Company Moving From Shorewood To South Side

The City Plan Commission recommended approval Monday of a rezoning request that would allow the maker of a turmeric-infused beverage to relocate to a vacant building on the edge of the Menomonee Valley.

Brothers Asim and Qasim Khan immigrated to the United States from Pakistan with their parents in 1984. In 2017 they launched SUR Natural Health Brands, which makes the ZYN line of beverages. Now they’re scaling up the fast-growing business.

“We are in about 7,000 stores,” said Qasim to the commission on Monday. That includes Costco, Meijer, Festival Foods and Sendik’s. “Our goal is to harvest wisdom from other cultures in how they’ve used plants for natural healing and bring it to western consumers in a format that is tasty and enjoyable.”

SUR intends to occupy the first floor of the 32,508-square-foot building at 913-919 W. Bruce St. with a warehouse operation. Its office, currently located in Shorewood, would also be relocated to the building.

“We are first to market with a turmeric-infused beverage,” said Qasim. “It has a lot of medicinal qualities to it.”

The city needs to rezone the building from “Industrial Heavy” to “Industrial Commercial” to allow their proposed uses of the building.

He said the firm has six marketing employees and expects to have five to 10 warehouse jobs “in the near term.”

The upper two floors could be divided for other tenants. Each floor contains approximately 7,200 square feet of leasable space according to floor plans presented to the commission.

“Let me on behalf of the commission wish you much success,” said commission chair Stephanie Bloomingdale.

The beverages will continue to be made off-site by a third-party firm. “We use third-party co-packers because there are quite a bit of [Food and Drug Administration] requirements,” said Qasim.

The site is included within the Menomonee Valley Partners (MVP) business improvement district and is located on the northern edge of the Walker’s Point neighborhood.

MVP, in a letter said it conducted outreach to nearby property owners and found support for the zoning change. “While we heard no concerns from neighbors, we did hear from several neighbors supporting the rezoning and excited to see the renovation of this property as well as excited to see the property attract new businesses to the area,” wrote MVP executive director Corey Zetts.

The brothers purchased the property in September for $440,000 from Raphael Industries. The building was registered as vacant in 2020, having most recently been used for metal plating.

City assessment records indicate the building was built in 1888, though the Wisconsin Historical Society pegs the date as 1902. The latter reports it was used by the Interior Woodwork Co. and Hesco. A one-story addition was built in more recent years.

According to a commercial alteration permit, Workshop Architects and general contractor Rafael Suncin are working on the project. The permit indicates the Cream City brick building will see many of its filled-in windows reopened and its facade rehabilitated.

Birch Point Real Estate is supporting SUR on the development.

The council approved a certified survey map (property reconfiguration) request last Wednesday that merged the Khan’s Bruce Street property with the parking lot portion of the adjacent property at 929-939 W. Bruce St. The building at 929 W. Bruce St. was not included in the merger and is still owned by Brittain Brothers LLC according to city records.

The zoning change would approve a wide range of uses, but not residential use. The city’s “Industrial Commercial” zoning designation is one of the newer zoning types that was created in part to regulate the redevelopment of W. St. Paul Ave. at the northern edge of the Menomonee Valley.

“My guess is you might see more rezonings like this in the future,” said Department of City Development planning manager Sam Leichtling.

The Common Council must still approve the zoning change.

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