Nearly doubling its size to become the state’s largest convention center, this new destination boasts flexible outdoor meeting space, a chef’s tasting room, and both eco-friendly and inclusionary elements, enticing meeting planners to pre-book years out.
by By Kristine Hansen | Photography by ©Baird Center
When the Baird Center opens its doors in downtown Milwaukee this May, following a $456 million expansion and renovation, it will be the state’s largest convention and meetings center, spanning an impressive 1.3 million square feet. By folding in the former Wisconsin Center and taking over some parking lots, it will now include two buildings: the North and South Building.
Several companies and organizations already have signed on to host meetings and events at the center, including the Republican National Convention in mid-July. “It’s the first group that’s taking every square foot of the building,” says Marty Brooks, president and CEO of the Wisconsin Center District, which also includes UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena and Miller High Life Theater.
Essentially, the center doubled in size by increasing the number of meeting rooms from 24 to 52, adding 112,000 square feet of exhibit space to now total 300,000 square feet of contiguous exhibit space, adding six loading docks to create a total of 22 and finally adding a second ballroom. “We’ve got an incredible amount of public pre-function space,” says Brooks, which makes the center feel more like a destination than a building.
“The expansion is really going to help us bring more people to Milwaukee,” says Brooks. This includes large groups who previously haven’t considered Brew City as a destination to host their meetings. Instead, they were looking at convention centers in other states promising the capacity they needed. “Expanding the property enables us to go after bigger conventions,” he says.
Throughout the center’s design, Eppstein Uhen Architects and TVS wanted to be inclusive, recognizing the opportunity to meet this desirable need for meeting planners choosing a venue.
“Inclusion has driven us to have a number of nursing mothers’ rooms,” for example, says Brooks. “Furnishings have been acquired that are specifically designed for that function, to make it a very comforting experience for the mother.”
Similarly, there will be all-gender restrooms.
Two sensory rooms were also added, “recognizing there are people who come to our events who may need such a place to go to,” says Brooks, to counteract the buzzy stimulation of a convention center.
The Baird Center relied upon expertise from KultureCity — a non- profit that advises sports arenas, theaters and museums on how to create sensory spaces. “They provide the blueprint for the best way to outfit these rooms — from the carpeting to the wall coverings, lighting and furniture — to help someone who has a sensory issue at that moment [to] get back into a better place. It could be someone who’s experiencing depression or going through withdrawal of narcotics. It’s for no specific age group or race. It’s something we’re very excited about.”
Another unique feature is what’s called “collaborative stairs,” born out of reclaimed ash. This spans two levels with enough space for up to 200 people to sit comfortably and talk one on one or in small groups between sessions, with the power outlets, phone chargers and natural light to be both functional and inspiring.
Aesthetically, the new Baird Center also offers visual nods to its home state, with an “incredible collection of art,” says Brooks, “the vast majority created by Wisconsin artists.” One piece of artwork on the ballroom’s ceiling is influenced by the surface area of the Great Lakes, for instance, appropriate given that Lake Michigan is a short stroll east of the center.
When planners tour the center for a possible meeting or event, they can also get a glimpse — and literal taste — of the food that would be served. This is thanks to the new chef’s tasting room. “You can sample the food weeks and months before your event,” says Brooks. “You come in, watch the chef prepare the food, then taste it.” It can also be employed as a loyalty reward or private VIP perk during a conference so key leadership can be treated to an intimate meal.
The new center hosts more outdoor spaces than before, including the 16,500-square-foot Baird Sky View Terrace on the center’s roof, unlike any other rooftop space in Milwaukee. Boasting fire pits, moveable trees in planter boxes and a glass drink-rail around the entire roof, this “garden in the sky” promises to woo meeting and event planners. It can be used as a social gathering space or a cocktail reception.
“The real motivation and opportunity for us isn’t as much in adding bigger events as it is adding more events that occur simultaneously, are overlapping or in connection,” says Brooks. For example, a big show takes five days to load, four days to host and three days to load out. Now, another group can hold its meeting during the non- hosting days as space is allocated for setup and tear-down. “We can literally cut the Baird Center in half,” he says, enabling more than one event to occur simultaneously.
Thoughtful decisions while building out the design include straddling requests for natural light and dim lighting. While there’s a lot of glass exterior walls, including the exhibition hall where one wall is all glass, some exhibitors don’t prefer it as they may have light-sensitive displays or find harsh lighting makes visibility difficult. Instead, they can utilize a drop-down screen for all of the windows. “You want daylight, you got it,” says Brooks. “If not, we can make it nighttime.”
Another example of flexibility is, in the event of a meeting or event buyout, the ability to change restroom signage, as well as reconfigure restrooms, to meet an event’s gender-specific needs.
In addition, the ballroom can easily be divided into seven spaces (such as a center space for a meeting and six other break-out spaces), and there’s room for up to 158 10- by 10-foot booths as well as enough square footage to host up to 2,000 people in a banquet- style setting.
Expanding the center, which is on track to earn LEED Silver Certification for its efforts, enabled opportunities to fold in sustainability — another growing consideration factor among meeting planners. This includes fritted, bird-friendly glass along projected flight patterns so birds’ lives are not lost, which is important given the proximity to Lake Michigan, and the many birds and seagulls downtown. Also, an ORCA food digester can divert up to 438 tons of food waste from landfills each year. The building also has a stormwater trap that prevents the city’s sewer system from getting overwhelmed with a high volume of rainwater runoff over a short period of time.
Attendees will also notice a nod to recycled materials in play, such as repurposed ash wood sourced from within 30 miles. “90% of the steel in our building is recycled,” says Brooks, adding that the roof’s solar feature reflects light and heat to help with the building’s energy usage.
“What’s really been exciting for us over the past two years as we’ve been going through the construction phase is seeing how far out people are booking,” says Brooks, adding that 184 events have been booked through 2031 and “over 300 events have holding dates over the next seven years.”
Compared to previous years, before the convention center expansion, “it’s a very healthy number for confirmed events and holding dates,” he says. This includes Connect Marketplace in August, with 3,500 event planners attending who could very well choose Milwaukee for their group’s next meeting.