Closing of the BMO Harris Bradley Center will eliminate 651 jobs
James B. Nelson
A total of 651 jobs will be eliminated this summer when the BMO Harris Bradley Center is closed in anticipation of the opening of the new Milwaukee Bucks arena, according to a notice filed Thursday with the state.
The jobs include 45 full-time and 606 part-time positions, the Bradley Center said in a letter to the Department of Workforce Development. The letter was a legal formality.
The new arena, however, will add about 600 new full- and part-time jobs once it begins operations. The first announced event at the new building is a Sept. 13 show by comic Kevin Hart, although other events are expected to be announced before that date.
Closing operations will begin Aug. 10 and are expected to be completed by Sept. 7, the notice says. The last day for most employees will be Aug. 10.
"A few employees will remain to complete the actions necessary for the building closing and transfer of property to the Wisconsin Center District by Aug. 31, 2018," the notice said.
Fewer than eight employees "will remain to manage the dissolution and wind down of the Bradley Center Sports and Entertainment Corporation, a tax-exempt instrumentality of the State of Wisconsin," the notice said.
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Built with $250 million in taxpayer money, the $524 million Bucks arena is nearly complete.
Bradley Center CEO Steve Costello recently said he was surprised by how few front office employees the Bucks hired for the new arena.
He estimated that up to 14 of the 50 front office and administrative staffers from the Bradley Center will find jobs at the new arena. That's fewer than anticipated, after assurances offered by the new owners of the Bucks in 2016 when plans were finalized for the new arena.
The Bucks recently held a hiring fair for current Bradley Center part-timers. About 200 people attended, said Kelly Kauffman, the Bucks senior vice president of human resources.
"We've already hired about 120 people," she said.
The Bradley Center's last major public events were held in April, and the only remaining major gathering is the annual meeting of Northwestern Mutual agents in July.