Bader Rutter
Owner/Developer: Wangard Partners Inc.
Architects: Plunkett Raysich Architects LLP
Contractor: J. H. Findorff & Son Inc.
Costs: More than $5 million
Year completed: 2017
Marketing firm Bader Rutter moved 240 employees from Brookfield to downtown Milwaukee this spring, anchoring the new mixed-use development at the former Laacke & Joys site, 1433 N. Water St., by Wauwatosa-based Wangard Partners.
The firm is leasing 60,000 square feet on the first, second and part of the third floors, with about 30 percent of its space in the original 1925 building.
Bader Rutter’s chief executive officer, Greg Nickerson, wanted to create a boutique hotel feel when guests walk into the new office. Architect Plunkett Raysich and contractor J. H. Findorff & Son created that feeling with an open concept, loft-style lobby. There is a fireplace tucked beneath the stairs.
Stone Creek Coffee is served in the lobby for both guests and staff members.
Various break-out rooms are located throughout the building and a patio facing the Milwaukee River Walk, called “The Yard,” gives staff an opportunity to work outdoors.
Nickerson said he chose the space after looking downtown for five years because he liked the idea of building something new in an old building.
“We wanted something different and unique,” Nickerson said. “The idea of connecting a 90-year-old building with something new was something I loved. It is nod to the past with a huge nod to the future.”
