Bucyrus paid $9 million for former Midwest Airlines HQ

Bucyrus International Inc. paid $9 million for the former Midwest Airlines corporate headquarters complex in Oak Creek, according to Scott Revolinski of RFP Commercial Inc., who brokered the deal for Lake Forest Ill.-based The Westminster Funds, which sold the property.
The sale price was not originally disclosed by Bucyrus, when the company recently announced that it purchased the office complex. Bucyrus was represented by Sam Dickman Sr. and Sam Dickman Jr. of The Dickman Company Inc. in brokering the sale.
Bucyrus will move its corporate headquarters at 1100 Milwaukee Ave., South Milwaukee, three miles west to the former Midwest Airlines headquarters campus, which consists of 120,833 square feet of office space in two buildings and 761 parking spaces on a 27-acre site.
At $9 million, Bucyrus purchased the 120,833-square-foot office complex for $74.48 per square foot.
The property had been listed for $14.9 million, or $123.31 per square foot.
Last year Midwest Airlines was acquired by Indianapolis-based Republic Airways Holdings Inc. Republic is eliminating the Midwest Airlines brand and is merging the airline into Frontier Airlines. Republic is adding about 800 jobs in Milwaukee, but has moved its Milwaukee area operations out of the Oak Creek corporate campus to Mitchell International Airport. Some corporate jobs in Milwaukee were consolidated into the company’s Indianapolis headquarters.
Midwest Airlines’ lease with The Westminster Funds for the Oak Creek campus would not have expired until 2018. However, Republican Airlines bought out its lease for the complex, Revolinski said. He declined to disclose details of the lease buy-out.
Bucyrus will continue to operate its South Milwaukee factory at its current headquarters, but it needs more office space to accommodate its growth. The company’s corporate functions, including its senior management, will be moved to the Oak Creek campus.
Bucyrus, which manufactures mining equipment, has grown significantly in recent years and in February closed on the acquisition of the mining division of Terex Corp. With that acquisition, the company says it will create approximately 700 jobs in the Milwaukee area in the next 2 to 3 years. That means the company needs more office space, which is why it is purchasing the Oak Creek campus. Bucyrus plans to renovate the Oak Creek buildings and will move its corporate staff there in about 3 to 5 months
The sale of the buildings should provide a property tax boost to the city of Oak Creek. Midwest Airlines did not pay property taxes on the property under a state property tax exemption for airlines with hub facilities in the state.