The owner of the Century City 1 building wants to buy vacant land next door and construct another facility at Milwaukee’s Century City business park.
Five years after it was built, the Century City 1 building is finally fully leased, according to ownership group Good Opportunity Fund 1 LLC. The group is led by Dan Katt of Good City Brewing, which is one of the facility’s five tenants.
Katt is now proposing to buy the site at 3055 W. Hopkins St. The site is directly south of Century City 1, and is owned by the Redevelopment Authority of the City of Milwaukee.
According to city documents, the West Hopkins property would be purchased by a new entity named Good Opportunity Fund II LLC.
The Katt-led group would then develop a new flex industrial building on that site. It is seeking an exclusive right to negotiate with RACM for purchasing the site. The price of the land would be determined during negotiations.
The documents did not specify the anticipated size of the new building. However, conceptual plans depict a building roughly the same size as Century City 1. That building totals 53,400 square feet. The site is roughly 4.7 acres.
RACM will consider the proposal on Thursday.
Katt could not immediately be reached for comment. However, he hinted at interest in pursuing more development opportunities at Century City earlier this week.
Following Century City 1 reaching 100% occupancy, Katt said his group was “actively exploring financing opportunities for future development.” He added that demand for modern industrial space exceeded supply.
“Once the (COVID-19) pandemic started to subside in early 2021, the interest level for the space sky-rocketed and the building filled very quickly,” Katt said this week.
Just two days ago, Alderman Khalif Rainey released a statement that he was hopeful the news of Century City I reaching capacity was the start “of something special” for the business park. His district includes Century City.
“I truly believe the potential for adding great companies to Century City – and providing additional excellent paying jobs for nearby residents – is not a matter of ‘if’ but ‘when,'” Rainey said.
Century City 1 is the product of a development partnership of the city and Fox Point-based General Capital Group. The two then sold the building to Katt’s group in 2018.
Good City Brewing announced four years ago its plans to move to Century City from the East Side.
The city spent $24.8 million to create Century City, at the former A.O. Smith manufacturing complex site, through tax incremental financing. The TIF district has struggled, and required assistance from other overperforming districts to help pay off its debts the city incurred.
Strauss Brands LLC once planned to move to the Century City business park from Franklin. But the Milwaukee Common Council rejected the proposal. Franklin officials later endorsed a new Strauss Brands facility.
