Chicago-area real estate investment firm Middleton Partners paid $124.6 million for the 411 Building in downtown Milwaukee, one of the highest prices ever paid for a Milwaukee office building.
By comparison, U.S. Bank bought the 42-story U.S. Bank Center office tower for $203 million in late 1999. The sale price was also well above the building’s assessed value of $92.4 million, according to city records.
The six-figure sales price for the 30-story 411 Building office tower, which was built in 1987, is not only a sign that outside investors continue to have confidence in the Milwaukee market, but a win for the city of Milwaukee, said Rocky Marcoux commissioner of the Department of City Development.
“This demonstrates continued confidence in the marketplace,” Marcoux said. “It also signifies strength not only in the new buildings that are being constructed but our existing buildings. The investment from outside equity coming into the city is very encouraging.”
Middleton Partners purchased the 693,000-square-foot office tower at 411 E. Wisconsin Ave. from Stamford, Conn.-based Five Mile Capital Partners LLC.
Five Mile Capital Partners purchased the building in 2014 for $74.3 million and invested $17.3 million in the property.
The $124.6 million sale price is 67.7 percent higher than Five Mile paid for the building three years ago.
Chicago-based Riverview Realty Partners has managed the building for the last three years and overseen the renovations, which included upgrading the building’s elevator systems, HVAC system, lobby, roof and adjacent parking structures.
The property was 76 percent leased when it was acquired by Five Mile Capital in 2014. Today occupancy is at 89 percent and tenant leases have been extended. Matt Hunter and Jim Cavanaugh with CBRE handled the leasing for the property.
Since early 2016, the downtown Milwaukee market has seen several large office buildings change hands. In June 2016, the The Chase Tower, a 22-story office building at 111 E. Wisconsin Ave. in downtown Milwaukee, sold for $30.5 million to a Southfield, Mich.-based real estate investment group.
Last month, Chicago-based real estate investment firm Bentall Kennedy and Warba Bank, a Kuwaiti public shareholding company, paid $66.5 million for the ManpowerGroup corporate headquarters building at the Schlitz Park complex in downtown Milwaukee.
Last year, Associated Bank purchased the 28-story Milwaukee Center office building for $60.5 million.
Also last year, the 34-story 100 East office tower downtown was sold to Santa Monica, California-based Hertz Investment Group for $78 million, as part of a four-property portfolio deal.
