The longtime home of Milwaukee PBS’s Great TV Auction has been sold to concrete additive manufacturer Krete Industries, which is based in a facility just east of the warehouse.
The building was sold for $1.69 million to an affiliate of Krete. The 43,450-square-foot facility will give Krete additional space for testing labs, manufacturing and warehousing, according to Stephen Provancher, NAI MLG Commercial principal and a broker for the buyers. Jeff Hoffman, Nick Unger and Steve Styza of The Boerke Company Inc. were the listing brokers.
Milwaukee Area Technical College has owned the facility, which sits on approximately two acres at 12560 W. Townsend St. in Brookfield, since 2011. Channel 10/36 Friends Inc. bought it in 2003 and owned it until MATC assumed fundraising and development operations into Milwaukee PBS.
The facility was home to the annual Great TV Auction and a variety of other events, but operational costs had been increasing and revenues from the events have declined, according to MATC district board meeting materials.
The board approved putting the facility on the market in January and Krete made an offer in April. The two sides reached a deal in early May and the board signed off on the sale later that month.
Provancher said the property was listed for less than 30 days, which has been the norm in Waukesha County this year for industrial buildings in good condition with minimal deferred maintenance.
He added the building was in move-in condition, but Krete will be investing a “considerable amount of money” to install labs for their specific use.
The Great TV Auction and other events previously held at the Brookfield facility will be relocated to Foundation Hall on MATC’s downtown Milwaukee campus.
