The Moorland Road corridor, south of Interstate 43, is attracting more interest from developers, especially those trying to find suitable sites in southeastern Wisconsin for new industrial development.
“The (business) parks that are there are considered some of the best in the southeastern Wisconsin market,” said James T. Barry III, president and CEO of Milwaukee-based Colliers Barry. “The accessibility is very good. The amenities are very good.”
WT New Berlin LLC is building a 360,000-square-foot office and industrial building for Buyseasons Inc. at 5915 S. Moorland Road in New Berlin. Buyseasons originally wanted to build the facility in Milwaukee’s Menomonee River Valley, but opposition by some politicians caused the company to build a new facility in New Berlin instead.
Last year, Tamarac, Fla.-based Arch Aluminum & Glass Co. moved its Waukesha facility to a new 107,000-square-foot industrial building that was built at 5700 S. Moorland Road, New Berlin.
More industrial development is on the way to Moorland Road. Through its entity Ace Industrial Properties, Cudahy-based Steinergroup Inc. recently purchased 55 acres at the southwest corner of Moorland Road and College Avenue in Muskego for $6 million. Steinergroup plans to develop a mixed use technology park on the site called The Muskego Commerce Center. The center will be anchored by a 486,000-square-foot distribution center for GE Healthcare.
“The site can accommodate over 1 million square feet of construction, so many more buildings will follow,” said Jason Steiner, president of Steinergroup. “We see the area as space-constrained for this type of use and ripe for development.”
The GE Healthcare distribution center will be located on a vacant 35-acre site at the southwest corner of College Avenue and Moorland Road. About 125 people will work at the GE building.
To facilitate development in the area, the city of Muskego plans to create a tax incremental financing (TIF) district to provide $8.9 million to extend sewer and water utilities to the area, expand Moorland Road to four lanes between College Avenue and Janesville Road, add lighting and landscaping to Moorland Road and create a gateway feature at the city’s border on Moorland Road. The utilities improvements will include a 1 million gallon water tower. Of the $8.9 million in TIF, about $5.4 million will be directly related to the GE Healthcare building. The area has remained undeveloped because of the lack of sewer and water services said Jeff Muenkel, planning director for Muskego.
In addition to the GE Healthcare project, city officials expect the new infrastructure to attract development to some outlots near the building, and to about 50 vacant acres on the east side of Moorland Road. The east side of the road could be suitable for retail development and office, technology or light industrial development could be built near GE on the west side of the road.
Efforts are already underway to attract more retail development to the east side of Moorland Road in Muskego. Last year Boulder Venture LLC, a Milwaukee-based developer, purchased 28.86 acres at the northeast corner of Janesville Road and Moorland Road in Muskego from Jewel Food Stores Inc. for $4.25 million. Jewel originally planned to build a grocery store on the site, which is located next to a Kohl’s department store. But those plans fell through. CB Richard Ellis is marketing the site for Boulder Venture, which is seeking tenants for a future retail development on the site.
Walgreens recently opened a store on Janesville Road in Muskego, just west of Moorland Road.
Further north, two major developments are in the works for Moorland Road on the Brookfield-New Berlin border, just south of I-94.
Brookfield developer Don Kitten is working on plans to build a 405-room hotel called the Deer Creek Inn & Conference Center, a $55 million hotel and water park at the southwest corner of Moorland Road and Greenfield Avenue in New Berlin.
At the northeaster corner of the intersection, New Berlin-based WMH Leasing LLC plans to build a four-story, 127,000-square-foot medical office building called Fountain Brook Crossing.
Key Waukesha county projects
• Cudahy-based Steinergroup Inc. plans to build a 486,000-square-foot distribution center for GE Healthcare in Muskego. Construction will start this year.
• Also, WT New Berlin I LLC is building a 360,000-square-foot office and industrial building for Buyseasons Inc. at 5915 S. Moorland Road in New Berlin. The project will be completed this year.
• The massive Pabst Farms commercial and residential development at Interstate 94 and Highway 67 in Oconomowoc continues to develop. Beechwood, Ohio-based Developers Diversified Realty Corp. Construction is expected to begin this year for the project’s regional mall. Meanwhile, construction continues on Aurora Health Care’s Pabst Farms hospital, which is being built southeast of I-94 and Highway 67.
• Interstate Partners LLC is in negotiations with American Transmission Co. (ATC) to build a new, 110,000-square-foot corporate headquarters for ATC in Ridgeview Corporate Park in Pewaukee.
• Brookfield developer Don Kitten plans to build a 405-room hotel called the Deer Creek Inn & Conference Center, a $55 million hotel and water park at the southwest corner of Moorland Road and Greenfield Avenue in New Berlin. The project is facing a lawsuit from the owner of a nearby apartment complex.
• New Berlin-based WMH Leasing LLC plans to build a four-story, 127,000-square-foot medical office building at the northeast corner of Moorland Road and Greenfield Avenue called Fountain Brook Crossing.
• Opus North Corp. plans to build a 500,000-square-foot shopping center called the Shoppes at Fox River, on the former 55-acre Fleming Cos. Property northwest of Sunset Drive and Chapman Drive. The development will be anchored by Target and Lowe’s stores.
• Chattanooga, Tenn.-based CBL and Associates Properties continues to renovate Brookfield Square mall and attract new tenants inside the mall, and to the parking lot around the mall.
• Milwaukee advertising executive Drew Vallozzi and restaurateur Andy Ruggeri plan to convert a former rooming house at 314 W. Main St. in downtown Waukesha to a boutique hotel, high-end restaurant and conference center.
