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Post by thegreengull on Dec 8, 2011 18:40:44 GMT -6
Here is another solution I came up which I think would be a terrific site for the football stadium. I think this scenario might be more possible because there are significant obstacles to build a stadium, let alone any kind of building, in Riverside Park. I think this stadium site offers the best of both the Riverside Park site and the Wisconsin Paperboard Company (WPC) site. This site is conveniently located a few blocks west of Oakland Ave. and it’s accessible from North Ave. via Newhall St. Also, this site is very near Riverside Park, and the park could be utilized for tailgating and pregame festivities. This stadium site also could be easily connected to a proposed athletics village at the WPC site. In the Image Below... The red box represents the stadium site. The orange line represents an addition of Newhall St. which would be connect Newhall St. to Park Place. Also, the purple boxes indicated parking lots near to the stadium site. The southern most purple box could also be used for parking for events being held at a proposed athletic village at the WPC site. I look forward to your comments. Thanks, and Go Panthers!
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mwu
Sophomore
I am U-Dub U-M
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Post by mwu on Dec 8, 2011 23:58:34 GMT -6
greengull, first let me apologize for not welcoming you to the board yet, love your input on the topic. I enjoy your enthusiasm on the placement of a football stadium. It's an intriguing area of town, one that has been forgotten by most. For those who don't know... The site currently highlighted by the red box is the site of the old maintenance and storage sheds for the old Milwaukee trolley lines. The 2 existing structures on the North end of the area were those sheds (there are also some shells of other buildings directly adjacent on the site), which are currently inhabited by Pieter Godfrey's salvage yard ( www.jsonline.com/news/obituaries/123877929.html ). Should the U buy-out these properties, they must not be torn down, they are a part of MKE's heritage. A wee bit of an ad: If you need quality building materials/rough mill work look no further, even if you don't i would encourage you to stop by just to check it out (the UWM solar house had our raw floor boards milled by Godfrey). 19th century Cream City brick, sweet iron trusses; could be an incredibly unique concourse/lounge/offices etc. for a stadium. Assuming we were to purchase the properties from the 2 businesses to the south, this site has a lot going for it. Urban Brownfield infill, not taking up existing "park space," large acreage, and minimal infrastructure additions. I would probably make the Newhall st. extension you mentioned into a pedestrian boulevard with vehicle drop-offs at each end and include a bike ramp from the Oak Park Trail. But there are a few big obstacles going against this site too. Mind you I did not sneak onto this site to gather measurements like I did for my Thesis site, but the lack of trees is a larger issue than you would think. I will refer you to the Milwaukee Greenway Project www.protectmilwaukeeriver.org/masterplan.htmlI bring this up because a "view-shed" (“A clear and unheeded view of nature” Charles B. Whitnall, father of Milwaukee Parks) needs to be maintained. This is difficult without established trees. Of course we can plant trees but without an established corridor, this is a difficult thing to pass by review boards. Basically, you can't build a structure taller than the tree line that can be seen from the river, since there is a significant foliage gap this could prove difficult. Mind you, this could be accomplished via terracing or by making a deal to increase the forestry; albeit a hard sell. As for the tennis courts I'd have to look up who actually owns them. There's also a parking lot in the footprint owned by the UEC, They would need to be worked with extensively on either building project; win them and you win the neighborhoods. Lastly, the south parking lot would need to be much smaller/more linear to make sure we filter out parking waste to make sure it doesn't end up in the river see my Thesis plan attachment for such an example. Attachments:
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Post by thegreengull on Dec 9, 2011 18:05:20 GMT -6
Thanks for your insight mwu! You have a tremendous knowledge of this area.
I didn’t know about the two cream city manufacturing buildings owned by Godfrey on the northern end of this stadium site. I agree with you that those two buildings are a historical and a cultural gem to the area and they should not be demolished. Also, both those historic buildings, dating back to 1888 and 1905 respectively, should be incorporated and developed into the stadium site. Both the buildings as you previously mentioned could be used as coach’s offices, lounges or even locker rooms.
I think the stadium itself, could be built directly south of the two Godfrey buildings. And I think Park Place could be extended as a pedestrian walkway which would run between the Godfrey buildings and the stadium.
Also, the majority of the stadium could be built below the street level, in order to minimize the height of the stadium in accordance to the Milwaukee Greenway Project. For example, UC-Davis built a new stadium which is primarily built into the ground named Aggie Stadium (http://www.ucdavisaggies.com/facilities/ucda-facilities.html).
Another example is Pizza Hut Park near Dallas, Texas which is set to host the FCS national championship game in 2012 (http://fcdnation.com/pizza-hut-park-frisco-tx/).
If there is enough space to build a stadium below the street level, then I think this site directly south of the two Godfrey buildings could be a fantastic option.
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Post by thegreengull on Dec 9, 2011 19:33:46 GMT -6
I just found out that the industrial land encompassing the Wisconsin Paperboard Company site and the property north towards Riverside Park will become part of the Milwaukee Rotary Centennial Arboretum by 2013. www.urbanecologycenter.org/rotaryarboretum.htmlSo, it seems that the WPC site and adjacent sites are not a possibility for a stadium. This posses a significant problem for finding a suitable site for a stadium anywhere near campus.
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Post by PantherU on Dec 9, 2011 20:24:43 GMT -6
Plans change.
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Post by thegreengull on Dec 9, 2011 20:44:19 GMT -6
Let's hope so
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Post by thegreengull on Dec 9, 2011 23:08:35 GMT -6
It would be terrific if there’s a way to incorporate a green friendly football stadium into the plans at the Milwaukee Rotary Centennial Arboretum. The stadium could be a great asset to the park and could help generate awareness as well as bring thousands of people to the park on game days. The stadium would have to be very green and would have to fit in with the park. There are some examples of stadiums being built beneath ground level with its upper level built into the landscape. For example, Aggie Stadium at New Mexico State University has its first level built below ground level and its second level is built into a hill side. Also, L.A. Stadium, a proposed football stadium in Los Angeles, also incorporated the idea of building its first level beneath ground level and its top level into a hill side. A green friendly stadium with a capacity sufficient for a FCS or MAC level program, while using the principles of stadiums like the examples I mentioned previously would become a tremendous asset to our community. A possible stadium would definitely benefit our eventual football program, our university, our city and the Milwaukee Rotary Centennial Arboretum as well.
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Post by uwmfutbol on Dec 11, 2011 10:42:26 GMT -6
That LA stadium looks awesome.
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Post by illwauk on May 1, 2012 1:22:41 GMT -6
I just came across an article on Columbus Crew stadium and thought about how much it would make sense for Milwaukee to have a facility like this. It was built at a cost of $30M and seats just over 20,000, but can be expanded to 25,000-30,000 for concerts and even has a stage at one of the ends. This is important because that could become an important revenue stream in the summer, especially since Miller Park is no longer hosting concerts. It would also house our own soccer teams and could even lure an MLS club to town (additional revenue).
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Post by kingsteve on May 1, 2012 13:24:27 GMT -6
Amazing that could be built for $30 miil...if baseball , soccer and football could all be accomodated in that lets put the segreated fee toward that and shelve the basketballa arena. Know for a fact that Mens basketball actually turned a little bit of a profit at U S Cellular even with the so called horrible lease.
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Post by The Green Gull on May 1, 2012 14:38:33 GMT -6
Yeah, there has been a lot of MLS stadiums built in recent years which would be suitable for Panther Football while competing in the FCS and in the smaller conferences of the FBS (MAC, Sun Belt, WAC). The majority of the new MLS stadiums have a capacity between 20,000 to 25,000 people with available room for expansion. Current MLS soccer-specific stadiums: - Courtesy of Wikipedia
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Post by PantherU on May 1, 2012 15:18:47 GMT -6
Amazing that could be built for $30 miil...if baseball , soccer and football could all be accomodated in that lets put the segreated fee toward that and shelve the basketballa arena. Know for a fact that Mens basketball actually turned a little bit of a profit at U S Cellular even with the so called horrible lease. The basketball team has made profits. But the entire department relies on basketball. I've got one better. I don't know what it would be adjusted for inflation, but Norfolk State built Dick Price Stadium in 1997 for just $12 million, and it seats 30,000. Bright House Networks Stadium at UCF seats 45,000 and it cost $55 million. The reason they're able to do these stadiums cheaper is that the majority of the stadium is just stands - concrete and all that comes with that takes up a much smaller part.
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Post by illwauk on May 1, 2012 16:45:25 GMT -6
Dick Price Stadium would probably need more than the original cost in upgrades if Norfolk State ever tried to jump to FBS... it's basically a big high school facility, and it shows. I always imagined the ideal Milwaukee facility to be easily upgradable to FBS standards, if not built to them from the start. As far as whether or not the facility could host baseball... PGE Park hosted Portland State football, Portland Beavers baseball and a minor league version of the Portland Timbers in soccer for many years. www.worldstadiums.com/stadium_pictures/north_america/united_states/oregon/portland_pge1.jpgThat said, it was just retrofitted a couple years ago for the MLS version of the Timbers which left the Beavers without a home. In short, while a football/soccer/baseball facility is possible, I wouldn't recommend it because: a. Baseball will more than likely be discontinued if football is revived. b. Accomodating baseball would pretty much end any chance of an MLS club ever renting the facility and bringing in additional revenue to the athletic department. If the Bucks end up moving (which is a much more likely proposition than most people realize), Milwaukee would likely shoot to the top of the list of MLS expansion candidates... especially if we already had an MLS-ready facility. What the facility could do is host our vagabond track & field teams which are currently without an outdoor home provided a track is built around the field. If the stadium ever needed to expand, the track could be removed for additional seating without expanding the stadium's footprint (which was done at Camp Randall in the 1950s IIRC). In other words, you'd have a home for four current programs and an additional one that would likely become the flagship program of Milwaukee athletics, all for a fraction of the cost of a new arena (which itself would be much more affordable with two revenue sports than just one).
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Post by The Green Gull on May 1, 2012 17:57:45 GMT -6
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Post by uwmfutbol on May 1, 2012 19:19:46 GMT -6
Milwaukee should have hopped on the MLS train years ago. Rumors are the league wants well over $50 million for the expansion fee for New York's second team, and cities like Charlotte and Orlando are pushing for an MLS entry with successful lower-tier teams. It was $20 million five years ago and Milwaukee was a desirable location due to its natural rivalry with Chicago and midwestern location. I'd kill for a stadium to house an MLS team and Milwaukee football.
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