R. Christian Bartley, the chief executive officer of World Trade Center Wisconsin, hopes to find a real estate developer to construct a building in downtown Milwaukee that would be called the World Trade Center and would lease office space to World Trade Center Wisconsin.
“This is one way for us and the community to show that we’re a global city,” Bartley said. “A World Trade Center is a building that people understand.”
World Trade Center Wisconsin recently moved its office from 1228 N. Astor St., Milwaukee, to a small office space in the Milwaukee County War Memorial Center building at 750 N. Lincoln Memorial Drive.
There are more than 110 World Trade Center properties across the globe, Bartley said, and each brings benefits to its members.
“They (World Trade Centers) tend to be landmarks,” he said. “Their office rates tend to be higher, and they tend to draw premiums.”
Lease rates in New York’s World Trade Center, prior to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, were about 18 percent higher than other downtown Manhattan buildings. Lease rates for the World Trade Center building in Taipei are about 18 percent higher than other buildings there. Lease rates for the World Trade Center building in Boston are about 50 percent higher than other downtown Boston office buildings, Bartley said.
Occupancy rates also tend to be higher in World Trade Center buildings, Bartley said. Sao Paulo, Brazil, has an office space occupancy rate of about 86 percent, but the World Trade Center building there has a 92.5 percent occupancy rate.
Hotels located within World Trade Center buildings have lower vacancy rates, Bartley said.
More importantly, establishing a building in Milwaukee with the World Trade Center name on it would give the city international prestige, he said.
“It’s a landmark that shows that our community and our companies are part of the global marketplace,” Bartley said. “It’s also a prestigious address for companies. There’s a bit of a cachet with that.”
If the Wisconsin office of the World Trade Centers manages to develop or partner in the development of a building that would be recognized as a local World Trade Center, there would be immediate benefits to the office and Milwaukee, said Sen. Dietmar Goetz, president of the World Trade Center in Cologne, Germany.
Goetz owns seven World Trade Center offices in Germany. All of his German offices are located within their own buildings. The World Trade Center building in Cologne, a 50,000-square-meter office and hotel facility, has helped the World Trade Center office there boost the image for the city and the World Trade Center, he said.
“If a World Trade Center opens up, the numbers are fantastic for the building and companies in it,” Goetz said. “They are immediately known worldwide. Everybody can do this, if they do it in the right location.”
