Milwaukee law firm Godfrey & Kahn S.C. announced that it has signed a lease to be the anchor tenant of a new office tower proposed to be built on the site of a parking lot located southeast of East Mason Street and North Jefferson Street in downtown Milwaukee. The site is located just east, across Jefferson Street, of the Pfister Hotel.
The building, to be called Washington Square, will be developed by a joint venture of Wauwatosa-based Irgens Development Partners LLC and Milwaukee-based Van Buren Management Inc. It will be a mixed-use development with office, retail and parking components.
“While we have been working on this project for awhile, we have been reluctant to make any announcements given all of the speculation in the marketplace,” said Jackie Walsh, executive vice president of Irgens. “However, this is a significant step forward in this multi-step process and we are extremely pleased to have a firm with the reputation of Godfrey & Kahn on board.”
Irgens said it plans to begin construction of Washington Square "sometime this year." It will take two years to build.
The Washington Square building will be at least 22 stories tall, but its exact size has not been determined yet. If additional tenants commit to the project the building would end up larger and taller than 22 stories.
Two other anchor tenants, Baker Tilly Virchow Krause LLP and Von Briesen & Roper S.C., are considering plans to relocate to a new office building in downtown Milwaukee. Now that the Washington Square project has a commitment from an anchor tenant, Baker Tilly and Von Briesen & Roper may consider that project the most viable of any proposed downtown and could also commit to it.
Representatives for Baker Tilly and Von Briesen & Roper could not be reached for comment.
“Godfrey & Kahn is a business-savy law firm that recognizes the efficiencies and value that this project will bring to the firm,” Walsh said. “We have been quietly negotiating with several other high-profile companies and are hopeful that they too will come to the same conclusion.”
Godfrey & Kahn’s headquarters will be re-located from its current location in the Marshall & Ilsley Corp. corporate headquarters building at 780 N. Water St. in downtown Milwaukee.
“We have been working with the Irgens team for several years to find a new home for the firm and we really like this particular location,” said Nic Wahl, Godfrey & Kahn’s incoming managing partner and the firm’s leader on the new building project. “This is an exceptional project and we’re very excited to be a part of it.”
The architect for the project is Matt Rinka, principal of Milwaukee-based Rinka Chung Architecture Inc. He is also the architect for The Moderne, a 30-story apartment and condominium building that is being built southwest of Old World Third Street and West Juneau Avenue downtown.
