The Baird Center expansion is officially open, and project leaders have high hopes for what it will bring to Milwaukee— some of which is already being realized.
A ceremonial ribbon cutting ceremony was held Thursday to mark the completion of the $456 million project that has doubled the size of Milwaukee’s downtown convention center. Click here to read a recent BizTimes Milwaukee cover story on the Baird Center expansion project.
The Wisconsin Center District, which owns and operate the Baird Center, and Visit Milwaukee are estimating a 30% to 50% increase in bookings over the next few years thanks to the expansion, which they also estimate will stimulate $12.6 billion in total spending in Wisconsin over the next 30 years and generate $150 million of incremental state income.
Thanks to the expansion, inbound leads to the Visit Milwaukee team have already doubled since July 2022, Visit Milwaukee CEO Peggy Williams-Smith said, adding that Visit Milwaukee has booked more than 246,000 room nights for future years, which is a new record for the organization.
“We know that growth for our community starts with a visit,” Williams-Smith said.
In total, it’s estimated that the convention center expansion will bring an additional 100,000 visitors to Milwaukee annually.
“We need them to have an exceptional experience when they come here because I want them to come back to continue visiting Milwaukee, I want them to look for jobs in Milwaukee, I want them to move to Milwaukee,” Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson said.
The expansion brings the Baird Center to a total of 1.3 million square feet. That includes 300,000 square feet of exhibit space (up from 188,700), 69,500 square feet of ballrooms space (up from 37,500) and 75,100 square feet of meeting room space (up from 39,600).
“(The additional space) has allowed us to go after more events that wouldn’t have considered the Baird Center before due to the lack of space,” said Marty Brooks, CEO of the Wisconsin Center District.
At the ribbon cutting, project leaders celebrated the diversity and inclusion efforts in the construction process. According to the Wisconsin Center District, contracted construction work on the Baird Center expansion was completed by:
- 25.3% minority-owned businesses (25% goal)
- 16.5% women-owned businesses (5% goal)
- 1% disabled-veteran-owned businesses (1% goal)
On-site labor hours were performed by:
- 47.9% Residence Preference Program (RPP) workers (40% goal). RPP workers are identified as Milwaukeeans living in the city’s most underserved zip codes, according to the release.
- 4.5% women (5% goal)
- 1.2% disabled veterans (1% goal)
- 42% minority workers (25% goal)
A public open house at the Baird Center will be held Saturday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
