Friends of Hoop project could be catalyst for Pabst redevelopment
Karl and Erin Broome-Shelton, executive director of George Karl’s Friends of Hoop nonprofit corporation, have become the catalysts behind the recently proposed $300 million redevelopment of the Pabst Brewery Co. site, which has been sitting mostly idle since in 1996.
If the overall Pabst project goes according to plan, it could change Milwaukee economically, geographically and socially.
The scale of the redevelopment plans might not be as grand if Karl and Broome-Shelton had not been searching for a site to build a George Karl’s Friends of Hoop Center in Milwaukee.
The location of the Pabst site will be key to its success, Broome-Shelton told Small Business Times. It is adjacent to Interstate 43, to the Milwaukee Area Technical College and to county bus lines. It is also adjacent to the Park East Freeway, much of which is being razed to make way for other development that could change the face and bolster the vitality of downtown.
Additionally, the Pabst site is close to the inner city population that Broom-Shelton and Karl want to serve.
"It’s beautiful. It’s non-territorial. It’s such a good location. You look out the window, and you have the ‘hood’ and the business community," Broome-Shelton said. "Either way you look at it, we’re either at the start of the city or the end of the city. It’s going to be a destination."
The mere scale of the project is eye-popping. It spans about seven blocks and 21 acres on the edge of downtown.
The redevelopment plan, which is a work in progress, is ambitious. It tentatively calls for 250,000 to 450,000 square feet in retail space, including upscale stores, a grocery store, restaurants, a brewpub and nightclubs; 400 to 700 units of housing; several office buildings; a large new hotel; a huge cinema complex; and 3,000 to 4,000 more parking spaces.
In other words, a site that was so vital to Milwaukee’s old economy could be a pivotal part of Milwaukee’s new economy.
The players in the project are falling into place. The Ferchill Group of Cleveland, and Wispark LLC, the real estate development arm of Wisconsin Energy Corp., closed on an option Sept. 10 to purchase the former brewery for $12 million from Mill Valley, Calif.-based S&P Co., the parent corporation of Pabst Brewing Co.
Ferchill and Wispark are forming a partnership to own and develop the overall project. Brew City Redevelopment Group, a Milwaukee company that had marketed the property, will have a 5% share of the equity in the project, according to sources close to the deal.
Jim Haertel, who formed Brew City Redevelopment with some angel investors, had been marketing the property for S&P for about three years.
"Not a lot of people thought we could get the accepted offer, and we did. Not a lot of people thought we could close on it, and we did," said Haertel, who declined to comment about the specifics of the real estate transaction or site development plan.
Wispark has deposited $500,000 in earnest money toward the purchase of the property, and Ferchill is devising a master plan for the project and will recruit tenants, sources said.
The vacant Pabst Brewery has been a major "soft spot" in the downtown, according to Jon Wellhoefer, president of the Milwaukee Redevelopment Corp., which had asked Wispark to consider playing a role in redeveloping the site.
"The future development of the Pabst site will very much change that. I very much compliment Wisconsin Energy," Wellhoefer said.
Initial site preparation has begun to determine the degree of asbestos and lead paint that would need to be remediated, and to iron out the details of the redevelopment, including the selection of a name for the complex.
The developers of the Pabst site are exploring their options for receiving various tax credits and conservation easements for historical preservation.
John Ferchill, founder of The Ferchill Group, secured $10 million to $12 million in historic tax credits for his redevelopment of the former H.J. Heinz Co. complex in downtown Pittsburgh, Pa. Ferchill is transforming that former industrial site into a $71.5 million apartment complex.
Ferchill and Wispark are hiring Eppstein Uhen Architects and Berghammer Construction, both of Milwaukee, to design and build the bulk of the Pabst complex, sources said.
The Ferchill Group hired National Survey & Engineering (NSE), a division of R.A. Smith & Associates, Brookfield, to survey the site prior to closing on the sale of the property.
"There is a labyrinth of turn-of-the-century utilities underneath the streets there. The utility tunnels are quite extensive," noted Dan Chaput, survey division manager at NSE.
Chaput said the survey did not uncover anything that could prevent the site from being redeveloped.
City will help
The City of Milwaukee will work with the developers to help them comply with local historical district restrictions and to obtain various state and federal historical redevelopment tax credits, said Dan McCarthy, urban development manager at the Department of City Development.
McCarthy said the city at some point may become involved by helping monetarily with the infrastructure leading to the site.
Wispark officials stress that the project plans are preliminary and subject to change. They declined to comment further on the project.
John Ferchill also declined to comment on the project.
Several people involved with the Pabst project said they had been instructed by Wispark officials to refrain from discussing the redevelopment.
Major players
However, according to sources, Ferchill and Wispark are recruiting tenants, including Waukesha-based G.E. Medical, which is considering developing an office complex at the Pabst site.
The developers also are targeting major chains, such as the House of Blues and the Hard Rock Café, to help the Pabst site become Milwaukee’s premier nightclub destination, sources said.
Randy Sprecher, founder of Sprecher Brewing Co., said he may eventually be in the market for another site to brew his beer, because the growth of demand for his soda products may exceed his Glendale plant’s capacity. Sprecher said the notion of locating a brewery or a brew pub in the Pabst plant would appeal to him, as he is a former employee of Pabst Brewing Co.
"It’s something to give serious consideration, for sure," Sprecher said.
Other potential tenants of the Pabst complex, according to sources, may include a national hotel chain and a large urban cinema developer, such as Johnson Development Corp., the Beverly Hills, Calif.-based company founded by former basketball star Earvin "Magic" Johnson.
A spokeswoman for Johnson Development said the Pabst project "is not yet on our radar screen, but it’s something we’d take a look at."
Several real estate, community and city sources say the project has the players – Wispark and The Ferchill Group – to make it become a reality, rather than a development dream that doesn’t come true.
"It’s prime real estate, and it’s got the right people involved in it," said Dan Davis, vice president of C.G. Schmidt Inc. Construction, Milwaukee.
"It’s a good team that knows how to get this done, and they have a good partner in the City of Milwaukee," McCarthy said. "These are serious real estate development entities. They are in the business of making projects like this happen."
Sept. 27, 2002 Small Business Times, Milwaukee
