ASHWAUBENON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – The public was able to take a first look Monday evening at what Brown County’s future expo center could include.
The Brown County Veterans Memorial Arena, Shopko Hall, and the former Packers Hall of Fame building are set to be demolished this spring to make way for the $93 million expo center.
It will be connected to the Resch Center and construction is expected to start in the summer.
“It makes sense to capitalize on the Resch Center and take down some old buildings that really are not operating efficiently and put together another jewel in your community,” said Jeff Piette of Kahler Slater, a Milwaukee-based architecture company working on the project.
“We really have about 80,000 square feet of usable space and it’s not good usable space,” said Ken Wachter, CEO of PMI Entertainment Group, which books the facilities that make up the current Brown County Veterans Memorial Complex.
He tells FOX 11 this is part of the future..
“This gives us over 120,000 square feet of perfectly usable space.”
As of now, the expo center floor will be more than 127,000 square feet, with the ability to be divided into three halls. On the first level, there will be more than 20,000 square feet of pre-function space and about 19,000 square feet of storage space. Meeting rooms, office space, and a party deck are proposed for a second-level space.
“The other thing we like about it is it connects directly to the Resch Center,” said Wachter.
“So, from a customer standpoint, they’ll be able to enter the building on the corner of Oneida and Lombardi and go inside and get into the Resch Center.”
One thing that will remain is the veteran’s memorial in the plaza area, which Steve DeRuyter of Friends of Brown County Veterans tells FOX 11 has been a concern for the Friends of Brown County Veterans group.
“If they can make it an area where you can walk through in front of the expo center, I think that would be more attractive to the people.”
The project’s architects say the memorial will be along a new promenade that will piece the entire stadium district together.
“It’s a trend in the NFL, it’s a trend in other places and other communities to really stitch together good ideas and Titletown is a good idea, Lambeau Field and the work you’ve done around Lambeau is a great idea,” said Piette.
The designers also said they plan to make the expo center so you can see into it.
Exterior renderings of the building are expected to be shown at the next open house, which is expected to happen in early April.
While about $15 million for the project is expected to come from the county’s half-percent sales tax, most of the project is expected to be paid for through room tax revenue. $4.7 million of excess Lambeau Field sales tax money has been set aside for the project. The county also plans to have naming rights pay for part of the project.
The goal is to have the expo center open for January 1, 2021.
