Lindsey Bovinet, chairman of Interior Systems Inc. (ISI), plans to acquire the vacant former Eisner American Museum of Advertising and Design building in Milwaukee’s Historic Third Ward.
Bovinet has made an offer to purchase the building from the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD), sources said. He expects to close on the acquisition by the end of July.
Financial terms of the acquisition were not available.
Bovinet plans to move his company’s headquarters from its current home at 241 N. Broadway to the former Eisner Museum at 208 N. Water St., sources said.
ISI will continue to operate a production plant in Fond du Lac and a West Coast design and production facility in Santa Fe Springs, Calif.
ISI designs interiors for restaurants, retail stores and educational facilities. Its customers include McDonald’s Restaurants, Famous Dave’s, KFC, Taco Bell and Kohler Company.
Bovinet plans to partner with the Creative Alliance Milwaukee (CAM) to create the Creative Incubator in the former Eisner Museum building.
CAM will be an anchor tenant in the building, according to Jill Morin, chair of the CAM. Morin said CAM will work to attract tenants for the incubator, including interdisciplinary creative start-ups, artists, arts and cultural groups and small creative businesses.
Management and programming support for the tenants in the incubator will be provided by organizations such as CAM, MIAD, the Milwaukee Artist Resource Network, BizStarts and others, Morin said.
Bovinet also plans to develop a bed and breakfast on the top floor of the former Eisner Museum.
The five-story, 55,485-square-foot building was constructed in 1895 and is one of the most prominent buildings in the Third Ward. The Eisner Museum was located in the building until it closed in 2010. The museum occupied 27,000 square feet of space in the structure.
