Construction On Airport’s New Cargo Facility Starts This Winter

Rendering of air cargo facility.

Construction will begin this winter on a massive $75 million air cargo facility at Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport.

Plans call for a 337,000-square-foot facility in the Milwaukee Regional Business Park, located on the southwestern end of the airport. The facility will have room for up to five Boeing 777-8F airplanes, with room for additional smaller planes. Once complete, the new facility could quadruple the airport’s cargo capacity, according to a statement from CBRE, the real estate firm that will market the property. Construction is expected to be complete by early 2026.

The project is being developed by Dallas-based Crow Holdings, one of the largest real estate owners in the U.S. The new facility is a public-private development project with Crow Holdings providing “most” of the financing, according to CBRE. Milwaukee County, which owns the airport, will provide the land to the firm through a ground lease. Once the lease is up, if the county wishes, all of the new infrastructure will become public property. The ground lease is expected to generate approximately $1.1 million annually for the airport.

The planned improvement includes “large scale” repairs to approximately 16 acres of taxiway needed to accommodate the wide-body cargo traffic the facility will service, and a new garage for the county’s Highway Maintenance Division. Crow Holdings has spent two years and approximately $1.2 million conducting due diligence and planning the project, said Jack Rabenn, Vice President at Crow Holdings Industrial.

“We believe that this project will not only be an economic catalyst for Milwaukee, but also for the entire SE Wisconsin region and the broader state,” Rabenn said.

The new facility will allow businesses to avoid higher congestion and pricing at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago while still using the same carrier, cargo, handler, and freight forwarders. It will also be able to accommodate a variety of cargo, including pharmaceutical products, anything that needs cold storage, livestock and Class 1 cargo, which includes explosive materials.

The development site was formerly an airbase for the 440th Airlift Wing of the U.S. Air Force. The unit was based in Milwaukee from the 1950s until 2008. The airport assumed control of the site in 2005 after the unit left. A 2020 environmental investigation at the airport found PFAS chemical contamination on the site. The chemicals, which have been used in firefighting foams since the 1970s, are linked to increased risk for cancer and other health issues.

Crow Holdings approached the airport about developing the site in 2021, according to a report by Donna Brown-Martin, director of the Milwaukee County Department of Transportation. The firm worked with the airport for two years on a PFAS remediation plan that allowed the project to move forward.

Site Plan for Air Cargo Facility