Outpost Natural Foods is moving its headquarters and warehouse from downtown Milwaukee to the city’s south side, the company announced.
According to a news release, Outpost will relocate 40 office employees and six warehouse workers to its new location at 3200 S. Third St. The company expects its central support office to be moved in by March, with the warehouse operations following by May.
Outpost’s current office space is at the Steinmeyer Building, located on the southeast corner of West Highland Avenue and North Old World Third Street.
“While many of us are going to miss the convenience of our downtown offices, this move is important in centralizing our overall operations, giving us opportunity for growth, and providing us with a more affordable place to operate,” Outpost general manager Pam Mehnert said in the release. “It is an exciting time for the team as we prepare to celebrate our 50th year as a co-op.”
The company will set up operations in a building that dates back to 1936, when it was originally used as an icehouse. There, Outpost will occupy about 8,000 square feet of office space and 4,000 square feet of warehouse space.
To facilitate the move, the building owner will invest $700,000 in improvements, according to the release. The owner is Brookfield-based Megal Development Corp., according to city records.
Nashotah-based MSI General Corp. is the general contractor performing build-out work of the new space.
Outpost noted in the release the building was chosen because it could combine central offices and warehouse capacity, as well as have easy freeway access, on-site parking and proximity to a bus line.
The company’s Bay View store, located at 2826 S. Kinnickinnic Ave., is currently housing most of its overall warehouse capacity, primarily used to self-distribute small vendor orders to all four store locations as well as operate a central hub for the co-op’s bulk foods program.
Outpost plans to expand that store’s retail footprint in 2020 once the warehouse operations have been relocated. The store’s single tenant, Brewery Credit Union, will also be soon relocating early next year, which opens up even more space to expand the store.
