Wisconsin's Weekend Morning News
RNC Impact with MBJ Teddy Nykieil
It's time to check in with Teddy Nykel from the Milwaukee Business Journal and boy I think we're still having a lot of impact from that RNC, Teddy, that we had such great expectations for for the last couple of years, but this new report from the host committee that says that there are some local businesses that got a lot more money from the convention from others. What did you learn? Yeah, you know, this is really the first kind of report we've seen since the convention that's really breaking down how much money the host committee raised, where they raised it from and where it went. So the biggest local company that received money from the host committee was the Milwaukee Bucks, not surprisingly because they hosted the main convention at Pfizer Forum, so they received $5.8 million from the host committee. In total, the host committee raised almost $92 million and two-thirds of that came from local donors. About a third of that was spent locally, although some of the money that wasn't spent locally was actually kind of trickled down. So for example, some of the main contractors was a New Jersey events production company. They were paid almost $15 million, but they hired a lot of local subcontractors, so some of that money actually did end up going locally. The same was true of a transportation company from Maryland that then hired local bus companies from Southeast Wisconsin. So really interesting to kind of see some of the breakdown, aside from deer districts, the Wisconsin Center was paid about $4.5 million, Magic Productions, which is a Waukesha event company that hosted the Welcome Party at the Summerfest Grounds. They brought in around $1.8 million, bad with catering, a local catering company, almost a million dollars, a local law firm, Michael Best. They brought in almost a million and legal expenses from the host committee. Some apartments, like the Ascent Apartments, for example in Downtown Milwaukee, they got about $600,000 for hosting a lot of the R&C host committee staff in their apartments. So really a wide range of companies that saw a benefit, and it's really interesting to see the breakdown. Do you think in reviewing that, that this will excite local businesses to reach out to try to get more events like the R&C? Yeah, you know, it's interesting. There was definitely some disappointment at first from some companies that felt like they didn't get as much impact as they were maybe promised, or thought they would see. And I do think this kind of shows examples of the types of businesses that were able to benefit and, you know, proved there was a lot of impact locally. So maybe just kind of give some, you know, another side of the coin for, you know, while not every company got the benefits that they were hoping for, others did. And so maybe, yeah, for future conventions, maybe data like this could be helpful for other businesses looking to get a piece of the action. Do you like coffee? Are you a coffee? Coffee. You like coffee. Yeah. So do I. And, you know, our teammates, Jeff Sherman and Jasmine Snell, every weekday, they give a little report on where they got coffee. But I think they're going to be excited to know that there's a new coffee shop coming to Red Arrow Pop Park. Yeah, exactly. And not only a new coffee shop, but a new coffee brand that Milwaukee really hasn't seen yet. Big B coffee is the franchisee that's opening in the vacant cafe space in Red Arrow Park. People know this. It's near the Marcus Center in the St. Kate, you know, that little park that has the ice skating rink. It used to be a Starbucks there. Starbucks last last year and the county, which actually owns that mark, chose Big B to be the new coffee operator. So they are already under construction on kind of transforming that cafe space to kind of fit the Big B brand. And they are hoping to open this November around Thanksgiving just in time for the ice skating season. So interestingly, Milwaukee Bucks recently started a small business program to kind of help support local small businesses. The franchisees of Big B coffee are local Milwaukee entrepreneurs. And they're part of a new bucks small business program that's going to be kind of helping promote this coffee shop within Pfizer Forum and through other opportunities with the Bucks. So that's an interesting aspect to this as well. You know, coffee tastes different depending on where you get. Have you have you tried any of theirs yet? I haven't. You know, I mean, maybe once in another city because they're, you know, they have locations in other states and they have, they're in 13 different states. They do have other locations in Wisconsin, but they're in Franklin and then they're opening one and cut a hay next year. So I have not been to one. Have you? No, I haven't. That's our scariest how their coffee differs from some of the others, but we'll find out soon enough. We'll find out soon. Yeah. The week goes by that we don't talk about new apartments and this week is not going to be any different because spring mall in Greenfield, it's turning into apartments, what it used to be a shopping center. This is a real trend, isn't it? Yeah. I have to say I cover real estate and apartment. So, you know, that's part of why you hear a lot about this for me. But you know, you're not wrong. It's a trend. It's happening a lot because there really is a shortage of housing and, you know, just with retail trends changing, a lot of suburban shopping centers are not doing as well. You know, like spring mall in Greenfield, what you're talking about today is mostly vacant. So there's a lot of efforts to redevelop these vacant shopping malls with apartments kind of like Bay Shore and Glendale kind of reinvigorate them. So anyway, with Greenfield spring mall, Mandel grew, which is a major apartment developer. They're planning 257 apartments. It's an interesting layout where it's going to be a lot of green space in the middle with a pool, a clubhouse, and so they are looking to purchase the land from the city of Greenfield. The city actually owns this shopping center that they purchased in order to help redevelop it and construction could start next year. But if we have any fans of Meyer restaurant, which is the one commercial business that's still operating in that shopping center, Meyer family restaurant, don't worry, that plans to stay. So it'll be the apartments plus that restaurant and that will continue to operate. Well, I'm sure the residents will appreciate that because it's always convenient to have a place to buy. Right. All right. Well, finally talking about things that are being changed and converting the owners of a major downtown Milwaukee office building, they're looking at plans to convert it. What's on the table? Yeah. So everyone I think knows the BMO tower, that beautiful new glass tower in downtown Milwaukee near City Hall. This is right next to that right south. And actually the developers who built BMO had to buy this old office tower as part of the deal. And so they've owned it since they kind of worked on that new BMO tower and now they're trying to figure out what to do with it as they've been trying and they're continuing to try. You know, it was up for sale. This is Ergens, which is another local real estate company. It was up for sale. They are still exploring, selling it. They're also exploring, redeveloping it. And they're kind of thinking of more of a mixed use potentially option for this. So there could be some apartments, there could be some offices. They're also looking at hospitality, potentially retail. So they said, you know, all those options are still on the table. Interestingly though, this is right near the 100 East building, which is also an office building that's going to be converted fully into apartments. So again, this is another trend we just talked about kind of suburban shopping centers being converted into apartments. And it's also a national trend for downtown offices that aren't being used as much to also be converted either into apartments or other uses. So that's kind of the next one, this is the former M&I building as it's known on North Water Street. We'll be watching that one as well. Well, I know you will stay on top of it and you'll keep us informed. Teddy Michael from the Milwaukee Business Journal, it is great to have you here. Great to talk to you, Lizzie.