Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. is working on renovation plans for the 153,720-square-foot office building at 733 N. Van Buren St. in downtown Milwaukee. Northwestern Mutual has a contract to purchase the building from Van Buren Building Company, which is owned by developer Joel Lee. The deal is expected to close later this year.
Northwestern Mutual wants to purchase the seven-story, 86-year-old building to provide space for employees while it demolishes and replaces a 16-story, 451,964-square-foot building on its downtown campus. The company plans to build a new building to replace the structure that it will tear down, but has not decided if the new building will be built downtown or at its Franklin campus.
Renovations for the 733 N. Van Buren St. building are still in the planning process, said Northwestern Mutual spokesman Mark Lucius.
“It’s too early to give specifics,” he said. “I can tell you we will essentially gut the interior of the building to bring the design and finish of the space up to a standard consistent with our other downtown workspaces.”
The building will be occupied exclusively by Northwestern Mutual. The public restaurant space in the building will be eliminated. Northwestern Mutual plans to move its downtown employee and retiree medical clinic into the building.
Northwestern Mutual has filed an application with the city of Milwaukee to connect the 733 N. Van Buren St. building to the atrium behind its Wisconsin Avenue building with a skywalk. No other exterior changes are planned for the Van Buren building, Lucius said.
