Malvern, Pa.-based Liberty Property Trust, a real estate investment trust, today announced plans to build a 172,000-square-foot speculative industrial building in Oak Creek.
The project is the latest in a growing number of industrial real estate developments planned in the I-94 corridor between Milwaukee and Chicago.
“While speculative development activity has returned in many of the country’s primary industrial markets including Chicago, where Liberty now operates its southeast Wisconsin assets, secondary markets like Milwaukee have been slow to respond despite very strong fundamentals,” said Neal Driscoll, vice president of leasing and development in the region for Liberty Property Trust. “But with a significant shortage of well located, flexible, Class A industrial space in the market, the time is right for Liberty to speculate on industrial development.”
The building will be located in the Liberty Corporate Preserve business park, located northeast of South 27th Street and West Oakwood Road in Oak Creek.
The project is the largest speculative industrial development in Milwaukee in more than five years, according to Liberty Property Trust.
“We are very excited to be first out of the gate on a large, Class A industrial speculative building in Milwaukee (County). Wisconsin’s commitment to its transportation infrastructure, particularly its rapid reconstruction and improvements to Interstate 94, prove its ‘Open for Business’ statement,” said Driscoll. “Oak Creek is an excellent location for regional distribution to the Milwaukee metropolitan market, as well as its proximity to the continuously growing Chicago footprint.”
The building is expected to be complete by this fall.
The project is also the latest of several developments planned in Oak Creek including the mixed-use Drexel Town Square and the OakView Business Park.
“This investment is yet another indication of the momentum and strength of the Oak Creek market,” said Oak Creek Mayor Steve Scaffidi.
