Chicago-based HSA Commercial Real Estate has purchased 68 acres of land immediately west of Prairie Highlands Corporate Park from the village of Pleasant Prairie, the village announced Thursday afternoon.
The developer plans to build three speculative warehouse buildings totaling 1 million square feet on the site. The overall development will be known as Bristol Highlands Corporate Park, according to a news release. Construction of the first building could begin later this year.
In a separate release sent out Friday, HSA noted there has already been interest in the site even before the first shovel has been put into the ground.
“With the unprecedented amount of business and development activity in southeast Wisconsin along the I-94 corridor — driven by Uline, Amazon and others — as well as the relative scarcity of available warehouse space in the market, we believe that the timing for Bristol Highlands Commerce Center is truly ideal,” Tim Thompson, HSA executive vice president and managing director of industrial brokerage, said in a statement.
Pleasant Prairie sold the land to HSA for $8.9 million. It was part of the 458 acres that the village acquired in 2017 from Abbott Labs. The company at one time planned to build a research and office campus on the site, but never moved forward with those plans. The village then bought the land in order to create the corporate park.
The land is located near the southeast corner of Wilmot Road and 136th Avenue. It is actually in the village of Bristol, outside the jurisdiction of Pleasant Prairie. However, both communities entered into agreements for Pleasant Prairie to provide water and sanitary sewer services to the site.
Per the agreement, either Bristol or the developer will cover upfront costs for extending water and sewer infrastructure to the site. Pleasant Prairie will be responsible for maintaining, operating and providing retail services for the extended utility mains.
HSA has been active in southeastern Wisconsin in recent years, with projects in Mount Pleasant, Oak Creek, Brookfield and Wauwatosa. On Thursday, HSA announced Atlanta-based Dematic would relocate its Milwaukee-area office from New Berlin to its Mayfair Collection mixed-use development in Wauwatosa.
