[IMGCAP(1)]

MILWAUKEE—A proposed $500-million, 17,000-seat stadium for the Milwaukee Bucks will apparently be just the icing on the Brew City's CBD renaissance. According to Blake Ayer, regional director of analytics for GlobeSt.com Thought Leader Xceligent, the transformation from what he describes as an under-developed sector of town into a vibrant, 24/7 hotspot has already begun.

“There's been lot of development there recently and projects under construction will easily double the current inventory of 182,900 square feet of retail,” he says. “Overall, our quarterly report shows that Milwaukee retail in Q1 saw about 226,000 square feet of absorption, while vacancy fell 1.2% to 8.1%.”

The same dynamic is occurring in the office sector, which took on nearly 29,000 square feet of absorption in Q1, driving the vacancy rate down from nearly 20% to 18.8%, Ayer adds.

And while Xceligent doesn't track multifamily, anecdotally, the regional director reports a multifamily surge taking place in Park East, as developers anticipate a “Millennial boom,” a dynamic GlobeSt.com has been tracking in cities around the US map. “They want to stay downtown. They don't want to own.”

It's important to note that the renaissance of the CBD, which incorporates the Park East sector, is being driven by the population as opposed to the stadium, which is still in the funding stage. What the stadium will do if it goes through is push the current renaissance it into overdrive, and Ayer can easily see a doubling again of that retail in the Park East corridor.

[IMGCAP(2)]

So where does the stadium stand? According to the Sentinel Journal, some $220 million in state bonding has been offered, and “debt payments on the bonds would be repaid from growth in the so-called jock tax, income tax revenue from Milwaukee Bucks players, employees and visiting teams.”

The paper reports that owners past and present, as well as the City, County and retired Wisconsin Sen. Herb Kohl would kick in the rest. But the paper also reports that there's an NBA-imposed deadline, and the Bucks could leave the city if the stadium “is not in place by the fall of 2017.”

The good news for the city, and for the CBD in particular, is that the real estate momentum is already in place. “If it does go through, it will certainly accelerate the momentum,” says Ayer. “But if not, it won't deter it.”