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North Powerhouse
The North Powerhouse was a building located along the Milwaukee River. Built during the late 1920s and demolished in July of 2008, the building was originally used by the City of Milwaukee as part of the steam heat distribution system downtown. It was owned by the Brewery Works Inc, developers of the Schlitz Park complex of buildings.
It was located immediately north of the Commerce Street Power Plant, now the Time Warner Milwaukee headquarters, and just south of the new Manpower headquarters, finished in 2007. As part of the agreement with Manpower, and mentioned during the bargaining for a TIF from the city to bring Manpower downtown from Glendale, the North Powerhouse was to be redeveloped. Redevelopment could not include replacing it with a surface parking lot. The building was demolished instead of redeveloped because costs for building floors were prohibitive. The building was a nearly empty shell on the inside.
It was believed that redevelopment of the building would have resulted in 55,000 square feet of office space.
The site of the demolished building will be used for green space, not a parking lot. The Brewery Works Inc, owners of Schlitz Park, have publicly stated that they believe it to be a “great site” for future development.
Photos of the North Powerhouse from our Flickr group
North Powerhouse Demolition
Jul 28th, 2008 | By Jeramey Jannene | Category: Aloft, Cramer-Krasselt, Haymarket Square, North PowerhouseThe Urban Milwaukee authors have been closely following the destruction of the North Powerhouse along the Milwaukee River. We’ve accumulated a nice collection of photos tracking the demolition progress. The building was built in the late 1920s and used by the city to help distribute steam throughout downtown Milwaukee.
The building always looked like a potential site for development, especially with the highly successful Commerce Street Power Plant next door gleaming as the site of the Time Warner Milwaukee headquarters. Time was running short however, as the construction of the Manpower headquarters on the north side of the building had accelerated the need to do something.
The deal to get Manpower into downtown Milwaukee and a presented reason for the TIF granted to develop the Manpower building included that something had to be done to the North Powerhouse. With the Manpower building completed in 2007, the clock was ticking.
In September of 2007, it was announced that redevelopment of the building would begin later in the fall. That never materialized as costs were prohibitive Brewery Works Inc general manager Sam Denny stated.
In a better economy with a tenant lined up to occupy the 55,000 potential square-feet redevelopment may have actually occurred. Obviously the economy isn’t strong right now, and there are numerous other development projects happening in the near vicinity, including Ruvin’s Aloft Hotel just south across the block. The Aloft development already lost Cramer-Krasselt as an anchor tenant, demonstrating that there isn’t a long list of companies looking for large spaces in Milwaukee right now.
One positive of the destruction is that the building will be replaced with green space. This will hopefully be a temporary thing, as the site is still targeted for development at some point. But it will help encourage other development in the area in the meantime as the abandoned industrial feel of the Haymarket Square neighborhood is diminished and a more productive, walkable neighborhood takes foot currently led by the Manpower headquarters, Park East Enterprise Lofts, and Time Warner Headquarters.
It could have been a parking lot, but it won’t be, so Brewery Works deserves some praise for improving the neighborhood in some way.
