A historic Menomonee Valley building, once used by Milwaukee Gas Light Co. and currently used as a skate park, is up for sale.
Milwaukee-based commercial real estate firm
The Barry Co. has listed the riverfront building, located at 200 N. 25th St., for sale.
The building was built in 1904 as part of the campus of Milwaukee Gas Light Co.'s former West Side Plant. However, it has since been mostly gutted and now is home to
4Seasons Skate Park.
4Seasons is still the tenant at the building as the building's future use will depend on its next owner, according to commercial broker
David Barry, who is marketing the property for The Barry Co., but there's no shortage of possibilities.
“This is one of the most unique and interesting buildings to come to the market in Milwaukee in recent years," Barry said. "It is full of creative potential."
The building has about 16,500 square feet of floor area, but the 40-foot-high ceilings leave room for multiple floors to be added. There's also 750 feet of frontage on the Menomonee River, which could be used for development of a riverwalk or outdoor space, Barry said.
It's most likely future is some sort of commercial use. One possibility is to outfit it for something similar to a skate park, like volleyball or pickleball courts, Barry said, or convert it into an exhibit hall or event space.
"While we haven't seen a lot of ground-up office done in the last five years, there's been a lot of building restoration and I think this building is a good contender for that as well," Barry said, pointing to recent office moves like Enerpac Tool Group and Fiserv.
The property is currently owned by an affiliate of
Zimmerman Architectural Studios, which renovated a neighboring building for its headquarters, paying homage to the campus's roots and showcasing the original trusswork.
"(This building) has the same incredible potential," said
Steve Raasch, Zimmerman's chief executive officer.
The property is in an Opportunity Zone and there may be potential for New Market Tax Credits and Historic Tax Credits among other incentives offed by the Menomonee Valley Partners, The Barry Co. said in a statement.
Barry noted that the strength in the multifamily housing market makes this building a contender for redevelopment into a residential use, but that course is unlikely due to the city and local business improvement district's preference for non-residential uses in the Menomonee Valley.
Farther east, local developer Kendall Breunig of Sunset Investors is proposing to redevelop a vacant industrial building built in 1895 at 324 N. 15th St., a property The Barry Co. is also listing for sale, into apartments. However,
the proposal has received pushback from the City of Milwaukee, Menomonee Valley Partners (which leads redevelopment efforts in the valley) and neighboring businesses.
