Milwaukee County Reducing Office Space, Saving Money With Move
County agencies will head east down Wisconsin Avenue to ASQ Center.
A plan to redevelop an aging downtown office building into apartments will result in Milwaukee County relocating some of its offices six blocks east to the ASQ Center and saving $1.9 million along the way.
Multiple divisions of the county’s Department of Administrative Services (DAS) will join fellow new tenants Veolia North America and Enerpac Tool Group Corp. in the former Gimbels department store along the Milwaukee River which has been called the ASQ complex for many years, but will soon be renamed the Enerpac Center.
The divisions of Milwaukee County DAS will vacate the Clark Building, 633 W. Wisconsin Ave., after their decade-long lease ends in July. Building owner J. Jeffers & Co. revealed in recent months that it plans to redevelop the upper floors of the 20-story building into affordable apartments.
“After touring 10+ locations, Economic Development along with DAS leadership decided on moving forward with [the ASQ Center] due to its alignment to project goals and cost effectiveness,” says a DAS report to the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors.
DAS and the Audit Division are currently spread over four levels and 42,000 square feet of leased space says the report, but the relocation will provide “a more vibrant space for employee engagement, connectivity, and amenities” across 25,000 square feet on a single floor.
As a result of the move, the county anticipates saving $1.9 million across an 11-year lease versus maintaining its existing lease. Hempel Cos., which owns the property, the attached The Avenue and other neighboring properties, is to provide $2 million for tenant buildout.
A total cost of the lease is not provided in the report.
Part of the space reduction can be attributed to the Office of Emergency Management and its 8,000 square feet of space being relocated to the new Forensic Science Building in Wauwatosa when it’s completed in 2026.
Milwaukee County will be located on the 6th floor at the south end of the building. Hempel, which has worked with broker Founders 3 to fill the complex, purchased that portion of the complex in May for $8.75 million from ASQ. It purchased the larger northern portion in 2018 with R2 Companies.
The county, according to the report, declined an option to be relocated in its current building. The new building is more than double the current distance, about six blocks further from the Milwaukee County Courthouse, where the county’s top offices are located. Yet the DAS report touts the proximity to the courthouse: “The location has an open floor plan that allows natural light to permeate the space as well as have outstanding building amenities, onsite parking and proximity to the Courthouse Complex and downtown.”
Both buildings are located in the Westown neighborhood, which has seen a surge in activity since Milwaukee County relocated to the 633 building.
The Department of Administrative Services is expected to brief the Committee on Community, Environment and Economic Development on the lease at an upcoming meeting.
The department will be joining many other tenants in the building on the Milwaukee River: In addition to Veolia and Enerpac, a Residence Inn hotel, the headquarters of the American Society for Quality, a Planet Fitness gym, offices for VISIT Milwaukee, City Year and other tenants are located in the complex. There is 240,000 square feet of office space in the complex. A year ago it was announced that Enerpac would become the largest tenant and the building would be renamed the Enerpac Center.
Milwaukee County began using substantially more leased space after selling its former City Campus, 2711 W. Wells St., a decade ago. The City Campus property, a former hospital and theater, is slated to become an affordable housing complex under a proposal from the nonprofit Milwaukee Development Corporation.
John Davis and Ned Purtell of Founders 3 represented the property owner and Bill Bonifas and Matt Cariello of CBRE represented Milwaukee County in the lease negotiations.
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UPDATE: Brokers involved in the transaction were added after publication.
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The state of Wisconsin should also seriously consider leasing existing office space in one of the many downtown office buildings with vacant space, instead of having a developer build and then lease a new building at 27th & Wisconsin,