The operators of the volleyball courts and concession stand at Bradford Beach plan to build a 40,000-square-foot indoor volleyball, multi-sport wellness and entertainment facility on a six-acre vacant site, formerly occupied by a U.S. Army Reserve base, in Milwaukee’s Bay View neighborhood. The site is located at Bay Street and Lincoln Avenue.
The core purpose of the facility will be designed for volleyball featuring 9 indoor hard courts and 3 indoor sand courts.
SURG Restaurant Group co-owner Mike Polaski and Todd Gawronski, Bradford Beach operator partner and director of volleyball tournaments at the beach, are the developers for the project. They operate the volleyball courts and volleyball leagues and tournaments at Bradford Beach, and the concession stand there. The volleyball tournaments there draw players from across the nation and beyond. Similar events could be held at the proposed indoor facility in Bay View.
“Basically it would be an extension of what we are doing on the lakefront at Bradford,” Polaski said. “It would give us the ability to have volleyball all year long.”
“Given the evolution and success of Bradford Beach, the combination of the assets, expertise and resources of SURG, we believe the demand of our services would support a location that will feature year round sports, wellness and entertainment activities,” Gawronski said. “In addition, we have studied potential programming and business opportunities and have concluded that there is a high demand for quality space of a certain size, capability and location.”
Ald. Tony Zielinski will hold a neighborhood meeting on the project on Tuesday, April 2, at 6:30 p.m. at the Bay View High School auditorium, 2751 S. Lenox St.
