview this article 1 min
Milwaukee Area Technical College would lease the majority of the building's ground floor for an athletic training facility and basketball arena, but around 7,000 square feet on the ground floor would be leased to other wellness and athletics tenants.
The $80 million development that's slated to bring apartments and a college athletic facility to a key site within downtown Milwaukee's Deer District could also include a pickleball facility.
Milwaukee Area Technical College would lease the majority of the building's ground floor for an athletic training facility and basketball arena, but around 7,000 square feet on the ground floor would be leased to other wellness and athletics tenants, according to Joshua Jeffers of Milwaukee's J. Jeffers & Co., which is co-developing the project with the Milwaukee Bucks.
A pickleball user as well as a physical therapy group are the "serious contenders" considering leasing space in the development, which will be called The Field House, Jeffers said. Groundbreaking is planned for May 2025, and the building could open in June 2026, he said.
CREATE YOUR FREE ACCOUNT
BECOME A MEMBER
Join the Milwaukee Business Journal to unlock even more insights!
By submitting your information you are agreeing to our Privacy Policy and User Agreement.
The Field House athletic facility is planned for the ground floor of a new five-story building at the northeast corner of Vel R. Phillips and Juneau avenues. The upper floors are slated to have 220 market-rate apartments, the developers said Wednesday, representing an additional 10 units compared with when they announced the project in November 2023.
Sign up here for the Milwaukee Business Journal’s free morning and afternoon daily newsletters to receive the latest business news impacting the Milwaukee area, and don't miss getting breaking news alerts on your phone by downloading our free app.
The site is across from The Trade Hotel and Good City Brewing, and kitty-corner from Fiserv Forum, where the Milwaukee Bucks play.
The developers are seeking debt financing for the project through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Section 221(d)(4) program, Jeffers said. It's also seeking a single equity joint venture partner to round out the capital stack and has talked to potential partners both locally and nationally, he said.
Jeffers and MATC previously collaborated to convert a former downtown Milwaukee Journal Sentinel office building into student housing. That project, known as Westown Green, opened in 2021 at 925 N. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.
At the time, MATC expressed interest in creating a facility for its student athletes, and Jeffers explored the possibility of building a regulation-size basketball court in a three-story subterranean space in the former Journal Sentinel building, he said. That didn't pan out, but Jeffers later remembered MATC's interest as it was formulating plans for the Deer District site.
"It’s a very attractive site for market-rate multifamily," Jeffers said, adding: "We wanted to put something on the ground floor that was exciting and would be a draw."
MATC is one of the few technical colleges in its peer group that doesn't have a dedicated athletic facility, Jeffers said. Still, the MATC Stormers men’s basketball team in 2023 won its first-ever National Junior College Athletic Association Division II Championship.
The new MATC basketball court would occupy the corner portion of The Field House development facing Fiserv Forum, Jeffers said.
"The basketball court will be the main draw," he said.
