The head of the group that owns the Century City 1 industrial building says he is eyeing a second quarter groundbreaking for a second industrial building that it hopes to construct in the central city business park.
Dan Katt, owner and CEO of Good City Brewing and leader of the ownership group Good Opportunity Fund, LLC, first pitched a plan to construct a light industrial building at 3055 W. Hopkins St. last October and was granted a 12-month exclusive right to negotiate for the site, which is directly south of the Century City 1 building and owned by the Redevelopment Authority of the City of Milwaukee.
On Thursday, Katt and the new ownership group for that building – Good Opportunity Fund II, LLC – was granted a nine-month extension on that exclusive right by the authority.
Speaking to BizTimes Milwaukee earlier this week, Katt said plans for the roughly 53,400-square-foot building are still moving along but have been delayed by same economic factors impacting other developments, mainly supply chain issues.
Katt said the ownership group will spend the first part of 2023 focusing on tenant commitments, and plan to start construction some time in the second quarter. Once the building is complete, Katt said Good City Brewing would move its headquarters from the Century City 1 building into the new building.
Good City might move its brewing operations from the East Side over to the new building at some point, Katt said.
“We have a lot of good energy with small manufacturers. And it is really centrally located,” Katt said of the Century City site. “We found that with our four locations, it has been super convenient.”
Century City 1 was the product of a development partnership of the city and Fox Point-based General Capital Group. The partnership sold the building to Katt’s group in 2018. Today the building is entirely leased up with five tenants, including Craft Beverage Warehouse and urban farm Hundred Acre.
A second industrial building would be a boon to the business park that struggled for many years.
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 debts the city incurred.
