An investment group led by developer Joshua Jeffers has completed its purchase of the historic Mackie Building at 225 E. Michigan St., and an adjacent parking lot, in downtown Milwaukee.
The five-story, 55,000-square-foot building, built in 1879, was sold for $880,000 and the parking lot was sold for $1.32 million, so the total cost for the building and parking lot was $2.2 million.
The building and parking lot were sold by an affiliate of Rosemont, Ill.-based First Hospitality Group, which bought the Mackie Building in 2011. First Hospitality Group also bought the Loyalty Building across the street at 611 N. Broadway, and converted it into a Hilton Garden Inn hotel.
The Mackie Building is perhaps best known as the home of the Grain Exchange Room, a 10,000-square-foot, three-story event space operated by The Bartolotta Restaurant Group.
Jeffers’ group, 225 East Michigan Street LLC, plans to spend $915,000 on the first phase of planned renovations to the building.
The building has about 22,000 square feet of vacant office space, but the street level retail space is fully leased and the Grain Exchange Room provides an anchor for the building.
The Mackie Building is connected to the historic Mitchell Building at 207 E. Michigan St., which is also owned by Jeffers’ group. The Mitchell Building is 100 percent leased.
