City Lands $285 Million Industrial Campus
Komatsu Mining will move its West Milwaukee mining equipment campus to Harbor District.
One of Milwaukee’s legacy indistrial giants is coming home.
Komatsu Mining, the successor firm to P&H, will move its mining equipment manufacturing campus from suburban West Milwaukee to the Harbor District. P&H was founded in the city’s Walker’s Point neighborhood in 1884.
The $285 million campus will initially be home to at least 650 current company employees, but Komatsu plans to add at least 400 more to what it calls the South Harbor Campus.
”The new campus provides us opportunity for advancement in state-of-the-art facilities that expand our capabilities on a global scale,” said Komatsu Mining CEO Jeff Dawes.
The new campus, which will include a 170,000-square-foot office building, 410,000-square-foot manufacturing facility and a 20,000-square-foot company museum, is planned to open in 2022. It will be located on the east end of E. Greenfield Ave.
Compared to the West Milwaukee campus, the new facility is expected to use 75 percent less electricity and 80 percent less water.
The state will provide $59.5 million in tax credits, tied to the creation of new jobs and other performance metrics. The city, leveraging incremental property tax revenue from the 59-acre site, will invest $15 million in a lengthy new riverwalk segment and award up to $25 million to the company for job creation.
The site is formed by the combination of the 46-acre Solvay Coke site, now owned by We Energies, and a 13-acre, city-owned site long used for coal storage. A substantial amount of water frontage is included along the Inner Harbor and Kinnickinnic River.
We Energies is currently leading an environmental cleanup of its site through its Wisconsin Gas affiliate. CEO Gale Klappa said that the company expects to sell its land for approximately $7 million, recouping its costs from cleaning up the site used for gas manufacturing by a predecessor firm. The city will sell its site for a prorated amount based on the sale price of the We Energies site.
Komatsu, which acquired Joy Global and P&H in 2016, has been searching for replacement sites for the West Milwaukee campus. Mayor Tom Barrett stated: “the concern we always have with a new buyer is what’s going to happen next.”
But the result appears to be a win for Milwaukee, and maybe for Wisconsin.
The city’s financing is substantially more complex. The city will create a large Tax-Incremental Financing (TIF) district, that includes $15 million in bonding for the new riverwalk segment. An additional $13 million to $25 million will be awarded to Komatsu over the 25-year life of the TIF district should the company maintain between 946 and 1,300 employees at the campus.
Department of City Development Commissioner Rocky Marcoux is pleased with the deal, saying it was a very competitive process. “One of the most challenged sites in our city, it is worth the investment,” said Marcoux in an interview.
Komatsu Mining’s parent company Komatsu has 57,500 employees in 142 countries. The company manufactures equipment used for construction, mining, forestry and industrial machinery.
The company has not announced long-term plans for the West Milwaukee site located along W. National Ave.
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More about the Komatsu South Harbor Campus
- Transportation: Railroad Expansion in the Harbor District - Jeramey Jannene - Feb 17th, 2021
- Friday Photos: Komatsu Mining Campus Takes Shape - Jeramey Jannene - Nov 6th, 2020
- Friday Photos: Construction Underway on Largest New Urban Manufacturing Plant in US - Jeramey Jannene - Sep 4th, 2020
- Eyes on Milwaukee: Komatsu Has New Renderings of Project - Jeramey Jannene - Jul 24th, 2019
- Eyes on Milwaukee: The Cleanup Of Solvay Coke Site - Jeramey Jannene - Jul 24th, 2019
- Eyes on Milwaukee: Commission Approves Komatsu Design - Jeramey Jannene - Jul 15th, 2019
- Eyes on Milwaukee: Komatsu Unveils Harbor District Designs - Jeramey Jannene - Jul 10th, 2019
- Eyes on Milwaukee: Council Okays Largest Urban Manufacturing Deal in U.S. - Jeramey Jannene - Dec 18th, 2018
- Komatsu statement on South Harbor Campus approval - Komatsu Mining Corp - Dec 18th, 2018
- Eyes on Milwaukee: Committee Okays $40 Million For Komatsu - Jeramey Jannene - Dec 11th, 2018
Read more about Komatsu South Harbor Campus here
Political Contributions Tracker
Displaying political contributions between people mentioned in this story. Learn more.
- December 22, 2018 - Tom Barrett received $500 from Rocky Marcoux
- December 29, 2017 - Tom Barrett received $500 from Rocky Marcoux
- March 1, 2017 - Tom Barrett received $400 from Rocky Marcoux
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