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Milwaukee Tech College plans new sports facility near Fiserv Forum

VaselineJuly 19, 2024

0 2 minutes read

Milwaukee Tech College plans new sports facility near Fiserv Forum

Milwaukee Area Technical College plans to open a new athletic facility on the ground floor of a five-story apartment building being built near the Fiserv Forum in downtown.

It would primarily focus on MATC’s fitness and health programs and athletics, including women’s basketball teams, men’s basketball teams and women’s volleyball teams.

The Deer District facility, which would allow the university to add more teams, would be jointly developed and owned by the Milwaukee Bucks and J. Jeffers & Co.

It would go on the first floor of a 220-unit apartment building that Jeffers plans to develop on a vacant lot bounded by West Juneau, West McKinley and North Phillips avenues and North King Drive. That site, owned by a Bucks franchise just east of The Trade Hotel, is one of the parcels left vacant when the former Park East Freeway was demolished.

Plans for the apartment development were announced in November, with construction expected to begin as early as the second quarter of 2025, the board said.

MATC would have a 10-year lease, according to the agreement that has received preliminary approval from the board of directors of the Wisconsin Technical College System. The system oversees the state’s technical colleges.

The first year’s rent would be $888,145, with annual increases tied to inflation, according to information from the system. That would be funded through MATC’s operating budget, with the college also borrowing $1.5 million to build the facility’s furniture and equipment.

According to a statement from the university, the 26,000-square-foot building could also be used for “community engagement and rentals for camps, educational programs and events.”

It would consist of a 15,000-square-foot, two-court gymnasium with seating for up to 1,000 people, a fitness center, locker rooms, food service facilities and meeting spaces.

“Our student-athletes and the MATC community deserve a new facility to serve our athletics programs and help us attract and retain students,” MATC President Anthony Cruz said in a statement. “Community colleges across the country are expanding their offerings to enhance the student experience.”

The college’s National Junior College Athletic Association Division II sports teams now play at Alverno College, about 7 miles from the MATC campus downtown. Current lease costs are $50,000 per year, and the college spends about $50,000 on transportation for practices and home games.

The current facility “is not large enough for multiple teams to practice at the same time. Additionally, the existing field is not suitable for home games and does not have a seating area for spectators,” according to a report from the system board.

The larger facility would allow MATC to expand from nine sports teams with 135 students to 17 teams with 400 students. The college has about 30,000 students on its Milwaukee, West Allis, Oak Creek and Mequon campuses.

Also, a potential partnership with the Bucks to host summer sports camps could generate $100,000 in annual revenue, the college said. The college’s annual revenue is about $281 million.

The university is estimated to spend $546,000 annually on salaries of coaches, recruiters and other personnel involved in the new facility and team expansion.

“MATC is a vibrant, transformative and diverse technical college and we are pleased that the college’s leaders are exploring a premier sports venue in Deer District for the recreation of their students and highly regarded sports teams,” said Michael Belot, Bucks senior vice president of business operations and chief real estate development officer.

Tom Daykin can be emailed at [email protected] and followed on Instagram, X and Facebook.

VaselineJuly 19, 2024

0 2 minutes read

Vaseline

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