A lobby renovation project is being planned for the 30-story 411 East Wisconsin Center building, located at 411 E. Wisconsin Ave., in downtown Milwaukee.
The building is owned by a group of investors under the name of NNN 411 East Wisconsin LLC. Irvine, Calif.-based Thompson National Properties LLC recently became the new asset manager for the building.
The lobby renovations, which were designed by Kahler Slater, will include the addition of seating areas, new lighting, a new skin on columns and other concrete surfaces, and television screens behind the front desk.
The purpose of the renovations is to make the lobby look brighter, more modern and more vibrant, said Dan Wroblewski, vice president of Inland Companies, which is marketing the building.
“We want to keep 411 on top of the radar screen,” he said. “We want to get more energy in the lobby, give it a big city feel.”
“The goal is to maintain this as a true class A office building, to re-brand and re-position the building in the market,” said Joe Lak of Inland Companies.
The project is expected to begin early next year.
The building has a vacancy rate of about 22 percent, Wroblewski and Lak said. That gives it a higher vacancy rate than most downtown class A buildings. The downtown east submarket has a 9.0 percent vacancy rate, according to the third quarter market report by the Commercial Association of Realtors Wisconsin (CARW) and Xceligent.
However, the building received a major vote of confidence from Von Briesen & Roper S.C., which considered relocating from the building, but instead decided earlier this year to stay there and expand its space from 50,000 to 70,000 square feet of space.
“That was a major commitment and sent a strong message to the marketplace,” Wroblewski said.
