Pabst Theater Group CEO Gary Witt is sharply criticizing the Wisconsin Center District–commissioned study that recommends replacing the Miller High Life Theatre with a convention headquarters hotel, calling the report a failure and designed to justify a predetermined outcome.

Witt sent a formal letter of dissent to WCD board members Friday morning, pushing back on conclusions in the study unveiled Thursday afternoon by Chicago consulting firm Hunden Partners.

The Hunden study recommends demolishing the Miller High Life Theatre to make way for a two-phase, mixed-use project with a high-rise hotel with 650 guest rooms or more, 62,000 square feet of meeting space, roughly 30,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, and 15,000 square feet of activated public plaza or green space. A second phase would add about 150 apartments and additional retail.

The WCD owns the Miller High Life Theatre, but since 2022, Pabst Theater Group (PTG) has been the exclusive booker, marketer and operator of the venue, located at 500 W. Kilbourn Ave.

Witt said pursuing the recommended hotel development at the site would be “a catastrophic error in public policy and cultural stewardship.”

Witt rejected the study’s conclusion that the Miller High Life Theatre is vulnerable to competition from the Landmark Credit Union Live venue that is set to open nearby in Deer District next month.

While the two venues have similar capacities — about 4,100 seats at the Miller High Life Theatre and 4,500 at Landmark Live — Witt said they serve distinct markets. He described the Miller High Life Theatre as the state’s only traditional seated proscenium-style theater, suited for touring Broadway productions, seated comedy and keynote-style presentations, while Landmark Credit Union Live is designed primarily for the “mosh pit” contemporary music market.

“Comparing a GA club to a proscenium theater is a professional disqualifier; they are not the same asset class and do not serve the same market,” Witt said.

Further, Witt alleged the Hunden report lacks the granular market understanding to back its recommendation.

“The study ignores that the theater’s historical underperformance was a direct result of WCD’s operational neglect over a 20-year period following the complete rebuild of the venue,” Witt said. “…The study fails to account for the PTG’s current success in revitalizing the venue —a group that has famously grown dormant historic venues from 38 to over 800 annual shows. Hunden is essentially using the WCD’s pat management failures to justify the destruction of a unique public asset.”

Witt also said the report appears less as an objective analysis and more as a justification for a predetermined development goal.

“This suggests that Hunden was not hired to find the ‘best use,’ but rather to provide a professional ‘rubberstamp’ for (WCD CEO) Marty Brooks’ plan to raze the theater for a taxpayer-subsidized hotel,” Witt said.

The Hunden study says that Milwaukee is losing convention business because it cannot accommodate large events with a concentrated block of hotel rooms close to the Baird Center (downtown Milwaukee’s convention center) as justification for the hotel project.

While other sites for a convention headquarters hotel were considered by Hunden, the Miller High Life Theatre and UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena ranked as the best sites, according to the study.

WCD Board Chair Jim Kanter said Friday that he has appointed a special committee of the board to conduct a more comprehensive review of the study before the full board’s May meeting.

“In the interest of transparency, the district has commissioned this independent, third-party to study and provide an objective analysis to establish a factual foundation for future consideration as we move forward,” Kanter said. “There was no predetermined outcome.”