MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin (CelebrityAccess) The new $524 million arena for the Milwaukee Bucks appears to be on budget and actually ahead of schedule for its 2018 debut.
The arena, with 18,000 capacity for concerts, is still in search of a naming-rights sponsor. It reportedly 75 percent completed, and a ceremony to seat the first fans (in the first six seats installed) was held in early December.
“As fast as we got this building up and enclosed – just as fast, it’s going to be open,” Bucks President Peter Feigin told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “We will have to actually have to operate a building in the next several months.”
Officials have already booked performances for next fall including Maroon 5 Sept. 16 and Jim Gaffigan Sept. 22.
“We’re starting to form the true DNA of what the food and beverage service is going to be like,” Feigin told the paper. “We want to make it so people will want to come back.”
Approximately 800 workers are currently installing exterior zinc and architectural panels as well as painting the interior, installing drywall and working on the floorboards, according to the Journal. Work also continues on the audio-visual, sports lighting and LED boards. A new 1,250-space parking ramp is already open.
The arena, which includes $250 million in taxpayer contributions, will feature 34 suites, three clubs, state-of-the-art dressing rooms, six loading docks and 200,000 pounds of rigging capability for events. It is apparently already putting pressure on the Bucks to accelerate hopes for championship status and is set to host first and second round games of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament in 2022.
