Northwestern Mutual has reached an agreement with the University Club of Milwaukee to purchase its shuttered downtown building.
The University Club announced in December that it had permanently closed its iconic city club at 924 E. Wells St., with plans to focus solely on its country club in Brown Deer. The 98-year-old, five-story building has 58,125 square feet of space and has an assessed value of about $2.7 million, according to city records.
Northwestern Mutual on Monday confirmed its plans to buy the property after Urban Milwaukee’s Jeramey Jannene reported the news on X, formerly Twitter.
The University Club property is one block north of Northwestern Mutual’s corporate headquarters and kitty-corner from the company’s north office building, which it’s in the process of renovating in a $500 million project.
“As an active real estate investor, Northwestern Mutual is a steward of our downtown Milwaukee campus and neighboring area and the opportunity to invest in the University Club property allows us to ensure the building continues to serve as a prominent, thriving downtown hub for the Milwaukee community,” a Northwestern Mutual spokesperson said in a statement.
Northwestern Mutual did not detail its plans for the property or what it will pay to buy it.
In a December letter to University Club members, board president Jim Caragher noted deferred maintenance at the nearly 100-year-old city club facility as one of the reasons for closing and selling the building.
“We attempted to augment assessment funds through voluntary contributions with an eye toward making significant upgrades. However, we were unable to secure any leadership gifts to boost our fundraising,” Caragher’s letter said. “Without significant upgrades, restoring our downtown-focused membership to its previous critical mass is unachievable.”
The University Club was founded in 1898 and has occupied the six-story, red-brick, Georgian Revival-style building since 1928.
Representatives from the University Club did not respond to requests for comment.
