Fox Bay Theater redevelopment gets final approval

Plans to redevelop the former Fox Bay Theater in Whitefish Bay into a live music and event venue to be called The Argo received final approval Monday evening from the Village Board.

After several rounds of approvals at the municipal level, the project was unanimously approved with stipulations including the allocation of tax incremental funding (TIF) and deadlines for construction.

The Argo team, consisting of Adam Powers, senior brand manager at Pabst Brewing Company, Andrew Coate, product marketing and operations lead at Meta, and Josh Bryant, principal solutions consultant at Demandbase, originally asked the village to provide $1 million in TIF. Whitefish Bay’s Village Board approved the request and will allocate $32,900 every year for 27 years, a total of $888,300, which satisfies the funding needs for the $7.5 million project.

The approval also mandated that the project be completed by the end of 2025. The Argo team’s original timeline had the project’s construction completed by August and the venue open to the public by the end of the year. Its next steps include installing an elevator, reframing the new second floor, re-grading the floors, and completing several other significant structural improvements, said Coate. 

The 18,000-square-foot former theater building, which closed in 2020, is located at 334 E. Silver Spring Drive. The Argo will maintain the theater’s exterior façade but will undergo a major interior transformation with updates including the addition of windows on the second floor, a complete kitchen remodel, the addition of a mezzanine level and an outdoor patio, and a complete remodel of the main venue space to accommodate multiple uses including live entertainment, event hosting, and the occasional movie, according to village documents.

Once open, The Argo will have capacity for 550 to 750 people in the entertainment venue, 200 people in the event venue, and 150 in the bar and restaurant. Capacity will include the 30 employees Argo plans to hire to serve as event staff, security personnel and bar and restaurant workers.

The Argo also announced several partnerships in light of its approval. Acclaimed local chef Dan Jacobs of restaurants DanDan and EsterEv is designing the menu, Spokane, Washington-based Knitting Factory is the executive talent buyer, and Milwaukee-based interior design firm Three Sixty Design Build is designing the interior, according to Coate.

Milwaukee-based real estate development company New Land Enterprises, which owns the property, the Argo team and Milwaukee-based engineering, planning and design firm GRAEF have all contributed to the project as well.

While the space is under construction, The Argo team is planning a series of free concerts at the recently pedestrianized Ivanhoe Plaza just east of Farwell Avenue in Milwaukee’s Murray Hill neighborhood. The concerts will be held on from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on various evenings throughout the summer and will be a taste of what is to come once The Argo opens, according to a press release.