Makeover outside Marcus Performing Arts Center begins with addition of 24 honey locust trees

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- The makeover outside Milwaukee's Marcus Center is now underway, and when the work is done, the grounds surrounding the 52-year-old performing arts center will look very different.

It starts with the trees. Workers planted the first of the new honey locust trees outside the building at Water and Kilbourn streets. The goal of the renovation project is to make the Marcus Center campus more of a park-like setting. 

We're told the honey locust trees are not easy to find, but they are well-suited to this project.

"We wanted a tree that provided shade, that didn't shed a lot of debris or acorns or things that, you know, would have to be cleaned up," said Kendra Whitlock Ingram, president and CEO of the Marcus Center. "And also things that -- a tree that would be able to withstand all four seasons of Wisconsin weather."

Twenty-four trees will be planted this week. Other changes that are coming include the expansion of the lawn east of the Peck Pavilion, the addition of native perennial gardens and the relocation of a war memorial to a more prominent spot.