The Gas Light Building in downtown Milwaukee is in foreclosure and scheduled to go to auction next month.
The Art Deco-style office building at 626 E. Wisconsin Ave. is about 63% vacant, according to court documents.
In January, a Milwaukee County Circuit Court judge issued a $14 million default foreclosure judgement against the building’s owner, an affiliate of Chicago-based M&J Wilkow.
M&J Wilkow, a national investor of real estate, purchased the building in 2015 for $20.5 million, well above its then-assessed value of $10 million. Today, the building is assessed at $16.8 million, according to Milwaukee County records.
Court records list Rialto Capital, a Miami investment management firm, as the foreclosure suit’s plaintiff and loan servicer for Wilmington Trust National Associate, which is the trustee for Comm 2015-PC1 Mortgage Trust, the loan’s actual holder.
Comm 2015-PC1 Mortgage Trust is a commercial mortgage-backed security (CMBS), which are fixed-income investment products that are backed by mortgages on commercial properties rather than residential real estate.
The Gas Light Building foreclosure suit was initially filed in August and first reported Friday by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
The building is set to go to auction on April 21. Its receiver is Colliers | Wisconsin, court records say
At 20 stories with about 132,000 square feet of space, the building’s largest remaining tenant is the U.S. Forest Service, a federal agency that occupies about 24,035 square feet, court documents show. Other office tenants include real estate firm The Dickman Co., bankruptcy attorney Credit Solutions and the Milwaukee Art Museum.
Built in 1930, the building was originally the headquarters of Wisconsin Gas Co. With copper spandrels, foliage patterns etched onto its facade and a natural gas flame at the top, the Gas Light Building is considered Milwaukee’s Art Deco gem by many.
The building is the second high-profile office building to fall into foreclosure in downtown Milwaukee. In 2021, 100 East was foreclosed on and sold to a local development team that plans to convert the building into apartments.
