Milwaukee-based Sellars Absorbent Materials Inc. will lease the former Lowe’s store building in the Midtown Center on Milwaukee’s northwest side, Phoenix Investors, the building’s owner, announced Monday.
The 134,000-square-foot building at 5800 W. Hope Ave. has been vacant since the Lowe’s store closed in 2009. Phoenix bought the property in 2016 for $1.5 million. In April, Phoenix sought approval to allow an indoor wholesale and distribution facility as a permitted use in the building. At the time, Frank Crivello, chairman and founder of Milwaukee-based Phoenix Development, would not say who the potential tenant was but said it would support growing operations.
“While we had a number of options to fill the former Lowe’s, we held out for a high quality tenant suitable for the growth and sustainability of the neighborhood,” Crivello said in a statement Monday. “As a long-term stakeholder, we were delighted to attract a local Milwaukee manufacturing success story to Midtown. Sellars will bring jobs and economic activity to Midtown while contributing to the elimination of blight in the surrounding area.”
Sellars manufacturers shop towels, disposable wipers and sorbents made with recycled fibers. Its products are found in big box retailers along with janitorial, sanitary maintenance, industrial safety and specialty distributors in North America and Europe.
“We are very pleased that we were able to continue to expand within the City of Milwaukee. We are hopeful that we can have the same positive impact on the neighboring community as we have had around the formerly vacant Sam’s Club building on 76th Street,” said Tom Sellars, chairman and chief executive officer of Sellars Absorbent Materials.
Phoenix will be making structural and cosmetic upgrades to the building to support Sellars’ distribution operations along with comprehensive upgrades to the property’s landscaping.
