BAIRD CENTER EXPANSION

Big Things Are Coming

Featured Business

IBC ENGINEERING SERVICES, Inc.

IBC Engineering Services, Inc. is an award-winning, mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) engineering firm that is dedicated to delivering high-performance buildings.

News / Updates

WOMEN IN CONSTRUCTION WEEK 2024

We catch up with Alicia Dupies, Gilbane Building Company Vice President.

Click the link below to hear from project leaders, view press releases, and read more from regional and local news outlets.

Photos

SEE THE GROUNDBREAKING CEREMONY

View our photo gallery to see the progress of the Baird Center expansion.

Live Feed

WATCH THE EXPANSION IN REAL-TIME

To see live footage of the progress on the construction site, click the link below.

Construction Inclusion Week

October 16-21, 2023

James Methu, an economic inclusion senior specialist at Gilbane Building Company, explains why it’s crucial to have inclusion and diversity within the construction industry.

Sierra Currie, MBE and WBE business owner explains what it means to have landed a job working on the Baird Center expansion project.

From crash rescue firefighting in the Air Force to electrical work on the Baird Center expansion, Scott Flaugher shares Veterans Electric’s story.

Siblings Clifton and Kahri Phelps lead sister businesses both contracted for work on the Baird Center expansion.

Thomas A. Mason Co. owner Steve Macaione talks expansion and inclusion

111-year-old business a proud part of the Baird Center expansion project

Local Businesses Involvement

Local Businesses Impact

Local Businesses Diversity

Expansion Facts

Click here to see the expansion by numbers

Project Overview

The $456 million Baird Center expansion will bring the exposition hall to 300,000 contiguous square feet; add 24 new meeting rooms; include no fewer than 400 indoor parking spaces; add 6 loading docks; add an executive kitchen; and feature a spectacular fourth-floor ballroom with space for a minimum of 2,000 for a seated dinner. The groundbreaking was held on October 28, 2021, with an anticipated opening in May 2024. The expansion project includes a comprehensive economic inclusion plan by committing to 25 percent minority-owned businesses, five percent women-owned businesses, and one percent disabled veteran-owned businesses. Plus a residents-preferred program of 40 percent, meaning at least $40 million of the $100 million in anticipated construction wages will be earned by residents of the City of Milwaukee. Upon opening, the expanded Baird Center is projected to support 2,300 full-time equivalent jobs throughout the state of Wisconsin.

See the Expansion
in 3D

Watch the Baird Center expansion’s virtual fly-through.

Groundbreaking -
October 28, 2021

A formal groundbreaking of the Baird Center expansion took place in Q4 of 2021.

Drone Footage -
May 2022

Construction for the Baird Center expansion is well underway.

Crane Tower -
2022

The tower crane is up and doing some heavy lifting.

Ace Trades
Day

Area students participate in the ACE Trades Day mentorship program.

Drone Footage -
March 2023

The Baird Center expansion is taking shape!

Women in Construction -
Week 2023

Celebrating all the women who chose construction as a career!

Topping Off Ceremony -
May 10, 2023

The final steel beam was put in place on May 10, 2023,

Drone Footage -
May 2023

Baird Center construction is in full swing!

Drone Footage -
October 2023

Baird Center expansion drone footage, capture on October 6, 2023.