Inland Companies selects Cathedral Square site

Inland Companies Inc. will move its corporate headquarters from Milwaukee’s far northwest side to an office building on Cathedral Square and eventually plans to build its own downtown building.
Inland will move June 4 from the Park Place office complex to 839 N. Jefferson St., just west of Cathedral Square between Kilbourn Avenue and Wells Street.
The company will lease 11,320 square feet in the building. About 50 Inland employees will work in the downtown office, said Inland president Scott Welsh.
Joseph Checota owns the building. Welsh and Andrew Jensen and Patti Fitch of Boerke Co. brokered the leasing transaction.
"From our perspective, the synergies of all of the other professions that go along with the real estate profession are located downtown," Welsh said. "I just think downtown is a dynamic, improving market, and it fits us well. I don’t think (downtown) has hit anywhere near the full momentum that it’s going to."
Inland plans to relocate to its own office building in three or four years.
Preliminary plans call for a 50,000- to 60,000-square-foot building that would be about three to five stories tall. Inland is working with city officials on potential sites. One possible location is the Park East Freeway corridor, Welsh said.
"We’re in the real estate business," Welsh said. "If we build our own building, we can showcase everything we do."
Downtown has gained several additional office tenants in the past year. Roundy’s Inc. moved its headquarters and about 500 employees from Pewaukee to the 875 E. Wisconsin Ave. building. In addition, Bank One moved 750 employees from Menomonee Falls to its downtown Milwaukee building.
However, downtown lost a bidding war to Wauwatosa for the GE Healthcare offices for up to 2,000 employees in its IT, ultrasound and e-business divisions.
April 30, 2004 Small Business Times, Milwaukee