My Office or Yours? New Bar Planned For Downtown
Your Office will bring new life to vacant East Town building.
763 N. Milwaukee St. Photo by Sophie Bolich.
Office buildings in Downtown Milwaukee frequently make headlines as they’re vacated and reimagined in the wake of COVID-19. A recent proposal takes a different angle, bringing new life to My Office — which never had desks to begin with.
Lisa Proeber, Mike Sorge and Nick Starr plan to open Your Office in the former tavern space at 763 N. Milwaukee St. My Office operated there for more than a half-century before closing in 2020 due to COVID-19 and a major fire.
Proeber owns a sales business development and marketing agency called The Middle Six, is president of the Downtown Neighbors Association and co-owns two suburban Milwaukee locations of Board & Brush, a chain of sip-and-paint studios.
She shared her excitement for the new business, which she described as a “fresh concept” for the neighborhood.
Starr, a risk advisor at Acrisure, and Sorge, owner of Black Sheep, share equal ownership with Proeber.
Your Office plans to operate as a tavern and restaurant, offering alcoholic beverages alongside food and public entertainment, according to an occupancy permit.
If all goes well, Proeber said she hopes to open this summer, and promised to share more details as the project progresses.
The East Town storefront, owned by Chuck Kahn and Patti Keating Kahn, has seen extensive interior and facade renovations in recent months, including the addition of interior partitions and space for a future kitchen and gameroom, according to construction documents.
The 3,162-square-foot building also includes a two-bedroom, upper-level apartment that is not part of the bar. Architect Russell LaFrombois III is a tenant of the Kahns’ other property, the Railway Exchange Building.
Originally constructed in 1880, the tavern space predates its more imposing neighbors, the 1883 Colby Abbot Building at 759 N. Milwaukee St. and the 1882 former livery stable — now a parking garage — to the north.
My Office opened in 1968, with previous tenants including a handful of Prohibition-era soft drink parlors, the short-lived Annex Restaurant and another tavern, The Ticker.
To learn more about the former My Office, see Michael Horne‘s 2016 Bar Exam.
This article was updated with additional information
Photos
2016 My Office Photos
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