Can a 35-year-old downtown Milwaukee office building obtain historic status?
The owners of the 100 East office tower, their historic preservation consultant and — now — the Milwaukee Historic Preservation Commission think so.
A development team comprised of Milwaukee-based Klein Development and restauranteur John Vassallo has plans to turn the emptying office building into apartments and are hoping to secure historic tax credits to help finance the project.
In order to receive the credits, which are crucial to the project’s financing package, according to Ald. Robert Bauman, who represents the downtown area, the building needs to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Typically, buildings younger than 50 years are not placed on the register, but the developers argue the building is locally significant enough to be considered.
Ultimately, the decision to grant the building national historic status is up to the National Parks Service and the decision to award tax credits is up to the Internal Revenue Service, but on Monday the Milwaukee Historic Preservation Commission voted 3-1 to support the developer’s campaign.
“(The building is) likely the most important postmodern architectural specimen in the City of Milwaukee,” Historic Preservation Commission senior planner Andrew Stern said.
Exterior elements of the building rendering it postmodern are its exaggerated scale, limestone arches, pyramidal roof with cupola, finials, and roof cresting, as well as the maintained lobby, according to the building’s nomination, prepared by Kansas City, Missouri-based Rosin Preservation LLC.
“The postmodernism movement was a response to the modern movement, which was very stripped down, lacked ornamentation,” Stern explained to the commission. “Postmodern buildings are a more playful response to that.”
While other buildings in Milwaukee could be characterized as postmodern as well, such as the Associated Bank River Center and 330 Kilbourn office towers, it could be argued that 100 East is the city’s most iconic, Stern said.
The building fell into foreclosure in 2021 after losing several tenants, including its anchor tenant, to newer office buildings downtown. The property was sold to the development team for $29 million last year, far less than when the building was sold in 2016 for $78 million.
The development team has said they plan to convert the building into nearly 400 apartments, though detailed plans have not been released.
Bauman said at the meeting Monday that the developers could be seeking tax incremental financing to help support the project. While specifics of the TIF have not been released either, it could mean a portion of the apartments are designated as affordable or workforce housing, according to Bauman.
