Milwaukee Bucks To Begin Arena Construction
Milwaukee – The Milwaukee Bucks signed a 30-year lease for their new arena with the Wisconsin Center District this week.
The lease calls for the team to make annual payments averaging $1.5 million and pay financial penalties in the hundreds of millions of dollars if the Bucks leave Milwaukee before the end of the lease.
The lease was signed by a representative of the Wisconsin Center District board, Chairman Scott Neitzel.
The Bucks will be starting construction on the arena, which the team says will cost $524 million, after final arena design approvals from the city of Milwaukee are sent to the Bucks in May; construction will begin in June or July.
Wisconsin Center District officials said “the lease will keep the Bucks in Milwaukee for the next 30 years while providing major economic benefits to Milwaukee and the state”.
“Governor Scott Walker set the goal of protecting taxpayers when negotiating this agreement,” district board chairman and Walker appointee Neitzel said in a press release. “I believe we have done just that.”
