Milwaukee-based Inland Companies Inc. plans to move its downtown Milwaukee office from 839 N. Jefferson St. to the Boiler House building in the former Pabst brewery complex, according to real estate industry sources.

Inland Companies is a full-service commercial real estate company that provides brokerage, property management, investment sales, development, construction and facility maintenance services.

Joseph Zilber, founder of Milwaukee-based Zilber Ltd. who is redeveloping the 20-acre Pabst complex into a mixed use neighborhood, announced Thursday that he had closed on the sale of the former boiler house building to Boiler House LLC, a joint venture of Milwaukee developers Charles Trainer and Max Dermond. Zilber is cleaning up and gutting several of the buildings in the Pabst complex and plans to sell them to other developers. Zilber also will likely redevelop some of the buildings in the complex himself.

The former boiler house is a three-story, 55,000-square-foot building located on the west side of North 10th Street.

Boiler House LLC plans to convert the building into office and retail space. Previously, Trainer and Dermond announced that Albion Group Architects plans to occupy 4,000 square feet of office space in the building.

"We anticipate making a major announcement on a significant space commitment in early January," Trainer and Dermond said in a news release. "The response to this building and the plans that have been developed for it by one of our tenants, The Albion Group, has been phenomenal. It is clear from our leasing efforts that The Brewery is gong to be a major anchor neighborhood, not only in the downtown area, but for the city of Milwaukee as a whole. People are excited about what's going on here, the speed at which this project is being developed and Mr. Zilber's commitment to have it both historic and sustainable."

The Boiler House is expected to be ready for occupancy by this time next year.

Several other tentative building sales are in the works for the brewery complex.

A group of investors, including former Green Bay Packer Mark Chmura, is buying a three-story, 28,000-square-foot building in the brewery complex. Chmura, his brother Matt Chmura and Sonny Bando (a developer and son of former Milwaukee Brewer Sal Bando) are the principals of BC Pabst Holdings, which is purchasing the former research lab building (also known as building 14) in the brewery complex. The 94-year-old building features a 1,200-square-foot penthouse with city skyline views. BC Pabst Holdings plans to convert the building into office space. The penthouse will be converted into a conference room.

Urban Spaces, a partnership of Milwaukee residents Christopher Dobs, Damingo Jones and Daniel Block, is buying the three-story, 14,000-square-foot historic blacksmith, wagon and paint shop building next to the former research lab building. They plan to move their upscale European flower shop, Urban Sense, from 5911 W. Vliet St. in the Washington Heights neighborhood to occupy half of the space on the first floor of the building. They also plan to create four two-story loft condos in the building.

Madison-based Gorman & Co., plans to convert the 138,000-square-foot former keg house in the Pabst complex into the 95-unit Blue Ribbon Loft Apartments.

Plans also are in the works for other buildings in the complex.

Zilber's plans include an International Trade Center, which would occupy a 30-year-old warehouse building on the brewery property at 824 W. Juneau Ave. The Milwaukee International Trade Center would be the home to as many as 100 businesses from throughout China that are interested in selling their products directly to buyers for distribution throughout the United States.

Cincinnati Restaurant Group Inc. is considering plans to open a Hofbrauhaus microbrewery and restaurant in the former gift shop, visitor's center and corporate offices at 901-17 W. Juneau Ave., which are owned by Brew City Redevelopment Group LLC. Those buildings will also be the home to the Museum of Beer and Brewing. Talks with city officials, Zilber and Cincinnati Restaurant Group are ongoing and the Hofbrauhaus could open in the spring of 2009 said Jim Haertel, president of Brew City Redevelopment Group.

In an exclusive interview with SBT, developer Robert Lang says he recently sold 13 of the Williamsburg-style buildings that he built in downtown Delafield because he wants to focus his energy on Erin Hills, the golf course that he built a few miles west of Holy Hill in the Washington County Town of Erin.

"After 20 years of building in Delafield I have decided that at my age and at this stage of my life I want to focus on Erin Hills," Lang said.

The buildings that Lang sold do not include the Delafield Hotel, which Lang says "goes together" with the golf course. Many people coming to play at Erin Hills stay at the Delafield Hotel.

Lang said Erin Hills has been even more successful than he expected. The course received rave reviews in the golf world, including favorable reports in several golf magazines, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. As a result of the widespread positive press, golfers from 40 different states came to Wisconsin and played at the course this year, the course's first full year in operation.

"I am totally shocked that we had people from 40 states," Lang said.

The undulating landscape of the Kettle Moraine created a unique natural setting for Lang to build the course. He made few changes to that landscape in building the course, keeping it as natural as possible.

Erin Hills is a championship caliber, old-fashioned links style course. Links courses are similar to the old courses found in Ireland and Scotland. They are more natural and tend to be more undulating and have fewer man-made elements. The ball rolls farther on hard, dry sandy soil on links courses like Erin Hills. That gives golfers longer distance on their shots, but can make it harder to control where those shots go.

"We're not for everybody," Lang said. "This is Irish style golf. It's golf, good friends and a pint of Guinness."

Lang's ultimate goal for the course is to attract the U.S. Open, one of the four major tournaments of men's professional golf.

The United States Golf Association (USGA), which runs the U.S. Open, awarded another tournament to Erin Hills, the U.S. Women's Amateur Links Championship, about a year before the course even opened. The U.S. Women's Amateur Links Championship will be held at the course from June 16-21, 2008.

Lang said, "we are under consideration" for the U.S. Open and the U.S. Amateur. Typically the USGA will award a U.S. Amateur to a golf course before it gets to host a U.S. Open.

"Things are moving faster than expected," Lang said of his relationship with the USGA. However, he also emphasized, "I assume nothing. I'm just working toward championship golf."

Lang, the former owner of the Lang Cos., which he sold four years ago, said at this stage of his life, he wanted to shift his focus entirely to Erin Hills.

The 13 buildings that Lang sold in downtown Delafield were purchased by Ace Delafield Properties LLC, a subsidiary of Cudahy-based Steinergroup Inc.

The buildings are more than 95-percent occupied, according to Jason Steiner, president of Steinergroup.

"We liked the construction (of Lang's Delafield buildings)," Steiner said. "It's unique to the area and southeastern Wisconsin. We like Waukesha County. We see that's where a lot of the growth is going to be."

Few changes are planned to the buildings, Steiner said, but Steinergroup may pursue more national tenants, while still keeping an emphasis on local tenants.

Steinergroup is the real estate investment arm of Milwaukee-based Ace World Wide Group of Companies. Steinergroup provides real estate advisory services and owns and manages office, industrial and retail buildings in Milwaukee and Waukesha counties.

"After 20 years of building in Delafield I have decided that at my age and at this stage of my life I want to focus on Erin Hills," Lang said. "I love Delafield and I've put my heart and soul into it. Mr. (Jason) Steiner is going to do a lot of good for Delafield."

Lang also owns about 50 acres of vacant land at the I-94 and Highway 83 interchange. Lang said he plans to eventually sell that land to another developer.

Through its entity Ace Industrial Properties, Cudahy-based Steinergroup Inc. purchased 55 acres at the southwest corner of Moorland Road and College Avenue in Muskego for $6 million. Steinergroup plans to develop a mixed use technology park on the site called The Muskego Commerce Center. The center will be anchored by a 486,000-square-foot distribution center for GE Healthcare "The site can accommodate over 1 million square feet of construction, so many more buildings will follow," said Jason Steiner, president of Steinergroup. "We see the area as space constrained for this type of use and ripe for development." Steinergroup is the real estate investment are and exclusive advisor to the Milwaukee-based Ace World Wide Group of Companies.

Chicago-based HSA Commercial Real Estate recently hired Brian Spoerl as an assistant vice president/leasing manager of health care properties, to focus on the firm’s medical office portfolio. Spoerl, 38, is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin and a resident of Milwaukee. He most recently was a broker for office and medical office investment properties with Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services. Previously, Spoerl owned and managed his own local real estate firm in Milwaukee, Brian Spoerl Realty Group, which was sold at the end of 2006.

Brookfield-based Shorewest Realtors recently hired Joel Lynch as a sales associate at its south metro Milwaukee office located at 1021 West National Avenue, Suite 200 in Milwaukee.

The Indianapolis office of Holliday Fenoglio Fowler L.P. recently announced that it, working on behalf of funds managed by Boston-based Eaton Vance Management, has secured $71.25 million in financing for Eaton Vance's purchase of the GE Healthcare building in Wauwatosa. Eaton Vance purchased the 506,195-square-foot office building this summer from Irgens Development Partners for $96.5 million. Holliday Fenoglio Fowler senior managing director Dave Keller placed the 123-month, fixed-rate loan with Principal Global Investors. "The property is the highest quality office asset located in the Milwaukee market," Keller said. Pittsburgh-based Holliday Fenoglio Fowler (also known as HFF Inc.) is one of the nation's largest companies providing commercial real estate. HFF helps its clients find lenders, select joint venture capital partners, and find buyers for their properties.

The South 27th Street Business District has changed its name to the South 27th Street Business Preservation Association, as part of the group's fight against the state's plans to close the freeway ramp to the corridor for traffic coming north through the Mitchell Interchange. Several business owners on 27th Street say that change would hurt their businesses by diverting traffic away from the corridor. "This area is fragile," said Todd Reardon, chairman of the association and owner of the Braeger Automotive dealerships on 27th Street. "If you drive up and down (27th Street), you see pockets of success, but also closed businesses everywhere." About 250 business owners and managers have signed a petition opposing the 27th Street ramp closure plan proposed by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (DOT). Under the DOT's plans, which is part of the planned reconstruction and expansion of Interstate 94 from the state line to the Mitchell Interchange, southbound traffic coming from the downtown area and eastbound traffic coming from the west would still be able to exit at 27th Street, but northbound traffic from the southern part of the metro area and Illinois would not be able to. Northbound traffic would instead have to exit at Layton Avenue and go west on Layton to get to 27th Street.

The Ozaukee County Comprehensive "Smart Growth" Plan will be discussed at the First Friday's Forum on Jan. 4 from 7:30-9 a.m. in the lecture hall at the Mequon Campus of the Milwaukee Area Technical College, 5555 W. Highland Road. "Comprehensive Planning – Policy Recommendations to Maintain Our Quality of Life" will focus on recommendations developed by the Ozaukee County Citizen Advisory Committee and the Ozaukee County Comprehensive Planning Board.