It appears that Mt. Pleasant officials’ plans to attract development near Interstate 94 are finally about to pay off. Chicago-based HSA Commercial Inc. recently purchased 90 acres of farmland near I-94 in Mt. Pleasant. The property, located southwest of Highway 20 and County Highway V, is part of the new 950-acre Mount Pleasant International Commerce Center. Initially, HSA plans to build a 125,000-square-foot and a 300,000-square-foot speculative industrial building on its site. Construction is expected to break ground by the end of this year or early next year, said John Mangel, vice president of acquisition and development for HSA.
Eventually HSA plans to build five to 10 buildings on the 90 acre property, with small retail and office buildings along Highway 20 and larger warehouse/office buildings in the back of the property, Mangel said.
Mt. Pleasant has a population of about 26,000 and became incorporated as a village in 2003. In 2005, the village hired Chicago-based The Lakota Group Inc. to create a master plan for the 5,000-acre area roughly located between County Highway C and Highway 11, east of I-94. As part of an intergovernmental revenue sharing agreement with the City of Racine, sewer and water services were extended along Highway 20 to I-94 last year, for the first time making the area ready for commercial development. Racine and Mt. Pleasant each spent $3 million for the infrastructure. In addition, Mt. Pleasant has created a tax incremental financing district for a 488 acre area, which includes 380 acres of the International Commerce Center.
HSA’s project will be the first in this area as a result of all of that work.
“It is the first major development,” said Jim Henke, director of community development for Mt. Pleasant.
“It’s the reason we put millions of dollars into the ground,” said Village Administrator Michael Andreasen.
The village plans to use $5.8 million from the TIF district to extend County Highway V and extend water and sewer lines for the HSA development.
Within the 488-acre TIF district, HSA owns 90 acres, Brookfield-based NAI MLG Commerical owns 130 acres that it is marketing for development and Brookfield-based VK Development Corp. owns 90 acres, where it was planning a residential development before the housing market hit the skids. The rest of the land in the TIF district is owned by farmers.
The village’s master plan for the 5,000-acre I-94 area includes the 950 acre commerce center, single family and multi-family residential areas, a retail “town center” area and some office and hotel development.
“We’re trying to put more emphasis on attracting commercial development to the village,” Henke said. The village wants to attract the tax base, jobs and services that development will bring, he said.
The village hopes to take advantage of development pressure that is spreading north from the Chicago area, which has resulted in development in Kenosha County, and south from the Milwaukee area. Eventually that growth should hit Racine County and Mt. Pleasant is now ready to capture it.
“It’s the most logical progression of development,” Henke said. It will probably take about seven to 10 years to fully develop the TIF district, he said.
Mangel said he was surprised to discover that most of the interest in the Mt. Pleasant project from potential tenants is coming from Milwaukee area firms instead of from the Chicago area.
“We like the I-94 corridor,” he said. “It’s a good location for doing industrial development.”
HSA continues to increase its holdings in the area. The company is a full-service real estate firm specializing in office, industrial, retail and health care real estate leasing, management, marketing, development and financing on a national basis. The company owns more than 17 million square feet of commercial property in 14 states.
The company has been expanding its portfolio in southeastern Wisconsin in recent years. HSA entered the market by acquiring the 195,000-square-foot Olson Cos. Inc. industrial plant in Glendale at 4200 N. Port Washington Road in 2003 in a $5 million sale/leaseback transaction. In 2004 the company purchased the 717,717-square-foot Brown Deer Business Park for $28 million.
Earlier this year, HSA acquired the “Burleigh Triangle” in Wauwatosa by purchasing the former Kohl’s Food Stores warehouses at 11100-310 W. Burleigh St. on 24 acres for $9 million and the former Roundy’s Supermarkets properties at 11300-500 W. Burleigh St. on 39 acres for $8.5 million. The company is planning a major redevelopment for the site. Wauwatosa officials want to see a dense, mixed-use development there.
Oconomowoc
Oconomowoc-based Frontier Development plans to redevelop the 11.5-acre former Summit School property located at the northeast corner of Highway 67 and Valley Road, just outside of the Pabst Farms development. Frontier plans to tear down the school building and plans to build five commercial buildings with a total of 125,083 square feet of space, about 60 percent of which will be office space and 40 percent will be retail space. The development will include a bank and restaurant in its first phase.
Frontier Development also plans to build a 15,864-square-foot multi-tenant office building, which would be called Parkway Place Office Center, on a vacant lot at 1080 Oconomowoc Parkway.
Brookfield
Paciugo Gelato, a Dallas-based chain of Italian ice cream parlors, plans to open a location in a small retail space at Brookfield Square Mall, between the Bravo! Cucina Italiana restaurant and the The Limited store. Paciugo Gelato has 19 locations in the U.S. and two in Mexico. The only Wisconsin location is on State Street in Madison. The company plans to open an additional 24 locations, including the Brookfield store.
Wauwatosa-based Irgens Development Partners LLC plans to build a 20,995-square-foot medical office building at 21800 Intertech Dr. in the Gateway West Commerce Center.
Wauwatosa
Naperville, Ill.-based OfficeMax Inc. plans to open a store in Wauwatosa. The office supplies retailer recently leased 20,000 square feet of space at the northeast corner of North 124th Street and Burleigh Street. The company has about 1,000 stores in the U.S.
Grafton
Dillon Group LLC plans to build a two-story, 5,600-square-foot office building at 1230 13th Ave. The building will be the final phase of the company’s Bridgewater/Brew Pub development.
Jim Carrier plans to open a Rapid Refill Ink store at 1359 Port Washington Road in November, and he plans to open 12 more locations in the next few years. The store will specialize in the remanufacturing/refilling and selling of inkjet and laser toner cartridges for printers, copiers, fax machines and all-in-one machines. The store will also sell specialty paper, bulk paper, printers and other related items.
Wales
Developers Peter Ogden, president of Ogden & Co Inc., and Roger Duchow, plan to build a 28,000-square-foot retail and office space development at Highway 18 and Highway 83. The tenants will include a Walgreens store, a bank and three restaurants.
Greenfield
Brookfield-based NAI MLG Commercial plans to build a 2,400-square-foot Cousins Subs restaurant on an outlot in front of the Aldi store at the northwest corner of Highway 100 and Cold Spring Road.
Racine
Racine officials recently hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony for the new Southside Industrial Park, located northwest of South Memorial Drive and De Koven Avenue. The industrial park has 11 acres of available land for development, which is priced at $35,000 per acre. Some incentives are also available from the Racine County Economic Development Corp. The industrial park also has a 56,000-square-foot centralized, shared parking area for the industrial park users.
Milwaukee
Stevens Point-based DigiCopy Inc. recently opened two more locations in Milwaukee, one at 222 Erie Street in the Third Ward and one in the U.S. Bank building at 777 E. Wisconsin Ave. The company says it plans to open more stores throughout the Milwaukee area. Its only other store in the area is at 1681 N. Van Buren St., Milwaukee.
Diana and Greg Hashek, Rich Pawlitzke and Don Mueller, the owners of the Indigo restaurant at 5921 W. Vliet St. in the Washington Heights neighborhood, recently sold the restaurant to Jan Kelley, who has renamed it Meritage.
Commercial Real Estate Transactions
Leases
Boerke Company
Midland Health leased 4,256 square feet of office space at 12523 W. Hampton Ave., Butler.
Avicom Inc. leased 695 square feet of office space at 700 W. Virginia St., Milwaukee, from Atlas Development Corp.
CB Richard Ellis
Cardiothoracic Surgery Group S.C. leased 2,533 square feet of office space at 10150 W. National Ave., West Allis, from Westminster Funds LLC.
Citi Trends Inc. leased 12,000 square feet of retail space at 6406 N. 76th St., Milwaukee, from Bryson Properties XII.
OfficeMax Inc. leased 20,000 square feet of retail space at the northwest corner of North 124th Street and Burleigh Street in Wauwatosa from Continental 164 Fund LLC.
B and G Enterprises of Milwaukee LLC leased 3,350 square feet of retail space at 1020 W. Layton Ave., Milwaukee, from Bouraxis Properties LLC.
LensCrafters Inc. leased 2,570 square feet of retail space at N95 W18169 and N95 W18167 Appleton Ave., Menomonee Falls.
Total Renal Care Inc. leased 5,100 square feet of retail space at 8201 S. Howell Ave., Oak Creek, from Demco Wisconsin Inc.
Tamarack Petroleum Company Inc. leased 3,702 square feet of office space at 777 E. Wisconsin Ave., Milwaukee, from U.S. Bank National Association.
NL Industries Inc. leased 16,000 square feet of office space at 411 E. Wisconsin Ave., Milwaukee, from Triple Net Properties Realty Inc.
TecStar Mfg. leased 67,200 square feet of industrial space at W177 N18456 Fulton Dr., Germantown, from 33 North LaSalle LLC.
High-Tech Institute Inc. leased 4,814 square feet of office space at 440 S. Executive Dr., Brookfield, from DBSI Executive Drive Lease Co LLC.
Celestine Assoumou leased 1,150 square feet of retail space at 8329 W. Appleton Ave., Milwaukee, from R&D Point Plaza LLC.
Inland Companies
Hantzen Coatings leased 10,898 square feet of space at Mill Run Business Center, 6601 W. Mill Road, Milwaukee.
Milwaukee Title Inc. leased 3,039 square feet of space and Franklin Energy Services leased 1,554 square feet of space at Park Crest Office Center II, 2665 S. Moorland Road, New Berlin.
Staffing Now Inc. leased 3,039 square feet of space at the Milwaukee Center, 111 E. Kilbourn Ave., Milwaukee.
Cable Master leased 5,000 square feet of space in the Park Place Technology Center, 11701 W. Bradley Road, Milwaukee.
The Morgan Group leased 1,750 square feet of space at Vincent Park Building C, 19265 W. Capitol Dr., Brookfield.
Active Care Rehab leased 2,009 square feet of space in the Coventry Building at 250 W. Coventry Ct., Glendale.
Accenture leased 6,332 square feet of space in the Milwaukee Center at 111 E. Kilbourn Ave., Milwaukee.
Kids in Motion LLC leased 3,000 square feet of space in the Shoppes at Janesville Commons at S74 W16865 Janesville Road, Muskego.
Gardner Denver leased 314 square feet of space at 625 Walnut Ridge, Hartland.
The Sherwin-Williams Company leased 11,791 square feet of space at Stadium Business Park II, 4516 W. Burnham Road, Milwaukee.
Judson & Associates
Bajer Design and Marketing Inc. leased 11,828 square feet of space at 1801 Airport Road, Waukesha, from Sky View Suites LLC.
Dynamic Ratings leased 3,180 square feet of space at 1275 E. Wisconsin Ave., Pewaukee, from Sawyer Enterprises.
VR Mergers & Acquisitions leased 2,413 square feet of space at N27 W23960 Paul Road, Pewaukee, from West Winds.
PWS Enterprises LLC leased 3,040 square feet of space at 720 Larry Ct., Waukesha, from PWS Enterprises LLC.
Lakeland Biologists LLC leased 1,200 square feet of space at 400 Travis Lane, Unit 30, Waukesha, from Waucom Partners LLC.
Ocreative Design Studio LLC leased 1,115 square feet of space at 1860 Executive Dr., Oconomowoc, from Walter Bohrer Living Trust.
Larsen Associates Inc. leased 1,700 square feet of space at N96 W17695 Riversbend Circle West, Germantown, from WJGM LLC.
Key Technical Solutions Inc. leased 4,827 square feet of space at 10400 Innovation Point Dr., Wauwatosa, from Innovation Point LLC.
Healing Touch Massage and Sussex Chiropractic leased 2,000 square feet of space at N63 W23524 Silver Spring Dr., Suite 4, Sussex, from Michael E. Millikin.
Lakeland Biologists LLC leased 1,200 square feet of space at 400 Travis Lane, Unit 30, Waukesha, from Waucom Partners LLC.
NAI MLG Commercial
Sigma Exteriors leased 15,228 square feet of space at 301 W. Vogel, Milwaukee, from Dan R. and Helen Cassiani Revocable Trust.
Sales
Judson & Associates
Destination LLC (Jannsen & Company S.C.) purchased 2.47 acres of land at the southeast corner of Capitol Drive and Highway 164 in Pewaukee from Waukesha County.
NAI MLG Commercial
Christian Hlavinka purchased the 6,700-square-foot two-building complex at 4715 N. 124th St., Brookfield, from Frederick Kirsch for $275,000.
New construction
Inland Companies, Milwaukee, recently completed: a remodeling project at the DeVry University campus at N14 W23833 Stoneridge Dr., Waukesha; the remodeling of ELM Consulting’s new office on the 17th floor of the Milwaukee Center at 111 E. Kilbourn Ave., Milwaukee; the remodeling of The Academy Waukesha-Paul Mitchell Beauty School, 2000 Silvernail Road, Pewaukee; the remodeling of the City of Milwaukee Employee Retirement Services office at 789 N. Water St., Milwaukee; and the remodeling of the Concord Electric Space at Park Ridge Technology Center, 11715 W. Bradley Road, Mequon. Inland also recently completed the construction of the TAC Worldwide office space at 125 Executive Dr., Brookfield; the construction of Park Place Technology Center B at 116th Street and West Bradley Road in Mequon; and the construction of 6,623 square feet of new office space and an IT room for Elections at Stoneridge III, N14 W23833 Stoneridge Dr., Pewaukee. Inland also recently started construction of a 10,000-square-foot retail building at 14640 W. Capitol Dr., Brookfield, which will include an Eddie Z’s Draperies and Blinds store, and started construction of the 42,000-square-foot Stadium Business Park IV at 1745 S. 38th St., Milwaukee.
Gerald Nell Inc., Waukesha, was selected by Hellermann Tyton Corp. to design and build a 7,000-square-foot manufacturing space addition and a 27,000-square-foot renovation project for its plant at 8475 N. 87th St., Milwaukee.
Campbell Construction BBG LLC, Waukesha, was selected as the general contractor for the new Destiny Christian Center church in Mukwonago.