Associated Bank announced today that it has signed an agreement to purchase the 28-story Milwaukee Center office building in downtown Milwaukee.
The purchase of the Milwaukee Center at 111 East Kilbourn Ave., will allow the Green Bay-based company to grow its presence in the Milwaukee market, according to a release on the company’s website.
Associated will occupy a “significant portion” of the 28-story building when the lease on its current regional office at Plaza East Towers, 330 East Kilbourn Ave., expires in 2022, said Philip B. Flynn, Associated Bank president and CEO.
Approximately 320 Associated employees currently occupy 97,000 square feet of the Plaza East.
“Our purchase of this iconic, city-center building aligns with our efforts to become the city’s hometown bank,” Flynn said in a statement.
The 373,000 square-foot Milwaukee Center was built in 1988. It is the sixth largest multi-tenant office property in downtown and the fourth tallest building in the state. It adjoins Associated’s new Private Client Services Office as well as the Intercontinental Hotel.
In 2008, Equity Commonwealth, a real estate investment trust then known as HRPT Properties Trust, purchased the Milwaukee Center building from Transwestern Investment Co. for $53 million.
Associated has not disclosed the purchase price.
The building is assessed at $49.5 million, according to city records.
