The Chicago-based investor and developer that plans to redevelop the downtown Milwaukee Post Office building has purchased a commercial building in the Historic Third Ward.
According to state records, an affiliate of R2 Companies purchased the 88,900-square-foot building at 214-228 E. Erie St. for $9.65 million. The building, constructed in 1891, is assessed at $7.27 million, according to city records.
R2 purchased the building from an affiliate of Chicago-based real estate development and investment firm
Golub & Co.
This makes at least the third property that R2 owns in Milwaukee.
It also purchased The Tannery, a multi-building office complex in Walker's Point, for $24.5 million in 2018.
The company also owns the post office facility at 341 W. St. Paul Ave., and in 2016 unveiled
plans to dramatically redevelop the site. R2 sought to evict USPS from the building over maintenance issues but that lawsuit was
recently dismissed.
The postal service, meanwhile, is working to construct a 423,000-square-foot mail processing annex in Oak Creek, which could
eventually expand to 935,000 square feet. The new building is meant to replace an existing operation out of a facility USPS is leasing in Oak Creek, but if expanded it would consolidate all Milwaukee-area operations — including those currently located in the downtown facility.
