Every Friday, Stuff We Missed looks to other Milwaukee publications (and beyond) for, well, stuff we missed throughout the week.
• We’re in the process of compiling a detailed timeline of the Great Milwaukee Music Venue Wars of 2021-23, but until that 8-billion-word piece is done, let’s recap the latest development from one of the War’s big players:
Earlier this week, Madison-based (and Live Nation-backed) concert promotor and venue operator FPC Live announced that its oft-contentious two-room music venue planned for the Deer District (originally planned for the Third Ward) is now going to be a one-room venue. Initial plans called for a 4,000-capacity room and an 800-capacity room. That 800-cap room has been dropped, while the 4,000-cap room has been bumped up to 4,500.
Why the downsizing? Rising costs, says Joel Plant, CEO of FPC Live’s parent company, Frank Productions.
“We ended up in a position where we had to make a choice,” Plant told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “We either strip out amenities for artists and their fans and really trim down the rooms to being not much more than a box of air or we focus on the piece of the project that’s going to have the biggest and best and longest-term impact on Milwaukee’s marketability as a must-play city.”
FPC Live is set to submit its updated plans to the Department of City Development today. The single-room venue is now tentatively scheduled for a 2025 opening. Oh, and a smaller music venue means a new hotel might be built on the same lot! [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]
• Wildly popular Bravo show Top Chef is currently filming in Milwaukee, and crews have been spotted all over town: Three Bothers, Whole Foods, maybe Discovery World, and maybe somewhere in the Miller Valley. Also, new host Kristen Kish and judge Gail Simmons were spotted eating at Leon’s and Vientiane Noodle Shop. [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]
• The owners of the Heirloom food truck (which was destroyed in a fire in July) are opening a brick-and-mortar location at the former Lazy Susan in Bay View, 2378 S. Howell Ave. A Grand Opening is set for Saturday, August 26. [Milwaukee Business Journal]
• Speaking of long-awaited Bay View things, Sushi Yuki is finally opening in the former Puente’s Barber Shop at 2349 S. Kinnickinnic Ave.—seven years after it was first announced. [OnMilwaukee]
• Oh, and one more Bay View thing: A Planet Fitness is coming to the former Family Dollar at 121 W. Oklahoma Ave. [Urban Milwaukee]
• Lake Park Friends would like the park’s long-closed Ravine Road to be reopened to cars, please. [OnMilwaukee]
• And speaking of cars, the speed limit on Prospect Avenue will soon be dropped from 30 to 25. [TMJ 4]
• New bar and restaurant coming to Downtown! [Urban Milwaukee]
• New steakhouse coming to Downtown! [OnMilwaukee]
• New plant-based restaurant coming to Sherman Phoenix! [Urban Milwaukee]
• Have a great weekend, Milwaukee! There’s a ton of stuff going on! (Including the deaccession of the “polka escalator” at the Baird Center. R.I.P.)
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RELATED ARTICLES
• Common Council gives final approval to FPC Live concert venues in Deer District
• FPC Live is gonna build its two-room music venue on the old Bradley Center site now