BMO Harris Bank N.A. has sold three office buildings in Brookfield and is leasing them back from the new owner.
The Chicago-based bank sold the buildings at 180 N. Executive Drive, 395 N. Executive Drive and 401 N. Executive Drive to Atlanta-based BMO 180 Brookfield WI Landlord LLC. The LLC’s address matches up with the headquarters of corporate and investment bank SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.
According to state records, BMO sold the 180 building for $10.9 million on July 27. Neither Waukesha County nor the City of Brookfield has record of the sale of the other two buildings, but BMO confirmed they were sold to the same buyer on July 27. According to Brookfield, the tax key for the parcel at 395 N. Executive Drive, which also includes 401 N. Executive Drive, is valued at $20 million.
Patrick O’Herlihy, a spokesman for BMO, said the company has signed long-term leases at the three buildings; it occupies the entirety of their combined 210,000 square feet. About 1,000 employees work at the Brookfield campus, which also includes a fourth building at 235 N. Executive Drive that the company already leases.
The four-building campus includes BMO’s operations center, call center and a number of its corporate functions.
“It’s part of what we call our sale-leaseback initiative,” O’Herlihy said. “It’s simply an initiative to take advantage of the attractive real estate market that’s out there right now.”
Other recent BMO sale-leaseback transactions in southeastern Wisconsin have included a 31-branch sale that netted the bank $45.6 million in November and a four-branch sale that brought in $9.28 million.
BMO is not disclosing how many locations are included in its sale-leaseback initiative, but said it does not encompass all its Wisconsin properties.
