Badger Mutual Insurance Co. is settling into its new headquarters offices in The Brewery District in downtown Milwaukee.
Badger Mutual officially moved into its new office space at The Factory Office Suites at The 42, at 1134 N. 9th St., on June 15. This comes after the insurance provider announced in October it was relocating from Milwaukee’s south side.
Its new office space boasts an open-concept layout, technology such as televisions throughout the office with screen-share capabilities, a “training dock” lounge area that includes gaming devices and a golf simulator, collaborative work spaces and mobile work options for employees such as a social staircase and treadmill desk.
“We built this with the employee in mind, so we wanted to create a space that would just create a whole new energy, a whole new vibe for the company,” said Dan Nigro, president and chief executive officer of Badger Mutual.
Eight-five of Badger Mutual’s 95 employees are located in the two-floor, 16,500-square-foot downtown office space. But due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, many employees are still working form home.
Nigro said that each department can have no more than 50% of its workers in the office at a time. He said leaders will continue to meet weekly or every other week to make decisions on that front.
The tenant buildout work was still in the design phase as COVID-19 started spreading throughout the state, and crews began construction work in mid-March, said Kathy Bubeck, Badger Mutual’s vice president of claims.
She said other than a few hiccups, such as delivery of steel, the work was not impacted due to the pandemic.
Building amenities Badger Mutual now enjoys include an onsite fitness center, rooftop terrace, coffee and tea bar, a lunchroom and lounge area, the Venue Forty-Two event space and easy access to The 42’s commercial tenants, MKE Brewing Co. 9th St. Brewery and the Glass + Griddle brewpub.
Bubeck said the amenities and other nearby attractions, such as the Fiserv Forum and related entertainment district, are a benefit to employees.
“They didn’t have that ability before, they didn’t really have a place to walk to for lunch” at Badger Mutual’s former offices, she said.
Badger Mutual’s old headquarters, located at 1635 W. National Ave., is being turned into a behavioral clinic by its new owners, Sixteenth Street Community Health Centers.
