648 N. Plankinton Ave. Photo by Brian Jacobson.

Despite national concern about the future of cities amid a surge in work-from-home arrangements, downtown Milwaukee continues to lure new companies and more jobs.

Enerpac Tool Group Corp. will relocate its corporate headquarters from its longtime home in Menomonee Falls to the ASQ Center, 648 N. Plankinton Ave. in Westown. The company is leasing 56,000 square feet of space, encompassing the entire fourth floor, for 130 employees.

“We are incredibly excited about this move, as the new space will better accommodate our local workforce and enable Enerpac to better retain and attract top local talent. Our new Global Headquarters will offer a dynamic and inspiring workplace to spur strong collaboration and drive innovation. I’m excited for our company’s headquarters to take this prominent location in our community,” said CEO Paul Sternlieb in a Wednesday press release that confirmed the news first reported Tuesday by Hunter Turpin.

The building will be rebranded as the Enerpac Center as part of the relocation. Built in several phases as the flagship Gimbels department store, the building has nine floors encompassing a Courtyard Square Marriot hotel, Plant Fitness gym and approximately 250,000 square feet of office space. Last fall, Veolia North America announced it would move its regional headquarters and approximately 150 employees to 30,000 square feet on the building’s third floor.

The anchor tenant is the American Society for Quality, a Milwaukee-based organization that provides quality control training and certification. A partnership of R2 Companies and Hempel Cos. acquired much of the complex in 2018. ASQ continues to own its space within the south side of the building. The north side of the building is now 95% leased and the attached The Avenue (former Grand Avenue Mall) is 93% leased. Enerpac’s lease will span both sides of the building, with ASQ reconfiguring its space to make way for Enerpac and agreeing to allow the building name to change. In an interview with Sean Ryan, Hempel’s Josh Krsnak explained how seven parties needed to sign off on the complicated deal.

The company is expected to add signage facing Interstate 794, continuing a recent trend.

Until 2019, Enerpac, a publicly-traded manufacturer of high-force industrial tools, was known as Actuant Corporation. The company has a market capitalization of $1.8 billion. It reported $598 million in annual sales in its most recent fiscal year.

All of the Milwaukee area employees will be relocated to the new facility. The company has long been based at N86 W125000 Westbrook Crossing, a suburban office building directly across Boundary Road (N. 124th Street) from the City of Milwaukee and Dretzka Park. It leases the property. Its new location will put it in the heart of Downtown at the intersection of N. Plankinton Avenue and W. Wisconsin Ave.

A press release from the company touted the proximity to the 3rd Street Market Hall, which employees will be able to visit without stepping outside, as well as Fiserv Forum, the adjacent Milwaukee RiverWalk and the “burgeoning entertainment district.”

“Enerpac Tool Group is making a great choice for the location of its global headquarters,” said Mayor Cavalier Johnson in a statement. “Milwaukee continues to be an attractive place for growing companies with our amenities, our activities, and our concentration of vibrant businesses. My administration looks forward to working with all companies looking to relocate here.”

Will the city subsidize the deal? “We’re continuing discussions with the company and we have nothing to share at this moment on city action,” said a Department of City Development spokesperson. The city has rarely subsidized office leases, with the exception of major deals like Fiserv’s relocation and $39 million investment in the HUB640 building.

The downtown area has attracted numerous companies in recent years, with their leaders universally saying it was part of a strategy to attract and retain workers. Northwestern Mutual is overhauling one of its office towers as part of a move to close its Franklin campus and bring workers Downtown, Fiserv is moving its headquarters to HUB640 from Brookfield, Twin Disc relocated its corporate suite from Racine to the Historic Third Ward, Church Mutual Insurance Company established a lakefront office at 833 East while formally keeping its headquarters in Merrill in northern Wisconsin and Regal Rexnord announced it was changing its headquarters address from Beloit to 105-111 W. Michigan St., the building located just south of the ASQ Center.

Enerpac’s history can be traced back to 1910 when it produced water pumps for Ford’s Model T car. The company, in its latest 10-K filing and website, reports having approximately 2,100 employees and eight manufacturing facilities, including Wisconsin plants in Columbus and Antigo.

Weekly Recap

Proposal Would Incentivize Landlords To Accept Assistance Vouchers

The Milwaukee County Board will consider legislation in March that county officials have said could help address housing voucher discrimination.

Renters using federal Section 8 housing vouchers, which guarantees recipients will not have to spend more than 30-40% of their income on rent, at times find that landlords won’t rent with them. Housing advocates and officials refer to the problem as housing voucher discrimination.

In 2018, the Milwaukee County Board passed a county ordinance sponsored by then-Sup. Marina Dimitrijevic outlawing rental assistance discrimination. The legislation sketched out a system for enforcing the ban that has failed to protect a single renter in Milwaukee County. The county’s attorney says state statutes and existing case law indicate it likely does not have the legal authority to enforce its own ordinance, as Urban Milwaukee reported.

In January, the Housing Division outlined alternative strategies for addressing the problem of housing voucher discrimination. Sup. Shawn Rolland is running with one of the ideas and has sponsored legislation that would create a program to incentivize landlords to accept tenants relying on rental assistance.

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New Plan Would Save Former Acapulco Restaurant Building

A long-vacant Walker’s Point building, of which many Milwaukeeans of a certain age have fond, but hazy memories, would see new life under a proposal from Willie Smith.

Smith plans to renovate the three-story building long associated with Acapulco restaurant at 600-608 W. National Ave. The historic brick structure would receive a new first-floor restaurant and two apartments upstairs.

A state grant and historic preservation tax credits would bolster the $2 million project.

“The Acapulco was a mainstay of the Walker’s Point social scene from when it opened in the 1970s until its closure in 2007,” said Department of City Development commercial corridor manager Matt Rejc.

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Wisconsin Home Construction Increased, But More Homes Are Needed

New home construction in Wisconsin picked up last year after two years of declines, but there’s still a long way to go to address the state’s housing shortage.

The Wisconsin Builders Association collected new home permit data submitted to municipalities across the state, and found 11,657 permits were pulled in 2023. That’s 331 more permits than in 2022, representing a roughly 3 percent increase.

The final three months of 2023 were among the strongest of the year with 2,608 permits pulled, a 22 percent increase from the prior three-month period, the builders association said.

But a 2023 report from Forward Analytics, the research arm of the Wisconsin Counties Association, found the state needs to build at least 140,000 housing units by 2030 to keep pace with current demand, and 227,000 units if it wants to grow its working-age population.

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