Construction company Briohn Building Corp. recently expanded its Brookfield office space by 50% to accommodate its larger staff, larger projects and larger community presence. Founded in 1979 and specializing in commercial construction projects, the company has grown slowly through every generation of projects, according to Nelson Williams, chief executive officer. Briohn had occupied about 10,000
Construction company Briohn Building Corp. recently expanded its Brookfield office space by 50% to accommodate its larger staff, larger projects and larger community presence.
Founded in 1979 and specializing in commercial construction projects, the company has grown slowly through every generation of projects, according to Nelson Williams, chief executive officer.
Briohn had occupied about 10,000 square feet of office space in the Sendik's Towne Centre, where the company has been since 2003, but this month completed a build out of an additional 5,000 square feet on the building's first floor.
The additional space will provide more room for the company's staff of 40, which has grown in recent years as Briohn has rounded out its architectural team with civil and structural engineers, an interior designer and other land development resources. The company has also grown its administration, accounting and project management teams.
The new space, which includes a large meeting and social area with a bar, seating and golf simulator, will allow the company to more comfortably host monthly all staff meetings, which were getting tight in the existing space, Williams said.
Growth at Briohn can in part be attributed to the size of buildings the company has been building in recent years, especially for its industrial users, where there's been the most activity, according to Williams.
"A decade ago, we might've been building a 20,000 or 40,000-square-foot building," Williams said. "More often these days, our clients that are growing out of their smaller spaces are driving us to larger buildings, 150,000 to 300,000 square feet and up."
The company has also gotten entrenched in some industrial parks around metro Milwaukee.
"For examples, in Mukwonago we've built seven buildings down there, where we worked closely with the village to develop this park and after building one we just sort of roll through," Williams said.
Briohn has also been active in Pewaukee, Lisbon, Oak Creek and Germantown — all hotspots for industrial development in recent years as metro Milwaukee's industrial real estate market has remained strong, despite headwinds in real estate development.
"There's still strong demand from a lot of our users that are reshoring some of their operations, or just bringing their supply chain closer to home," Williams said.
Some of Briohn's large projects lately include automation company ABB's new $100 million, 535,000-square-foot New Berlin campus; packaging manufacturer Green Bay Packaging's $60 million, 230,000-square-foot Germantown manufacturing plant; and pet food producer Golden Pet Manufacturing's 130,000-square-foot expansion of its Germantown facility.
All of those projects are being led by the end user, rather than development firms.
"The clients we have that are operators of businesses are the ones keeping us the busiest right now, less so than the commercial real estate developers right now," Williams said.
According to Williams, the company is still working with developers, but noted that those projects have been more difficult to finance and slower to get off the ground.
Briohn has also been working on some retail projects, especially carwashes like Jilly's, which has continued to expand its Milwaukee-area footprint.
With the addition of the first floor office space, Williams said he hopes the company will be able to host additional community outreach events, such as holding backpack drives or bicycling fundraisers.
"One of our goals with the space is to link our company with the community," Williams said. "Our goal is to get people together in person, but not just for our work with our team or clients. We want to use it as a tool to continue charity initiatives."
Briohn was a BizTimes Media Future 50 award winner in 2023, which recognizes the fastest-growing privately-held businesses in southeastern Wisconsin.
[caption id="attachment_586845" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Part of Briohn's first-floor office space. Image from Briohn Building Corp.[/caption]
