The state of Wisconsin recently issued a request for proposals (RFP) for 60,000 to 70,000 square feet of office space in Milwaukee County.

The RFP indicates that the office building site must be located within a geographic area bordered by Oklahoma Avenue on the south, Lake Michigan on the east, Good Hope Road on the north and 76th Street on the west. The only municipalities that are within that area are: Milwaukee, West Allis, Wauwatosa, West Milwaukee, Glendale, Shorewood, Whitefish Bay, River Hills and Greenfield.

The RFP says that the "ideal location" would be within the geographic area bordered by National Avenue on the south, the Milwaukee River to the east, Walnut Street to the north and 27th Street to the west. That area lies entirely within the city of Milwaukee and includes the west side of downtown.

The RFP indicates that a bus line should be within the "immediate proximity" of the office location.

The space will be occupied by the Department of Health Services. The department needs the space because is assuming responsibility for the Milwaukee County Income Maintenance program. About 400 people will work in the office.

The state's downtown Milwaukee office building only has about 10,000 square feet of vacant space and would not be able to accommodate this office, said Bill Forbes, the sreal estate transaction manger for the state's Department of Administration.

The state wants to occupy the space on Feb. 1, 2010.

The state is seeking a 10-year lease with options totaling 25 years. Responses to the RFP are due by 2 p.m. on Wednesday, July 8.

Pete's Marketplace Inc. plans to expand Pete's Fruit Market, located at 1645 W. Greenfield Ave. on the south side of the city of Milwaukee. The property is part of the city's South Cesar Chavez Retail Corridor.

Pete's plans to demolish its current 27,000-square-foot facility and replace it with a 51,790-square-foot, $5.745 million, two-story development with retail space and a shipping/receiving area on the first floor and processing areas and office space on the second floor. The project will be built in two phases. The first phase will be 25,630 square feet, the second will be 26,160 square feet. The expanded facility will add 45 full and part time jobs to its existing 35 employees. Pete's Marketplace is in the process of acquiring three properties for the project, one is a single family home and the other two are vacant lots that may be acquired through the city's Redevelopment Authority via eminent domain.

Instrumentarium Dental Inc. will move its U.S. operations from 300 W. Edgerton Ave., Milwaukee, near Mitchell International Airport, to the Canal Street Commerce Center at 1301 W. Canal St., Milwaukee, in the Menomonee Valley. The move will take place in July. Instrumentarium Dental Inc. is a manufacturer of Instrumentarium Dental and Soredex imaging products for the dental industry. The Canal Street Commerce Center building is anchored by Proven Direct Inc.

Chicago-based HSA Commercial Real Estate will host an open house from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. today for two speculative industrial buildings totaling 448,610 square feet that the firm built in Mt. Pleasant, in the 90-acre Park 94 development.

Construction of the two buildings, located southwest of Highway 20 and County Highway V, was completed recently. Construction began about a year ago. The general contractor for the project was Butler-based Berghammer Construction Corp. Park 94 is part of a 950-acre tax incremental financing (TIF) district in Mt. Pleasant.

Foreclosure rates in the metro Milwaukee area have decreased in April compared to April of 2008, according to First American CoreLogic, a collector of national, state and local data on home prices, foreclosure and delinquency activity, real estate sales volume and mortgage loan activity.

According to recent data from First American CoreLogic on foreclosures for the Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis area, the rate of foreclosures among outstanding mortgage loans is 1.51 percent for the month of April, a decrease of -0.10 percentage points compared to April of 2008 when the rate was 1.61 percent. Foreclosure activity in Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis is lower than the national foreclosure rate which was 1.8 percent for April 2009, representing a 0.29 percentage point difference.

Also in Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, the mortgage delinquency rate has increased. According to First American CoreLogic preview data for April 2009, 4.19 percent of mortgage loans were 90 days or more delinquent compared to 3.52 percent for the same period last year, representing an increase of 0.68 percentage points.*

During the past 12 months, from May 2008 to April 2009, there was a total of 17,887 foreclosure filings in Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, or approximately 49.01 per day. That compares to the previous 12-month period of May 2007 to April 2008 when there were 10,686 foreclosure filings, or approximately 29.28 per day.

Chinese company purchases Germantown building
Sheyang, China-based All-Powerful High Pressure Waterjet Technology Co. Ltd. recently purchased a 10,000-square-foot building at N116 W18395 Morse Dr. in Germantown from Somersville, Conn.-based Carbon Products Inc. for $620,000. Carbon Products closed the Germantown facility and consolidated its operations at its two other locations in Minnesota and Connecticut. All-Powerful High Pressure Waterjet Technology manufactures ultra high pressure waterjet equipment.
Adam Matson and Collin Schaible of NAI MLG represented Carbon Products and Dennis Herman of Real Estate Executives represented All-Powerful High Pressure Waterjet Technology in brokering the sale.

Mandel Group buys suburban Madison apartment complex
Milwaukee-based Mandel Group Inc. recently purchased the 578-unit New Fountains Apartments at 5401 Williamsburg Way, Fitchburg, a suburb of Madison, from a Dayton, N.J.-based private investor group. The apartment complex consists of 14 buildings on 28 acres. The sale price was not disclosed, but financing for the transaction was secured in part through a $20 million mortgage loan originated through the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA). As a condition of the WHEDA financing agreement, Mandel will offer several of the apartments at reduced rental rates for low to moderate income residents. The sale transaction for the apartment complex was managed by Paul De Kruiff of the Chicago office of NorthMarq Capital.

Aurora sells medical office buildings
Grubb & Ellis Healthcare REIT Inc. recently acquired two medical office buildings, totaling 130,000 square feet of space and located in Mequon and Franklin, from Milwaukee-based Aurora Health Care.

The International Council of Shopping Centers recently appointed Robert Dennik of Pewaukee-based VJS Construction Services, Bradley Dallet of Milwaukee-based Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek S.C. and Jose Perez of the City of Milwaukee to volunteer officer posts. Dennik was appointed chair of the state government relations committee, Dallet was appointed to the position of state alliance co-chair-private and Perez was named state alliance co-chair-public.

Brookfield-based Shorewest Realtors recently added Lucy Kotelnicki as a sales associate in its Kenosha office and Sue Jonas was named the office sales director of the West Bend office.

Wauwatosa-based Selzer-Ornst Construction Company's renovation of the MillerCoors Visitor Center has been selected by Wisconsin Builder magazine as one of its Top 20 Projects of 2008.