Milwaukee-based
Phoenix Investors is seeking to rezone a 16-acre property on North Lydell Avenue near West Hampton Avenue in Glendale in hopes of attracting a corporate headquarters to the property.
Phoenix Investors purchased the property for $3.75 million in late 2020. The site includes a 233,000-square-foot building with office and warehouse space, and 874 surface parking spaces. It was originally built in 1956 for industrial purposes, and was later converted to flex and office space. At the time of the purchase, Phoenix Investors said it planned to covert the building back to industrial purposes.
But Phoenix Investors has struggled to attract users to the
Lydell Corporate Center, located at 5055 N. Lydell Ave. under current zoning, city documents say.
"Most of it's underutilized," said John Fellows, director of community development. "They are looking (to rezone) with the intent that it could be used as a corporate headquarters, as well as a showroom and some other types of facilities on a portion of the property."
The company wants to rezone property from "local business district," to "planned development," which allows a mix of commercial, light industrial, mixed residential, parks and open space, according to city documents.
The Glendale Common Council moved the zoning request along to the Architectural Review Board on Tuesday.
"The applicant is in discussions with various users for the site and is asking the city to begin the process to amend the zoning map to assure the potential users that their use would be permitted and this would also expedite the zoning map amendment and development plan process if an end user is interested in the site," city documents say.
Phoenix Investors did not respond to request for comment.