Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co.’s plans for a new office building to replace the 16-story, 451,964-square-foot East Building on its downtown campus appear to be focused downtown, rather than at its Franklin campus.
Several commercial real estate and construction industry sources say the company is formulating plans for a new building downtown to replace the building that will be torn down.
In addition, some Northwestern Mutual employees who were giving tours of the company’s headquarters during last weekend’s Doors Open Milwaukee event told members of the general public that the company plans to replace the East Building with a new building in the same footprint.
A year ago the company announced plans to tear down the East Building and said it had not determined “the size, scope or location of what will replace the building.” The company said it would “evaluate options for meeting those space needs either at our downtown campus, Franklin campus or a combination of both.”
One year later, a company spokesman says a decision still has not been made.
“This is an ongoing process and we need time to evaluate all of the options,” said Betsy Hoylman, director of media relations for Northwestern Mutual. “We’ll have something to announce by the end of the year.”
Hoylman said the company’s tour guides were just “giving their opinion” during Doors Open Milwaukee about what will replace the East Building.
“The people giving the tours don’t sit on our corporate committees that are making these decisions,” she said.
Some commercial real estate and construction industry sources say they have heard about plans for a new building at Northwestern Mutual’s downtown campus but have not heard about any plans for a new building at the company’s Franklin campus.
One source said he heard from Franklin officials that the company had been in talks with Franklin officials about a possible expansion of the campus there, but those talks have been dormant for a few months.
“There’s nothing to report,” said Franklin City Attorney Jesse Wesolowski, who declined to elaborate.
Three commercial real estate and construction industry sources say they have heard that Northwestern Mutual may be working with the Chicago office of Hines, a Houston-based real estate development firm, one of the world’s largest private real estate developers (www.hines.com).
Some sources also say that Northwestern Mutual is expected to hire a national architectural firm to design the building. Sources say the company plans to make a major statement with the building, which will include the latest in workplace technology and design.
