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Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Irgens to buy Ruby Farm site
May 8, 2013 10:00 AM
Wauwatosa-based commercial real estate development firm Irgens has a contract to purchase the 66-acre Ruby Farm site west of Calhoun Road between Bluemound Road and I-94 in Brookfield, said chief executive officer, president and manager Mark Irgens. He declined to disclose the sale price.

The property is owned by a subsidiary of BMO Harris. The bank took control of the property in 2010 from Brookfield-based V.K. Development Corp.

V.K. was the master developer for a $250 million mixed-use project, called Percheron Square, at the site that included plans for office space, retail space, a hotel, multi-family residential units and a health club. But that project never moved forward and it died during the Great Recession, leading to the bank taking back the property.

Irgens said his firm is formulating plans for a mixed use development of the property, but no details have been determined. The project will likely have retail space along Bluemound Road and office space along I-94, he said. The project also could include a health care component, a residential component and a senior living component.

“We are going through our due diligence and planning,” Irgens said. “We’re trying to determine what would be the highest and best uses.”

The site is the last remaining large undeveloped property in Brookfield between Bluemound Road and I-94.

“It’s a good opportunity for our company,” Irgens said.

Irgens expects to close on the deal in the third quarter of this year and hopes to obtain city approvals for the development next year.

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Irgens to move HQ to proposed downtown office tower
May 8, 2013 10:00 AM
Real estate development firm Irgens plans to move its corporate headquarters from Wauwatosa to the 17-story, 357,000-square-foot office building that it plans to build at 833 E. Michigan St. in downtown Milwaukee. The firm also released a video this week to show what the proposed building will look like.

Irgens has 71 employees that it would bring to the proposed building, said chief executive officer, president and manager Mark Irgens.

The firm has letters of intent from downtown law firm Godfrey & Kahn to move its headquarters to the building and from two other firms, one currently located downtown and another firm currently located "on the periphery" of downtown, Irgens said. Total pre-committed space for the building is approximately 155,000 square feet.

"We're pre-leasing the building to 50 percent to get financing," Irgens said. "There are four or five different financial organizations we are talking to."

One of those financial firms is U.S. Bank, which is selling the property to Irgens. The site is currently occupied by the U.S. Bank annex parking garage.

Irgens is also seeking financial assistance from the city of Milwaukee for the project. The firm has submitted an application with the Department of City Development (DCD) for tax incremental financing (TIF), Irgens said.

"We are having ongoing discussion with the DCD," he said.

Some aldermen are expressing concerns about providing a subsidy for a project that is primarily attracting existing downtown office tenants. Ald. Robert Bauman said Irgens is seeking about $12 million in TIF for the project. Irgens declined to disclose specifics about the firm's TIF request.

"It's a lot of money that's going to create (not enough) new jobs downtown," said Bauman, who represents the downtown area. "What is the value that is being brought to the city?"

"If you are just moving chess pieces around the board you are not adding much value," said Ald. Michael Murphy.

But Irgens said the tenants moving to the building need more space and plan to add more jobs after they relocate. The two unnamed firms committed to the project plan to add a total of 40 jobs and the building will also provide space that Godfrey & Kahn needs to expand, he said. The building could also provide space for firms currently located in the nearby U.S. Bank Center, which is nearly full, to expand, Irgens said.

Irgens also released a video this week to show what the proposed 833 East Michigan building will look like. The video shows the exterior and interior appearance of the building, designed by Milwaukee architectural firm Kahler Slater, and also shows the views that tenants will have from the building.


The video does not show how The Couture, a proposed 44-story residential and hotel building that Barrett Visionary Development plans to build at the site of the Milwaukee County Downtown Transit Center, would impact those views. However, Irgens said The Couture would be a much narrower building that would have a minimal impact on views of the lakefront from 833 East Michigan. Also, the Couture tower would be 240 feet away from the 833 East Michigan building, farther away than the U.S. Bank Center, which would be about 140 feet away from the 833 East Michigan building, Irgens said.

"You still have a 180-degree view except for this narrow tower that is 240 feet away," he said. "It's really not that big of a deal."

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Pleasant Prairie Hwy. 50 site sold to REIT for $1.3 million
May 8, 2013 10:00 AM
National Retail Properties Inc., an Orlando-based real estate investment trust (REIT), recently purchased a 2.5-acre site at the southeast corner of Highway 50 and 104th Avenue in Pleasant Prairie for $1.3 million, according to state records.

The property was sold by BMO Harris Bank under Water Street Land LLC.

The site is next to an Olive Garden restaurant and is an outlot of a shopping center anchored by Target and JCPenney stores.

National Retail Properties Inc. invests in single-tenant retail properties. The REIT owns 1,636 freestading retail properties, with a total of 19.3 million square feet of space, in 47 states.

A spokesman for the firm declined to explain the company's plans for the site.

"We have a company policy that we don't comment on transactions," said vice president of corporate communications Chris Barry.

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Renner buys Third Ward site
May 8, 2013 10:00 AM
Milwaukee-based Renner Architects LLC recently purchased a vacant one-acre site at 114 N. Jefferson St. in Milwaukee’s Historic Third Ward.

Renner paid $483,644 for the site, which it purchased from Union Pacific Railroad Company, according to state records. The site is located north of the intersection of Erie and Polk and is near the Harborfront, Waterfront and Hansen’s Landing condominium buildings that have been developed by Renner.

“We are just buying (the site) to explore our options there,” said Peter Renner, partner of Renner Architects. “We don’t have a definite plan. This is a weird (V-shaped) piece of land. We haven’t decided what we’re going to do with it.”

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Druml buys 6th Street warehouse
May 8, 2013 10:00 AM
Dan Druml, the owner of Milwaukee-based Paul Davis Restoration, recently purchased a 9,020-square-foot warehouse building at 1310 N. 6th St. in Milwaukee.

The building is just north of the Park East corridor and is across 6th Street from a building at 1311 N. 6th St. that was redeveloped by Druml for Everest College. The college closed its doors about a year after it opened and the building remains vacant.

Druml could not be reached for comment.

He bought the 1310 N. 6th St. building for $500,000 from BMO Harris Bank, according to state records. The building has an assessed value of $365,000, according to city records.

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Product Service & Manufacturing Corp. to move from West Milwaukee to West Allis
May 8, 2013 10:00 AM
Product Service & Manufacturing Corp. will move its headquarters from its current location at 4700 Electric Ave., West Milwaukee, to a 46,616-square-foot space at 6600 W. Washington St., West Allis.

The metal fabrication, machining and electrical controls manufacturer, recently leased the West Allis space from 6600 Washington LLC.

Jeff Hoffman of Judson & Associates brokered the deal.

Product Service & Manufacturing will increase its space slightly with the move and will gain additional and larger cranes, enabling it to do larger jobs, Hoffman said. Rexnord Corp. will take over the West Milwaukee space that is being vacanted by Product Service & Manufacturing, Hoffman said.

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CDW is first tenant for new west side data center
May 8, 2013 09:00 AM
The Potawatomi Business Development Corporation (PBDC), the economic diversification arm of the Forest County Potawatomi (FCP), announced Tuesday that Southeast Wisconsin’s first wholesale, Tier III, carrier neutral data center is now operational.

The $33 million data center known as Data Holdings, LLC, is located in a two-story, 46,000 square-foot facility at the tribe’s 11-acre Concordia Trust Property, 3135 W. Highland Blvd., Milwaukee. Data Holdings will initially employ 10 staff members.

PBDC also announced Tuesday that Vernon Hills, Ill.-based CDW, a provider of technology solutions, will be Data Holdings first major tenant. As part of CDW’s services agreement with Data Holdings, the CDW suite consists of 1,600 square feet with the ability to expand to 2,600 square feet with an initial power allocation of 240 kW, expandable to 500 kW. The suite is configured to accommodate more than 50 IT cabinet positions, with the ability for CDW to increase its footprint to 90 positions.

Also, the Milwaukee Institute, a non-profit information technology organization that provides cloud-based-technical computing systems, plans to locate its third high performance computer at Data Holdings in the fourth quarter of 2013.

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United Natural Foods breaks ground on distribution facility in Sturtevant
May 8, 2013 09:00 AM
A groundbreaking ceremony was held today to celebrate the start of construction of United Natural Foods Inc.’s new 425,000 square foot distribution and warehouse facility in Sturtevant. The facility will serve the Midwest region and is expected to create 220 new, full-time jobs.

“UNFI is pleased to partner with the state of Wisconsin and the village of Sturtevant to expand our operations here in the Midwest,” said Sean Griffin, UNFI’s group president. “We feel Sturtevant is the optimal location for us to better service our customers and increase our operational efficiencies while reducing our costs and emissions. We look forward to growing together with this great community.”

United Natural Foods carries and distributes more than 65,000 products to more than 27,000 customer locations throughout the United States and Canada. The company serves a wide variety of retail formats including conventional supermarket chains, natural product superstores, independent retail operators and the food service channel.

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Mixed-use redevelopment planned for warehouse next to Iron Horse
May 8, 2013 10:00 AM
A joint venture of Milwaukee-based Dixon Development LLC and Madison-based Hovde Properties recently purchased a 106-year-old, seven-story warehouse at 408-38 W. Florida St. in Milwaukee’s Walker’s Point neighborhood for $3.2 million, according to real estate transaction records filed with the state Department of Revenue.

The building has an assessed value of about $2 million according to city records.

The building, which has primarily been used for storage, was sold to Dixon and Hove Properties by Heritage Relocation Services Inc.

The 189,327-square-foot building is located next to the 100-room Iron Horse Hotel at 500 W. Florida St., owned by Dixon Development.

“It’s a beautiful old building. I need to control the building because I need to control the area,” said Dixon Development principal Tim Dixon.

Hovde Properties is owned by former Republican U.S. Senate candidate Eric Hovde and his brother Steve Hovde.

Dixon and Hovde are working on plans for a mixed-use redevelopment of the building with about 9,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor and about 100 market-rate apartments on the upper floors.

“We like the building,” said Hovde Properties president Michael Slavish. “We think it adapts well for loft style apartments.”

“They will be cool apartments,” Dixon said. “It will bring more people into the area.”

The retail space will include at least one or two restaurants, Dixon said, adding to the restaurant offerings currently provided at the Iron Horse. The building will also provide parking for the Iron Horse, which currently uses numerous locations in the neighborhood as valet parking sites.

Construction for the parking spaces on the basement and first floor of the building could begin within a month and construction work on the rest of the building could begin in a year, Dixon said.

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Balistreri owned Sendik’s to move HQ to Milwaukee
May 8, 2013 10:00 AM
The Balistreri-owned Sendik’s Food Markets will move its corporate office and warehouse operations to a 208,000-square-foot building at 7225 W. Marcia Road in Milwaukee.

The building, located on the city’s far northwest side, has 173,000 square feet of warehouse space and 35,000 sauare feet office space. Sendik’s will lease the building from Mequon-based Devo Properties.

Sendik’s will move about 40-45 employees from its current corporate office next to its Whitefish Bay store at Lake Drive and Silver Spring Drive, and about 10 employees from its warehouse operations at its Greenfield store at South 79th Street and Layton Avenue, to the Milwaukee building.

“We want to be in Milwaukee for a long time,” said Sendik’s spokesman Nick Bandoch. “We’re a growing company. We need more space for our office and for our warehouse. We will be able to consolidate and plan for future growth.”

The company currently has 10 stores in the Milwaukee area and will add an 11th this summer in Bayside, which it is taking over from a different Sendik’s group. The company is looking for places to open additional stores, Bandoch said.

“We are always looking for a community where we think Sendik’s would be a good fit,” he said.

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Extended stay hotel planned at Innovation Campus
May 8, 2013 10:00 AM
A 128-room extended stay hotel is planned for the Innovation Campus development in Wauwatosa.

Milwaukee County economic development director Teig Whaley-Smith sent a request to County Board chairwoman Marina Dimitrijevic last week seeking an amendment to a development agreement for the Innovation Campus to allow development of a 128-room extended stay hotel on a 3.5-acre site in the campus.

The developer and flag for the hotel are not named in the request.

Innovation Campus is being developed by the UWM Real Estate Foundation Inc. on an 89-acre portion of the Milwaukee County Grounds northeast of U.S. Highway 45 and Watertown Plank Road in Wauwatosa. The site, purchased by the foundation from the county, is located near the Milwaukee Regional Medical Center. The Innovation Campus project is intended to create collaboration between industry and UWM researchers to spark innovation, start-up companies and job creation.

Zilber Property Group plans to develop a 95,000-square-foot office building in Innovation Campus for Zurich, Switzerland-based ABB Ltd. A 25,000-square-foot Innovation Accelerator facility will also be built on the Innovation Campus. Funded mostly by the federal government, the facility will provide incubator space for companies working on projects with researchers from UWM and the Milwaukee Regional Medical Center. The facility will also provide some scientific services not currently available to industry in the region.

Also, Mandel Group is working on an apartment development at Innovation Campus and the historic Eschweiler buildings on the site could become a charter school.

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Andrew Weiland BizTimes Real Estate Weekly is compiled by BizTimes Milwaukee managing editor Andrew Weiland. This bulletin is published every Wednesday morning. Send real estate news tips to Andrew.Weiland@biztimes.com or call him at (414) 277-8181, ext. 120.

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