100 East Wisconsin building to be sold for $81.3 million

Newton, Mass.-based CommonWealth REIT announced last week, in its second quarter report, that it has reached an agreement to purchase the 35-story, 432,092-square-foot 100 East Wisconsin Ave. office building in downtown Milwaukee for $81.3 million.
In July, BizTimes Milwaukee broke the news that CommonWealth had entered a purchase and sale agreement to buy the building.
The week’s announcement by CommonWealth is the first public disclosure of the sale price for the building.
CommonWealth is buying the building, which is the second tallest building in Wisconsin, from Milwaukee-based Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co.
In its quarterly report, CommonWealth said that it expects to close on its acquisition of the 100 East Wisconsin building during the third quarter.
The $81.3 million sale price, or about $188 per square foot, for the 100 East Wisconsin building is significantly higher than the $65.5 million, or about $152 per square foot, assessed value of the building, according to city records.
The 100 East Wisconsin building is about 94 percent occupied. The tenants in the building include: Michael Best & Friedrich, which leases 112,684 square feet of space; Wells Fargo Bank, 44,670 square feet; Marcus Corp., 41,219 square feet; Cleary Gull Holdings Inc., 23,540 square feet and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, 22,894 square feet. John Hawks Pub is also located in the building.
CommonWealth also owns the 28-story, 373,516-square-foot Milwaukee Center building at 111 E. Kilbourn Ave. in downtown Milwaukee. In 2008 CommonWealth, then known as HRPT Properties Trust, purchased the Milwaukee Center building for $53 million, or about $142 per square foot.
If the sale of 100 East Wisconsin is completed, CommonWealth REIT will control 805,608 square feet of class A office space in downtown Milwaukee.