Inspired by the low vacancy rate in the Woodland Prime office park in Menomonee Falls, Weas Development is creating preliminary plans for another office building there. The preliminary plans call for a three-story, 80,000-square-foot building in Woodland Prime, which is located northwest of U.S. Highway 45 and Good Hope Road

Currently, Woodland Prime has four buildings with about 400,000 square feet of total office space, and only about 22,000 square feet is vacant, said Weas Development president Doug Weas. The largest vacant space is only about 6,000 square feet, Weas said. Weas Development is the managing partner for all of the Woodland Prime buildings.

The company decided to craft preliminary plans for another office building to be able to accommodate a sizeable office tenant at Woodland Prime, if one is interested, Weas said. "We've gone and taken the very preliminary steps of developing a building," he said. "We're just kind of preparing ourselves in the event that someone wants to come to Menomonee Falls." RFP Commercial Inc. is marketing space in the proposed building. The marketing efforts began recently.

Construction for Park Lafayette, the twin 20-story condo towers being built on the corner of North Prospect Avenue and East Lafayette Place on Milwaukee's east side, reached its highest point last week.

The developer for the project, Oak Brook, Ill.-based Renaissant Development Group LLC and the general contractor for the project, Brookfield-based Hunzinger Construction Co., held a topping off ceremony to celebrate the construction milestone. The construction project began in October of 2006.

"I know everyone involved feels the excitement as Park Lafayette's two towers reach further into the east side skyline, and we're looking forward to the near future when our doors open to residents," said Warren Barr, president of Renaissant Development.

Park Lafayette will have 280 condominiums, priced between $240,000 and $895,000. So far, 83 of the condos have been sold.

The first residents are expected to be able to move into the first tower in January. Both towers will be completed in June 2009.

Financing for the project is being provided by New York-based Amalgamated Bank. The bank serves working-class consumers and trade unions. All of the laborers on the Park Lafayette project are union workers.

The City of Milwaukee recently issued a request for proposals (RPF) seeking developers interested in purchasing and renovating a two-story, 4,242-square-foot, 103-year-old building at 2121-23 W. North Ave. The building is located just west of the intersection of Fond du Lac Avenue and North Avenue, where the headquarters for Legacy Bank and Columbia Savings and Loan are located.

The building has 2,580 square feet of first floor retail space and a 1,662-square-foot one-bedroom residence on the second floor. The property also has a small parking area in the rear with vehicular access from the alley. The building is just north of where the Legacy Housing Initiative plans to add 75 new single family homes and other housing initiatives, including CityHomes and Lindsay Heights, have already added or rehabilitated hundreds of single family homes in the area.

The city is asking $5,000 for the building. City officials want to see the property remodeled with retail use on the first floor. The second floor can be used for residential space. Proposals are due Aug. 29, 2008.

This is the second RFP the city has issued for a North Avenue property in recent weeks. The city recently issued an RFP seeking developers interested in purchasing and redeveloping a two-story, brick building at 2501-03 W. North Ave., just a few blocks west of the 2121-23 W. North Ave. building.

The 5,144-square-foot, 94-year-old commercial building at 2501-03 W. North Ave. is located next to an Autozone store and across the street from the North Avenue Commerce Center and a site where a Lena's Food store is planned.

The city's asking price for the building is $8,700.City officials want the building to be renovated with office or retail use on the first floor. The second floor could be used for residential space. Responses to the RFP are due by Aug. 22.

Carol Stream, Ill.-based K&K Screw Products LLC will move its plant in Bristol to Pleasant Prairie in October. The company, which manufactures precision products using screw machines, has outgrown the 25,000-square-foot facility that it leases at 19610 86th St. in Bristol, said Todd Joynt, plant manager.

The plant's operations will be moved to a 82,000-square-foot spec industrial building at 10790 Green Bay Road, in the Lakeview Corporate Park in Pleasant Prairie. The building was developed by Milwaukee-based Towne Investments. Construction of the building was completed in March. K&K will use the facility for manufacturing and will add distribution operations there, Joynt said.

The company has 52 employees in Bristol and will increase that to about 65 in the new facility, he said. Eventually the company plans to have about 100 employees in the Pleasant Prairie facility, he said. The Pleasant Prairie is just one of several spec industrial buildings that Towne Investments has built in the Kenosha area, taking advantage of continued growth in the I-94 corridor between Chicago and Milwaukee.

The city of Milwaukee recently issued a request for proposals (RFP) for a property at the northeast corner of North 27th and West State Street in the SOHI Mainstreet District. The building, located at 2622-26 W. State St., is a one-story, 3,500-square-foot, 84-year-old masonry building. The property's total land area is about 14,350 square feet. City officials are seeking a commercial use for the building. Responses to the RFP are due on Sept. 11.

The sixth annual BizTimes Commercial Real Estate & Development Conference will take place on Friday, Nov. 14, from 7:30-9:30 a.m. at the Italian Community Center in Milwaukee. The annual conference has become a major networking and information event for members of southeastern Wisconsin's commercial real estate industry. Last year, a sellout crowd of about 600 people attended the conference at the Italian Community Center.

The theme of this year's conference will be "The Fresh Coast Advantage." Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley is the planned keynote speaker.

The conference will focus on the strategic competitive advantage the Great Lakes region will have in the 21st century, when "water becomes the new oil." While heavily populated regions such as California, Arizona, Texas and Georgia are draining their supplies of fresh drinking water, the Great Lakes region contains 20 percent of the world's surface freshwater and 95 percent of America's surface freshwater.

The Milwaukee conference will explore how being positioned amid the largest supply of freshwater in the world will be a key driver of economic growth and commercial real estate development. From high-valued lakefront property to suburban communities needing Lake Michigan water to continue their growth, southeastern Wisconsin real estate development will benefit from the region's access to the fresh water resource of the Great Lakes.

At the Milwaukee conference, Daley will discuss how regional collaboration between Chicago and Milwaukee will be beneficial for both cities and how being located in the Great Lakes will be a competitive asset in the 21st century. Daley will be introduced at the conference by Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett. In addition to Daley, other featured panelists at this year's BizTimes Commercial Real Estate & Development Conference will be:

• Franz Hoffman, president of Procorp Enterprises LLC in Milwaukee and chair of the Milwaukee 7 Water Council. Procorp specializes in sustainable water and wastewater treatment solutions. Hoffman will speak about the Great Lakes water resource and the need to use sustainable real estate development practices and products.
• James Randel, commercial real estate attorney, broker investor and author. Randel is a leader in "added value" investing, an approach to real estate that attempts to boost the value of a property well beyond normal appreciation or inflation. His strategies have been followed by investors throughout the country. He is the author of "The Real Estate Game And How To Win It" and "Confessions of a Real Estate Entrepreneur." Randel is a distinguished commentator on real estate issues at conferences throughout the nation, including the Harvard Business School. A native of Ohio, Randel will speak about the future strategic advantages of developing real estate in the Great Lakes region.

Small Business Times presents the conference in partnership with Marquette's Bell Real Estate Program and the Commercial Association of Realtors Wisconsin (CARW).

The opening remarks of the conference will be provided by Richard "Rocky" Marcoux, commissioner of the Milwaukee Department of City Development. Jim Villa, the new president of CARW, will provide some exclusive market data at the conference. The conference will be moderated by Mark Eppli, Ph.D., professor of finance and chair of the Robert B. Bell Real Estate Program at Marquette University.

A special supplement, the BizTimes Commercial Real Estate & Development Book, featuring exclusive editorial content and data, will be published in conjunction with the conference.

Famous Labels store to boost Brown Deer Road
The portion of the Brown Deer Road retail corridor near the former Northridge Mall has struggled with numerous retail space vacancies since the mall closed in 2003. However, one shopping center in that area just landed a major new tenant and is nearly fully leased up.

Las Vegas-based Famous Labels 2 Inc. plans to open a Famous Labels store in a 31,847-square-foot space at Highland Plaza, 8560 W. Brown Deer Road, Milwaukee. Famous Labels is a women's discount clothing and home goods store. Famous Labels sells clothing items that are normally priced between $30 and $300, for $20 or less. The retailer specializes in the purchase of closeouts, liquidation and overstock items and sells them in a no-frills atmosphere that allows them to keep prices down. The store plans to open in late November.

The 95,118-square-foot Highland Plaza shopping center is owned by Northbrook, Ill.-based The Cloverleaf Group Inc., which bought the shopping center in 2006. Highland Plaza is anchored by a K&G Menswear store, is now 94 percent leased, according to Dan Rosenfeld, principal at Mid-America Real Estate-Wisconsin, who is also the shopping center's exclusive leasing representative. Other recent new leases in the shopping center include: Animal Crackers and Dry Clean Discounters. In addition, Cousin's Submarines Sandwich Shop and Half-Price Books recently renewed their lease.

The Cloverleaf Group has worked to improve Highland Plaza adding a new roof, updating the parking lot and improving the façade, signage and landscaping. "That's the care that not only keeps current tenants, but, we believe, was a major selling point for Famous Labels," said Michael Basofin, president of The Cloverleaf Group. "Famous Labels' arrival is a great endorsement, not only for Highland Plaza, but for the neighborhood's continuing redevelopment efforts."

Other stores along that portion of Brown Deer Road include Target, Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Toys R Us and tenants in the former Northridge building (now called Granville Station), including Menards and Pick 'n Save.

The Harp Irish Pub sold
Joseph Zilber, the founder of Milwaukee-based Zilber Ltd., announced that one of his family partnerships has entered into an agreement to sell The Harp Irish Pub property at 113 E. Juneau Ave. in downtown Milwaukee to investor and restaurateur R.C. Schmidt. Terms of the sale, which is expected to close in August, were not disclosed. The Zilber Family Partnership has owned the property since 1985. The building is currently leased to Edison & Juneau Inc., which is owned by Mitchell Wakefield, doing business as Harp Irish Pub.