Habitat for Humanity ReStore selling deconstructed fixtures, furniture from Bradley Center

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- The Bradley Center closed its doors in August after serving Milwaukee for 30 years.

The arena will eventually be torn down, but first, Milwaukee’s Habitat for Humanity is going through the building to deconstruct what they can.

About 100 volunteers are now stripping the arena of its light fixtures, furniture, granite, carpeting, and even the lockers to resell in their three Milwaukee-area ReStores.

“It’s a rare opportunity and folks need to take advantage of it because stuff is leaving fast,” Jake Weiler, Habitat for Humanity Deconstruction Services Manager, said.

The NBA visitor team’s lockers are on sale for about $120.

“This could be a locker that Lebron James used just this last season and you could have it in your home in your man cave,” Jake Brandt, Habitat for Humanity Director of Marketing and Communications, said.

The ReStores are located in Milwaukee, Wauwatosa, and Walker’s Point. The store is similar to a thrift store, but instead of clothes, you can buy second-hand materials and items for your own home.

“With pricing, we try to be competitive with other thrift stores and also keep in mind general market pricing for someone who’d be buying something secondhand,” Margie Hood, Habitat Volunteer, said.

Hood is in charge of processing all the products, cleaning them, and packing them up for sale. Hood and the other volunteers will spend 10 days in the Bradley Center and plan to fill up about 20 truck-loads full of about 52,500 pounds of reusable materials. This is the largest project Milwaukee Habitat’s Deconstruction Services has ever completed.

“The Bucks are able to prevent usable goods and services from ending up in local landfills,” Brandt said.

The items are expected to be worth about $50,000 and the proceeds will go towards building a home for a local Milwaukee family. Right now Habitat is working on their Midtown 100 project which is their plan to build, rehab, and repair 100 homes in the Midtown Neighborhood over the next three years.

Habitat’s 10-day deconstruction project at the Bradley Center will wrap up next week.

“This is really a once in a lifetime opportunity to get such memorabilia in your home,” Brandt said.

There is still no set timeline for the demolition of the Bradley Center.