Milwaukee Community Sailing Center

MCSC Mission Statement: To promote sailing and make Lake Michigan accessible to everyone in the Milwaukee community through quality programs.

• Members-only, non-profit sailing school

• Winter classes and many events are open to the public

• They rent the land from the county, no city or county financial support for our operations

• Theyhave a Board of Directors, four year-round full-time staff, and about 30 seasonal staff

• This is the 43nd year of MCSC operations.

• Built in 2008, opened in 2009. The original building was built in 1981.

• There are more than 100 on-site construction workers involved in building this structure

• There were more than 30 contracting firms, with more than 40 suppliers of raw and finished materials, on site

• The building design requires 4,800 lineal feet of structural steel and 506 tons of concrete

• The geothermal system has with 14 wells bored 300 feet into the earth to provide heating and cooling to the entire building, all of which are controlled in zones

• The domed roof gathers water into a rain garden, which is currently under renovation, to avoid adding storm water run off into the municipal sewer system

• MCSC has committed to a ten year campus and fleet capital improvement plan, with specific items targeted for each year. Eventually the maintenance facility will be expanded so boats can be repaired and reconditioned and back into the water sooner.

Designer: HGA, Milwaukee.

From their portfolio:

“The Milwaukee Community Sailing Center facility expands access to the water for Milwaukee area residents. The design of the building responds to the client’s desire to change the profile of their organization in the community by creating an open and welcoming face looking to the city.

The message is that the Sailing Center is open to all who dream of sailing. The center includes: year-round classrooms, a community meeting room, restroom and shower accommodations and a boat maintenance area. A modest building, the new facility was designed to work within limited financial means. It has been called “an environmental benchmark for new buildings” and features green materials, resource conservation efforts and energy-efficient geothermal heating and cooling.”

Construction Company: Oliver Construction Company

Self-guided tours throughout the day, with exhibits of MCSC history and the building blueprints