Milwaukee Recreation broke ground on Wednesday morning on a new Milwaukee Recreation Community Center at the former Browning School, 5575 N. 76th St., and a redevelopment of the adjacent Browning Playfield.
The $54 million plan at the 7.5-acre site includes a new gym, basketball courts, an elevated walking track, a much-needed indoor pool, multi-purpose rooms, enrichment spaces and fitness classrooms in a newly constructed addition to the former Browning School’s 1929 building and its 1930s addition.
The playfield will get new walking paths, lighting and shade structures, a playground, a splash pad, tennis and pickleball courts, a pump track for skateboarding and biking, outdoor seating and education areas, landscaping and green infrastructure.
Both the indoor and outdoor components will have fully ADA-compliant access.
The design work is being done by Milwaukee’s Quorum Architects and OPN Architects, based in Madison. CG Schmidt is the general contractor.
The project is expected to be completed by early 2027.
When it opens, the complex will be the second full-service Milwaukee Recreation community center in the city, along with Bay View’s Beulah Brinton Community Center. Another center on the South Side – O.A.S.I.S. – serves seniors and the adults with disabilities.
“This facility is more than just a building,” said Ald. Mark Chambers, Jr., who represents the district in which the site is located. “It's a cornerstone of opportunity. It's a commitment to the families who have long deserved the same access to quality spaces that other neighborhoods already enjoy.
“It is a promise that we've not forgotten that the children of our community matter just as much as children in (other parts of) Milwaukee.”
The 7.5-acre site has two currently vacant school buildings that were constructed by the Town of Granville before the area was annexed to the City of Milwaukee in 1956.
A small, free-standing building erected in 1951, as well as later additions to the 1929 building will be razed.
The site was home to Browning School until a new building was put up at 5440 N. 64th St. in 2003-4. The old buildings were then shuttered until they were leased to Greater Holy Life Temple Christian Academy, which moved to a new building a few years ago, leaving the site vacant once again.
Earlier this year, the city's Historic Preservation Commission approved a request to tear down the post-1951 additions while maintaining the earliest parts of the building.
You can read a deeper history of the site in this Urban Spelunking article.
“This is just not another project,” Chambers added. “This is a moment of transformation for the Northwest Side of our city, for neighborhoods like Grantosa Heights, Havenwoods, the community where I grew up, Westlawn Gardens, and Silver Spring.
“For me, this is deeply personal. I know first-hand what it means to grow here, know the challenges, and I know the pride we carry in our communities. Now, as a child in Westlawn Gardens, I dreamed of spaces like this: safe, vibrant community places where kids can learn, grow and thrive. Today, those dreams are becoming a reality for the next generation.
The project – discussed over the past few years – is the latest in the MPS department’s long-term “Dream, Build, Play,” initiative that has seen the redevelopment of 13 of its 52 Playfields across the city.
The most recent projects completed in the initiative are the makeovers of Wick Field and Modrzejewski Playfield.
Three more projects are currently in the construction phase: Lincoln, Emigh and Metcalfe Playfields. A fourth, Cass Street, is expected to begin construction next.
The design of this latest project was created with community input.
“The community engagement process that shaped this design,” said MPS Superintendent Dr. Brenda Cassellius, “the surveys, the listening sessions, and the planning meetings reflects our values of transparency and responsiveness.
“They also respect a deep, deep commitment to equity. When we listen to our neighbors, we build better schools and stronger communities.”
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press. A fifth collects Urban Spelunking articles about breweries and maltsters.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has been heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
