An old industrial warehouse facility in Milwaukee’s Riverwest neighborhood is being transformed into a shared office and manufacturing space, as part of the owner’s intentions to bring a “Third Ward” style building to the area.
Building owner Steve Mathison said he bought the building at 3700 N. Fratney St. last fall under the entity West River Partners LLC and started making improvements to the building in December. He said he purchased the property in large part because he was frustrated with a lack of quality office space in the neighborhood.
“That area just deserves nicer space,” he said, adding he wanted to provide the area with a “Third Ward-type building.”
An online description of the project notes the goal was to create a warehouse-style office building similar to what could be found in the historic neighborhood located directly south of downtown Milwaukee, only without the high rent, difficult parking and long-term leases.
The nearly 22,000-square-foot building, first constructed in 1928, now includes about 4,400 square feet of shared office space, though that has already filled up and Mathison plans to add even more. The other remaining roughly 17,000 square feet is raw industrial warehouse-type space, he said.
Mathison said he has spent “over six figures” in rehabilitation costs so far. Work includes the removal of 20 tons of rubble and other building materials, gutting the building to expose the original beams and cream city brick and installing new electrical, plumbing and HVAC systems throughout. Remaining work consists of new gutters and landscaping, as well as façade improvements.
The open-concept office space is largely taken up by Pleasanton, California-based company ThinkHR, which offers both technology and human expertise to provide companies with human resources compliance and best practices. The company set up its Milwaukee office there about four months ago, where it employs about 15 workers. ThinkHR has about 80 employees overall.
Mathison, who works remotely for his company, also uses a small portion of the office space
“I was tired of working from coffee shops or shared lounges where it’s just way outside of my neighborhood,” Mathison said.
He added that when his colleagues met they didn’t have a space where they could do things like leave ideas on a whiteboard, as they always had to completely clean out of the places they would gather.
The warehouse space has five tenants, but has room to take in more. Tenants include high-end woodworking company The Urban Craftsman, a wet suit manufacturer, a beverage company and a couple other manufacturing companies. Mathison declined to provide the names of other tenants.
To help pay for the renovation work, Mathison said he received a $5,000 grant from Riverworks Development Corp. He is also applying for more money from the city through its white box, façade improvement and signage grant programs.
Mathison said he is particularly fond of the area where this building is located, as it consists of numerous businesses that are surrounded by more heavy industrial operations. The companies there have benefited from low rental rates, but there was just a lack of quality office space, he added.
“It’s just an interesting pocket that is evolving with time,” Mathison said.
