Does Wangard Have Harbor District Plans?

Commercial Heat Treating. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

Wangard Partners looks to be planning another Walker’s Point development. The company has a 99,000-square-foot site under contract for purchase, but hasn’t disclosed what would be developed.

The property is at 1958-1970 S. 1st St., and is adjacent to a couple vacant city-owned parcels that Wangard has discussed purchasing from the city Tom Daykin reported in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The private parcel already changed hands once earlier this year.

This latest investment in the area is the second for Wangard after its Freshwater Plaza development on Greenfield Ave. The property Wangard has under contract to purchase is a 2.3-acre site that features a 30,000 square foot industrial building and more than 500 feet of river frontage on the Kinnikinnic River, Corrinne Hess reported in BizTimes.

The potential Wangard project is the third announced project this year in the eastern end of Walker’s Point. Michels is planning to build a $100-million, mixed-use development across the river from the Wangard site and Komatsu is planning a $285 million manufacturing facility to the east of Wangard’s Freshwater Plaza development.

Bayside Officials Forcing Changes to Proposed Tower

Bayside officials sitting on the Community Development Authority are refusing to vote on a public financing package for the One North mixed-use development until the developer addresses the significant concern in the community over the development, Daykin reported in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

One North calls for a mixed-use development anchored by a residential high-rise tower much taller than anything in the village. The project, as currently configured, relies on the prospect of the developer receiving public financing through a tax-incremental financing district created by the village. And now, the village is withholding a vote on the financing until the developer comes back with palatable revisions to the project.

The Tannery in Walker’s Point Sells

Chicago-based real estate investors R2 Companies development purchased The Tannery office complex $25 million.

The six-building campus includes 253,022 square feet of office space. Located in Walker’s Point, R2 will maintain the complex of historic buildings as an office park.

R2 Companies is the same firm that is suing the United States Postal Service for eviction from its property at 345 W. St. Paul Ave.

Postal Service Suit Heads to Federal Court

After the owner of the downtown building occupied by the United States Postal Service (USPS) filed an eviction lawsuit, attorneys for the USPS have managed to have the case moved to federal court, Sean Ryan reported in the Milwaukee Business Journal.

The owner of the building at 345 W. St. Paul Avenue, R2 Companies, has had plans to redevelop the site since at least 2016, having purchased the building in 2015. In its suit, R2 cited ongoing maintenance issues at the site which they argued were grounds for eviction.

In Other News

• Friday Photos show Marquette’s New Research Center
• New Apartments on N. 5th Street
• 37th Street School Project Still Needs Tax Credits
• New Land Building Tallest Wood Building in Western Hemisphere

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