Apex launches new building at base of former ski hill in Delafield
As the Waukesha County office market begins its slow recovery into 2004, Apex Commercial Inc. has completed a $3.5 million Class A office building in Delafield. The Purity Professional Building at 2310 Sun Valley Drive was constructed on speculation that a rebound has begun in the market, according to Apex president Daniel Jessup.
The building is located in the southwest quadrant of the intersection of Interstate 94 and Highway 83.
The new office building has been built into the base of what once was the Winterhaven ski hill south of an intersection that also became known as the "smiley face barn" freeway exit because of a former painting on a barn there.
The three-story, 32,000-square-foot office building of masonry and glass was designed by Plunkett Raysich Architects and constructed by Berghammer Construction Corp.
"We’re in negotiations with a handful of tenants right now. Activity has picked up, but at this point, we could accommodate a 32,000-square-foot user," Jessup said. "It’s the nicest Class A office building in that market today, in my opinion."
"The Purity building has gotten a great deal of interest from local tenants, Milwaukee tenants looking for satellite offices and Madison tenants looking for suburban locations," said John Czarnecki, vice president of Apex.
The building could be subdivided to include individual suites of 3,000 or more square feet and single floors of up to 10,000 square feet.
The property is being marketed by Apex for $21 per square foot.
The Purity building adds to Brookfield-based Apex’s growing office building portfolio in Delafield. The company also has opened a two-story, 25,000-square-foot building at 2574 Sun Valley Drive and a three-story, 23,000-square-foot building at 524 Milwaukee St.
"In addition to the Purity property, the last three years have seen the addition of 90,000 square feet of office space to the market in Delafield, both in the downtown Delafield area and the high-density commercial area at Highway 83 and I-94," Czarnecki said.
Jessup, a veteran of the fiscally conservative southeastern Wisconsin real estate scene, has been through this cycle before.
"Our highs are much lower, and our lows are much higher than other markets," he said.
"We’ve seen a slight increase in activity in the last 60 days. There’s more velocity out there," Jessup said. "It’s still a challenge to close deals, but we definitely feel as though the light is at the end of the tunnel."
Jessup’s market assessment reflects the most recent quarterly outlook survey compiled by the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce. In that survey, 70% of the local businesses surveyed are projecting increased sales for their companies in 2004.
Still, demand for new office space in Waukesha County has been flat, according to Bill Mitchell, president of the Waukesha County Economic Development Corp. Mitchell said his office received 33 telephone inquiries about available office space in the first quarter of the year, 39 in the second quarter and 34 in the third quarter.
"Most of them want to be on the I-94 corridor or close to it. I’m not seeing any change in the level of inquiries," Mitchell said.
Oct. 3., 2003 Small Business Times, Milwaukee
