At the southern edge of Milwaukee County, Oak Creek and Franklin are in the middle of a development boom.
A wave of investments – totaling hundreds of millions of dollars – is steadily flowing through the I-94 North-South corridor. These projects are bringing thousands of jobs, hundreds of housing units and new retail options to an area that has historically grown at a slower pace than the more established I-94 East-West corridor through Waukesha County.
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Yaskawa America is planning a $180 million expansion in Franklin.[/caption]
Manufacturing momentum in Franklin
In Franklin, Yaskawa America, a Waukegan, Illinois-based manufacturer of motion control and robotics automation systems, plans to invest $180 million in a new North American headquarters campus. The development will bring 700 new jobs to the city.
Nearby, Saputo, a dairy company based in Canada, continues to expand its footprint. After establishing a 340,000-square-foot facility in 2021, the company has now opened a second 311,000-square-foot structure adjacent to its current site. The combined investment totals $175 million and will employ around 600 people.
Also, within the past year in Franklin:
Microbial Discovery Group, a biotech firm based in Oak Creek, opened a 117,000-square-foot facility.
Modine, based in Racine, is opening a 153,000-square-foot facility dedicated to its advanced thermal systems group, bringing 200 jobs.
Krones, a packaging and bottling systems manufacturer, leased a 240,000-square-foot space near its U.S. headquarters site for a new logistics center.
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Rendering of Derse’s new headquarters facility in
Oak Creek.[/caption]
Oak Creek welcomes new HQ
In Oak Creek, Derse announced plans to build a new 297,000-square-foot facility, moving its headquarters from Milwaukee’s Menomonee Valley. Planned for the southwest corner of West Oakwood Road and South Howell Avenue, the project will be the capstone to the OakView Business Park.
City officials and industrial real estate experts attribute the growth in both municipalities to the area’s proximity to labor, the freeway and Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport.
“This is just a natural evolution of where Milwaukee County was poised to grow next,” said Andrew Vickers, Oak Creek city administrator. “We’re kind of in the tornado alley of growth.”
Moreover, many of the metro area’s more mature suburban industrial real estate markets have limited land available for new development and the existing stock of buildings are mostly full. For instance, Waukesha County has an industrial space vacancy rate of just 1.3%.
“Try to find 30-plus acres with proximity to labor and a highway. You can’t,” said Jeff Hoffman, principal at Cushman & Wakefield | Boerke. “It’s worth noting, though, that overall the (industrial real estate) market has slowed, and there were quarters last year where even the Franklin-Oak Creek submarket had negative absorption. Still, deals have been getting done and some notable ones at that.”
Residential growth leads to retail rush
Both Franklin and Oak Creek have seen more than 20% increases in their populations since 2000, with more housing in the pipeline.
In Oak Creek, Milwaukee-based Barrett Lo Visionary Development is planning an additional 400 apartments at Drexel Town Square in 2026, Milwaukee-based F Street is continuing to expand its Lakeshore Commons housing development and a partnership between Wangard Partners and Siepmann Realty Corp. could bring more than 530 residential units northeast of South 27th Street and West Drexel Avenue.
In Franklin, Mayor John Nelson said the municipality has seen “unprecedented” housing growth in recent years.
Despite this population growth, retail development has been a lagging sector in southern Milwaukee County, according to local retail brokers. But now it’s catching up.
“Milwaukee County and the rest of the metro for the most part are a mature market for most retailers,” said Mike Fitzgerald, principal at Mid-America Real Estate Wisconsin. “Menomonee Falls, Brookfield, Delafield, Grafton, all have reasonable store counts for most of the larger format retailers. Southern Milwaukee County really hasn’t had any ground-up new construction that has occurred over the last decade for those types of retailers, and that’s really where the pent-up demand has started to build.”
That pent-up demand is starting to be released. Buc-ee’s, the Texas-based travel center with a cult following, has selected Oak Creek for its first Wisconsin location. The 73,000-square-foot store will feature 120 gas pumps and sit near 27th Street and Elm Road. Meanwhile, a Costco store is in early planning stages in Franklin, northwest of Drexel Avenue and 27th Street.
Further, a development connected to Wangard and Siepmann’s housing project in Oak Creek could bring more than 62,000 square feet of retail space and 9.4 acres worth of outlots for development. Known as The Prairie, the project would be one of the few developer-led retail developments in the metro area in several years. Most other retail developments in Oak Creek and elsewhere in recent years have been developed and financed by the end user.
“It will be a good litmus test,” Fitzgerald said. “Seeing if the construction pricing, the rents retailers are willing to pay and the rest of the financials come together.”
Saying ‘no’
Despite the flurry of development, city leaders in both Franklin and Oak Creek say they are being selective with what they approve.
“We say ‘no’ to a lot of projects,” said Vickers. “The ones that materialize are the ones that do fit in our plan and are really quality projects for our community.”
Oak Creek has put limits on certain types of development, including car washes and drive-thrus, as well as speculative industrial buildings and distribution centers. Instead, the city is pursuing developments that offer “Oak Creek-sustaining jobs,” Vickers said, pointing to Derse’s new headquarters as an example.
Franklin is taking a similar approach. Nelson said the city is focused on quality commercial development that can broaden the tax base and provide jobs with decent wages.
Both cities are aware that the development boom may only last so long.
“Although we’re announcing a lot of these new greenfield developments and things like that right now, there’s only going to be a 10- or 20-year window where we’re still working on those pieces coming in,” Vickers said. n
