Potawatomi Launches Real Estate Development Arm
And EV unit, aiming to diversify its revenue. Plus: Recap of week's real estate news.
833 East. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.
The Potawatomi Business Development Corporation (PBDC) is opening a large downtown office to accommodate its growing portfolio of businesses.
The company, wholly owned by the Forest County Potawatomi Community, will house its newly-launched real-estate arm, Sagewind Development, its electric vehicle (EV) business unit and its retail business arm in the 833 East building.
“We are seeing tremendous growth opportunity right now and are positioned well to leverage each of our business units in ways that complement one another,” said CEO Randy Mueller in a press release.
The organization is leasing 18,357 square feet, nearly an entire floor, at the downtown office building. The 18-story tower, 833 E. Michigan St., opened in 2016. PBDC will occupy a suite on the fourth floor, which includes direct lobby access and an outdoor deck overlooking Lake Michigan. It was last occupied by Irgens, which is relocating to a building it newly developed in Wauwatosa.
“Having PBDC join the tenant roster at 833 East brings us a high-quality occupier which further enhances our project,” said company CEO Mark Irgens. “833 East is a LEED-Gold certified, Class A building combining elegant design, incredible views, state-of-the-art technology and exceptional amenities and we welcome the addition of this growing team to our community.”
The revenue PBDC generates diversifies the Potawatomi community’s revenue streams beyond its namesake casino and hotel. The community launched PBDC in 2002.
Sagewind is focused on real estate development in southeastern Wisconsin, including potential partnerships with the PBDC’s other business units. In launching the entity, PBDC hired industry veteran Andy Wiegman to lead the company. Wiegman has been with PBDC since 2021, but previously worked at Wangard Partners, the Mandel Group, Mortenson Construction and Gilbane Building Co. He purchased and ran Keystone Marble & Granite. Sagewind’s first major project, which comes in a partnership with Zilber Property Group, is the redevelopment of the former Dairyland Greyhound Park in Kenosha into a mixed-use complex.
Potawatomi launched the EV unit last summer in a bid to enter a fast-growing market. It’s not intending to develop its own car, but instead to invest in the supply chain of products required to build, maintain and operate electric vehicles, including chargers. “We are looking at enabling technologies such as merchandising applications, integration applications, software [original equipment manufacturers], and [point of sale] integration applications and integrators,” said Mueller in announcing the EV unit last year. Dan Montague is the strategy director for the business unit.
PBDC’s retail unit is focused on developing travel centers and has already acquired complexes in Crandon and Carter in Wisconsin’s North Woods. PBDC said it is working to finalize a prototype and identify sites for growth. The retail arm is led by David Lloveras. The future travel centers will be branded as “Fireside Market” stores.
The three business units were previously based in the Bgemagan Building, 3215 W. State St., on the Wgema Campus. Potawatomi acquired and rehabilitated the campus, previously the home of Concordia University Wisconsin, starting in 1986.
Greenfire Management Services, the PBDC’s general contracting business, will continue to be based at the Wgema campus. A data center is also located at the campus, operated as part of a data holdings arm. PBDC also operates a “federal group” that works to land government contracts.
“With big plans for our next decade, we see the opportunity to expand our office presence to include the Near West Side and Downtown Milwaukee as a great step for our future,” said Mueller.
PBDC reports employing more than 1,000 people across the country.
Weekly Recap
Riverfront Warehouse Being Demolished For Timber Tower
A key physical impediment to the development of a second mass timber high-rise in downtown Milwaukee is being removed.
A demolition crew is razing the one-story floral warehouse at 1005 N. Edison St. Located along the Milwaukee River, it was home to wholesale florist Rojahn & Malaney Co. since the 1950s.
A 15-story building with approximately 200 apartments would replace the warehouse. Commercial space targeted at a restaurant or cafe would be developed along the riverwalk.
Developed by Madison-based development firm The Neutral Project, the building, known as The Edison, would have a heavy emphasis on its environmental friendliness. Mass timber, an engineered material made by combining layers of wood, would be one of several sustainability-focused features of the project.
Katz Acquires Portfolio of 784 Apartments
Katz Properties, one of Milwaukee’s largest apartment rental companies, added 784 apartments to its portfolio as part of an acquisition of 19 properties owned by Blankstein Enterprises.
According to state real estate transfer records, the combined value of the sale was $83.9 million.
The buildings are located on Milwaukee’s East Side as well as in a handful of Milwaukee County suburbs.
Blankstein, a family-owned investment and property management company, was represented by CBRE brokers Patrick Gallagher, Matson Holbrook and Gretchen Richards on the sale.
Foundation Gifts The Rep $5 Million For Theater Project
The Milwaukee Repertory Theater‘s $75 million theater project received a major boost this week.
The Richard Herzfeld and Ethel Herzfeld Foundation is giving the theater $5 million, the largest gift in the foundation’s history. It has been a longtime supporter of the nonprofit theater group.
The grant will help build out what will be known as The Herzfeld Foundation Education & Engagement Center.
“For 70 years, Milwaukee has benefited from having a world-class theater in our city. For many of those years, the Foundation has witnessed first-hand the transformative impact of Milwaukee Repertory Theater and its renowned education and engagement programs,” said foundation board president Carmen Haberman in a statement announcing the award. “We are proud to make this historic grant to Milwaukee Rep’s Powering Milwaukee Campaign to ensure that future generations continue to reap the benefits of the theater and its programming, to create a dedicated space to grow Milwaukee Rep’s education and engagement programs, and to power a more creative and connected Milwaukee.”
Milwaukee a Leader on Helping Homeless But Still Needs More Housing
On a frigid winter night, a group of around 30 homeless outreach coordinators spent the early hours of the morning attempting to count every person experiencing homelessness in Milwaukee County. It’s a job they’ve been preparing for the entire year.
Throughout the night, they climbed up steep hills underneath freeways, ducked below bridges and pushed away thick brush in parks across the county. Their job is to go into the places that many might see in passing but seldom visit in person.
Luiggi Paolo Francalanci, a community intervention specialist for Milwaukee County, had already visited many of the sites before.
“This area is known for Spanish speakers, but in the fall, someone decided to burn their stuff, so a lot of them have scattered,” Francalanci said as he walked across a street near the Kinnickinnic River.
Northwestern Mutual To Create Second Glassy Tower With $500 Million Investment
Northwestern Mutual will more than solidify its Milwaukee presence and redefine the city’s skyline with a $500 million investment into its downtown campus.
The insurance company will overhaul its 19-story North Office Building to give it a glassy facade similar to its signature 32-story tower and a modern interior to match. It also intends to close a one-block stretch of N. Cass St. to vehicle traffic and, over a period of up to five years, relocate its 2,000 Franklin employees to Downtown.
“We are doubling down on our Milwaukee campus by investing in the future of the workplace for Northwestern Mutual and a thriving downtown community,” said chairman, president and CEO John Schlifske in a statement. “We are expanding our world-class campus so that our teams can best serve our clients and policyowners in helping them achieve financial security by protecting what they’ve already built and creating future prosperity.”
The City of Milwaukee is expected to create a tax incremental financing (TIF) district, structured as effectively a property tax rebate, to facilitate the development. The agreement calls for up to $30 million to be provided to the company across nearly two decades. Northwestern Mutual would need to have at least 5,750 employees at the downtown campus by 2030 to be eligible for the full amount.
East Side Tower Designs Released
In advance of a community meeting about the proposal, New Land Enterprises released initial renderings and more details about its planned 25-story apartment tower at 1490 N. Farwell Ave.
The building, which requires a zoning change, would have 310 apartments. It would be constructed atop a surface parking lot on the Lower East Side.
A community meeting, hosted by Alderman Jonathan Brostoff, is planned for Feb. 2 at 6 p.m. at 1451 N. Prospect Ave. The meeting, which precedes formal zoning hearings before the City Plan Commission and Common Council, is intended to allow community members to ask questions about the proposal. It will include a presentation by the development team.
New Land’s managing director Tim Gokhman, in an early January interview with Urban Milwaukee, said the project is intended to be part of a new generation of high-end apartment buildings. Location is part of how the firm hopes it will stand out in the market. “There are people that want to live on the East Side and not Downtown,” said Gokhman.
City Seeks To Limit New Vape Shops
Members of the Milwaukee Common Council would like to slow or halt the proliferation of electronic cigarette stores.
But as a hearing Tuesday revealed, there may be hurdles to jump in this effort.
First up on the action list is a proposed six-month moratorium on approving occupancy permits for businesses that would sell e-cigarettes (the use of which is commonly called “vaping).
“The explosion of vape stores, particularly when concentrated in a small, geographic area, may have negative impacts on health, safety and welfare of residents,” said Alderman Jonathan Brostoff, the moratorium’s lead sponsor. “We have to get control of this and prevent further harm.”
MSOE Will Open Music Conservatory In Historic Duplex
The Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE) will redevelop a 118-year-old duplex on its campus into the Patricia E. Kern Conservatory of Music.
The nine-bedroom residence at 308-312 E. Juneau Ave. will become the first permanent home for the school’s growing music program.
“The Patricia E. Kern Conservatory of Music will be home to MSOE’s music programs, giving students ample space to pursue their musical passion, cultivate their creativity, and rehearse with their peers,” said university president John Y. Walz in a statement. “We are grateful for the support of our university community in making this dream a reality for our students, particularly our alumni and friends who have made this beautiful new student-focused space possible.”
The 4,400-square-foot facility will house MSOE’s concert band, jazz ensemble, string orchestra, concert choir, pep band and jazz combo.
State Has Severe Workforce Housing Shortage
Amy Kaiser is a recently divorced mother of two children. She’s 38-years-old, has a college degree and works at a bank in Elm Grove, earning what she describes as a lower-middle-class income.
Kaiser was living in Brookfield, but recently had to move to an eight-unit apartment complex in West Allis after a divorce.
“It’s not too far of a journey to work, but definitely not necessarily the community I wanted to end up in,” Kaiser said.
Kaiser wants to live in a home or duplex in Brookfield or Elm Grove. But she can’t afford it.
Mass Timber Vertical Farm Proposed
A proposed five-story vertical farm took its first public step forward Tuesday morning.
The Zoning, Neighborhoods & Development unanimously recommended giving Beyond Organic an exclusive right to negotiate to buy a city-owned parking lot at 716 W. Windlake Ave., just south of W. Historic Mitchell St.
Beyond Organic, a Wauwatosa-based 501(c)(3) organization, is led by Laura Michele.
“Her vision is to create a vertical farm that is compact enough that it can be put into urban food deserts,” said project architect Jason Korb in an interview Friday. The architect said the 85,000-square-foot building would be constructed from mass timber. A solar power system would cover three sides of the building. “The idea is we make the thing as carbon neutral as possible.”
Master Electrician Will Redevelop Building at 58th and Burleigh
Master electrician and electrical inspector Baron Hentz has big plans for a vacant, city-owned building at 5725 W. Burleigh St.
He’ll relocate his firm BKH Electric and its approximately 15 employees to the building. Hentz also intends to live in an upstairs apartment in the two-story, 8,087-square-foot building.
“This particular property caught my eyes a year before I even knew it was available,” Hentz told the Zoning, Neighborhoods & Development Committee on Tuesday morning. “Because I’m in construction, it started making my mind spin of what I can do with it.”
The city selected BKH’s offer from the 15 it received after issuing a request for proposals last spring. Hentz will pay $36,000 for the property and may seek a city grant to pay for improvements to the storefront. The city had sought $35,000 for the property.
Will Online Foreclosure Auction Prevent Intimidation, Collusion?
Milwaukee County is looking to move its sales of foreclosed properties online in order to thwart the intimidation and collusion by problem landlords that have marked the proceedings in the past.
The county board is considering a request by the Milwaukee County Sheriff‘s Office (MCSO) and the county’s IT division to create an online clearinghouse for the foreclosure sale process that would handle all the payments and bidding — allowing participants to engage in the process entirely virtually.
The proposal would use $277,980 from a $7 million pool of money for “digital transformation” that was created with the county’s allocation of American Rescue Plan Act funds, to build out the new online foreclosure sale system. The board’s Finance Committee has already recommended the project for approval, and the Judiciary, Law Enforcement and General Services Committee offered its support Monday.
Milwaukee County Corporation Counsel Margaret Daun told supervisors that during both her time in the City Attorney’s office and with the county there have been “extensive problems with both intimidation, collusion and other, what I would call negative behaviors, related to foreclosure sales.” She added, “It is generally considered when you look at foreclosure sales, that moving them online does increase the fairness of the process and reduces the ability for effectively — and I’m going to be pretty blunt here, use some layperson language — bad actor landlords to overwhelm the process and dominate it.”
Veterans Housing Complex Plans Expansion
A military veterans housing development near N. 35th St. and W. Wisconsin Ave. could receive a four-story addition with 48 new apartments.
The Center for Veterans Issues (CVI) is exploring building an addition to the rear of its Vets Place Central apartment building, 3330 W. Wells St.
A building permit application submitted to the Department of Neighborhood Services (DNS) for pre-submittal review indicates the nonprofit is exploring developing 48 apartments on the three upper floors, first-floor offices and a basement dining room and kitchen.
The existing building is used for a transitional housing program and is approved for up to 86 occupants. The organization, according to its website, requires prospective tenants to be homeless, have a disability or be at least 55 years old, have a “stable income,” have at least 90 days of documented “clean time” and a willingness to stay drug and alcohol free.
Join Urban Milwaukee To Celebrate Milwaukee’s Birthday
On Tuesday, Jan. 31, the City of Milwaukee celebrates its 177th birthday.
In 1846, the towns of Juneautown, Kilbourntown and Walker’s Point merged into one entity: Milwaukee. The city’s first mayor, Solomon Juneau, was elected and the City of Milwaukee was born.
If there’s one thing you should know about our publication, it’s that we really care about Milwaukee.
To celebrate, we’re having a flash deal. Today through Tuesday annual memberships are discounted by $25 — so you pay just $74 for the first year. It’s our way of celebrating a great city’s 177th birthday and ensuring we’re here to tell its story for the years to come. Happy birthday, Milwaukee!
Milwaukee Faces Construction Worker Shortage?
There are more than $3 billion in major construction projects planned or underway in Milwaukee, but are there enough workers to build them?
A new study from the Wisconsin Policy Forum (WPF) seeks to identify any possible workforce issues in the building trades while the Milwaukee area is under a sustained building boom, including 21 projects either planned or underway which are estimated to cost $50 million or more.
“Our analysis reveals a mixed picture,” write authors Joe Peterangelo and Rob Henken. The construction labor market is as tight as it has been in 20 years for Milwaukee, Waukesha, Ozaukee and Washington counties. “Unemployment in construction is near a historic low, and job openings in the sector are at a more than 20-year high.”
Five unions are predicting they won’t have enough journeyman workers to fill leadership in the coming years: roofers, painters, boilermakers and teamsters. Others warn that the pipeline of new workers isn’t sufficient to replace those who are eligible to retire.
Rental Assistance Funds Still Available for County Residents
Although the deadline to apply for funds from the Wisconsin Emergency Rental Assistance program is Tuesday, Jan. 31, Milwaukee housing leaders said Friday that money is sill available for struggling residents.
Milwaukeeans can apply for assistance through either Community Advocates or the Social Development Commission, two local agencies that receive federal funding through the state.
Eligible households can receive assistance to help with current or overdue bills, but priority is given to households facing imminent eviction.
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