St. Louis Company Buys Vacant Master Lock Manufacturing Campus
Sees promise in huge campus and buildings, some going back a century.
Master Lock campus in May 2020. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.
The vacant Master Lock manufacturing campus has a new owner.
St. Louis-based Commercial Development Corporation (CDC) hopes to bring the complex, located at the intersection of N. 32nd and W. Center streets, back to life.
“Our acquisition of this retired manufacturing plant is the first step to restoring the property to productive use – our team is well equipped to reposition this site for its next stage of life, likely to be industrial operations,” said Adam Kovacs, CDC executive vice president of acquisitions, in a statement.
Master Lock, part of Illinois-based Fortune Brands Innovations, shuttered the plant in early 2024 after 84 years of operation. According to a union, approximately 330 jobs were eliminated.
CDC paid $2.6 million for the property, according to a record posted on the Wisconsin Real Estate Transfer website.
It includes approximately 780,000 square feet of space spread across many buildings. “[CDC] believes the location and development attributes of the campus will attract users from multiple sectors including manufacturing, warehousing, and industrial storage,” says a press release from CDC.
The company says there are 366,608 square feet of space in one-story buildings with 31-foot-tall ceilings. There is 413,606 square feet in multi-story space with freight elevator access.
CDC is already promoting a once-controversial aspect: the complex’s extensive fencing. “Additionally, the property is fully fenced and secured with controlled access via a guard house,” says the acquisition announcement. In 2019, the city approved Master Lock’s request to secure the street grid around the plant after the company purchased several parcels and homes to create a buffer zone between it and the surrounding neighborhood.
The property stretches from W. Center Street south to W. Meinecke Avenue and from the 30th Street Corridor railroad tracks west to N. 33rd Street. The buildings are all east of N. 32nd Street, with the west side being a mix of vacant lots and surface parking. The main building, 2600 N. 32nd St., is a four-story brick building with several large additions. According to city assessment records, the property covers 26.1 acres.
According to a Wisconsin Historical Society report, the oldest portion of the complex dates back to 1909. Master Lock was founded in 1921. Then-President Barack Obama visited the site in 2012 to tout American manufacturing, but the company now primarily manufactures its locks and security products outside of the United States. Lock imagery can be found in several spots in the complex, including a large padlock on the roof of the building and a walking trail that appears like a padlock from the sky.
CDC, which bills itself as “North America’s Leading Brownfield Developer,” is no stranger to vacant Wisconsin industrial sites. It has owned the 240-acre, former General Motors plant in Janesville for several years, but that relationship fell apart after the plant was demolished. The City of Janesville is now negotiating to buy the blighted property.
The Master Lock plant isn’t the only Milwaukee area site Fortune Brands is vacating. The Illinois-based company revealed in January that it is also shuttering the Master Lock corporate office in Oak Creek and relocating approximately 120 jobs to the Fortune Brands headquarters in Deerfield, Illinois.
In addition to the main factory property, CDC’s acquisition also includes two small properties addressed as 2416 N. 32nd St. and 2404 N. 32nd St.
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