Dane County redevelopment team outlines Alliant Energy Center expansion and seeks public‑private partner for Coliseum renovation

Dane County supervisors received an update on long‑range plans for the Alliant Energy Center on the evening the Committee of the Whole met, including a proposed expansion of the Expo Hall and a recommendation to pursue a public‑private partnership to renovate the Coliseum.

The update, delivered by consultant Rob Gottschalk of Vandewalle & Associates and Kevin Scheibler, executive director of the Alliant Energy Center, summarized a master plan developed since 2014, near‑term projects and a multi‑phase timeline. Gottschalk said the plan is grounded in prior market and feasibility work and public input; Scheibler presented specific sizes, cost estimates and projected economic impacts.

Scheibler said the Expo Hall expansion would increase exhibit space from about 100,000 square feet to about 150,000 square feet, expand meeting rooms from 12 to 29, add a significantly larger kitchen and add a ballroom. He described the work in phases, with the project in the design document phase, construction documents next year, a bid in 2027 and phased construction across roughly three years.

Consultants and staff framed the expansion as a way to attract larger, higher‑revenue events that no longer come to the county’s aging venues. Based on analysis by the redevelopment committee’s market consultant, Scheibler said the expansion would raise projected hotel room nights over 30 years from about 686,000 under a “do‑nothing” scenario to roughly 1.5 million, and that the additional activity could translate to about $212 million in additional economic activity over that period. He said that, using a destination average daily rate of $133.58 and a 10% hotel‑motel tax rate, the estimated incremental hotel‑motel tax could be about $700,000 annually (figures provided by Scheibler and the committee’s consultants).

On the Coliseum, Scheibler presented two cost options the consultants studied: a full replacement at roughly $340 million and a renovation at roughly $125 million. He said the renovation would produce a smaller event increase — roughly eight additional high‑revenue events compared with a new arena — and recommended a P3 approach to limit direct county financial exposure. “We are recommending a P3 project,” Scheibler said. He added that some contemporary P3 arrangements nationwide have required little to no direct county outlay in certain structures.

Scheibler gave further projected community impacts for a well‑functioning Coliseum: about 400,000 visitors per year, 56% of those described as net new visitors, about $59 million in new spending in the community and support for an estimated average of 141 full‑time equivalent jobs in Dane County. He cautioned that the county does not yet have the renovation funding secured and that the county is still developing a funding plan.

Consultants and supervisors emphasized non‑venue investments that would support redevelopment, including a campus ring road, structured parking to replace more than 6,000 current surface stalls over time, stormwater infrastructure and improved pedestrian and transit connections across John Nolan Drive and Rimrock Road.

On sustainability, Scheibler said the team is evaluating geothermal systems (including test borings to about 800 feet) and rooftop solar for the Expo Hall expansion and is incorporating Dane County sustainability goals into the Coliseum RFP. On equity and community use, staff said the draft request for proposals (RFP) will ask bidders to explain how they will meet county equity expectations and that the county maintains a community fund that provides low‑cost meeting space for local nonprofit groups.

Members of the public and supervisors asked about ticket pricing, monopolistic practices among large promoters and ticketing companies, transit and parking, equity in benefits from private development, and whether housing remains part of the campus vision. In response to a question about ticketing, Scheibler said, “The ticket price is 100% dictated by the artist,” and described approaches venues can use to allocate certain ticketing fees to venue maintenance and operations.

Scheibler confirmed the redevelopment committee is coordinating with other local planning efforts including a destination‑district task force and city transportation officials on bus service to the campus. He said the team expects to continue stakeholder engagement and that the RFP for Coliseum redevelopment will focus on the Coliseum itself (staff noted mixed‑use housing concepts may remain part of broader campus vision but are not in the Coliseum RFP).

No formal county action to approve funding or select a delivery method for the projects was taken at the meeting. The committee completed the presentation and public Q&A, and the Committee of the Whole adjourned by a motion moved by Supervisor Possler and seconded by Supervisor Erickson.

Next steps described by staff were completion of design documents, development of a funding plan, release of an RFP for Coliseum redevelopment that will request equity and sustainability plans from bidders, and further traffic and stormwater engineering work; staff did not provide a final funding commitment or contract at the meeting.