Milwaukee-based
Badger Truck and Automotive Group plans to shut down its headquarters location ahead of a planned construction project that will widen I-94 and displace the business.
The facility at 2326 W. St. Paul Ave. will officially close on April 4 and 40 employees will lose their jobs, according to a WARN notice submitted to the Department of Workforce Development. The
International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers represents the employees.
Representatives with Badger Truck did not immediately respond to a request for comment left Tuesday morning.
The company's St. Paul Avenue building was sold to the State Department of Transportation for $2.9 million, according to state property records.
Sources have told BizTimes that the company will be displaced from that location due to the widening of I-94 and some of its interchanges, which secured federal funding and approval last year. Work on the freeway project could begin later this year, the DOT has said.
The Wisconsin Department of Transportation plans to redesign and expand a 3.5-mile stretch of I-94 in Milwaukee. Badger Truck’s downtown Milwaukee location sits along eastbound I-94.
The project would expand I-94 from six lanes to eight lanes between 70th Street and 16th Street. The project also includes modifications to interchanges to eliminate left-hand exit and entrance ramps, and right-sizing the Stadium Interchange to a diverging diamond interchange.
Founded in 1965 as a Ford franchise, Badger Truck sells new and used cars, SUVs and commercial trucks at its seven locations throughout the Milwaukee area.
BizTimes reporter Hunter Turpin contributed to this report.
