MILWAUKEE | Development News

[MSPtoMKE]

^Have you not seen the What About Milwaukee Thread at SSC that CG5 started oh so many years ago? The current incarnation is on page 56, depending on your forum display settings, with 1394 replies.

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showth...&page=56&pp=25

[CGII]

yeah, i remember that one, I jsut don't remember it getting that long....
anyway,I jsut took a 300+ photo tour of the South Shore, the East Side, Downtown, Pigsville, and the valley. i can't wait to get his one up. I jsut went over and took loads of pix of Kilbourn towr from that little park just northeast of it. Amazing how fast it's going up

[CGII]

Originally Posted by Markitect

The "squiggly" walls of Seton Tower make for really small patient rooms; and the rest of the building is obsolete. It will be demolished.

That's too bad. I was born behind those squiggly walls.

[Markitect]

Lots of development news today from the Business Journal...

Earlier this summer, the City's Common Council finally approved a redevelopment plan for the Park East corridor, as well as shooting down a proposal for a community benefits agreement that would attach affordable housing and wage/hiring requirements to any projects built on City-owned land within the area. Critics argued that such mandates could discourage developers from building there due to increased costs, and they won. No community benefits mandates for City-owned land in the Park East area.

In recent weeks the same debate has resurfaced at the County-level--and the County Board supports such mandates for County-onwed land in the Park East area. Once again, critics are arguing against community benefit agreements, but they are falling on deaf ears among the County Board, and the lack of a definative decision is one of the things preventing the land from being opened for redevelopment. The longer the debate, the longer developers have to wait, the longer the land sits empty, and development opportunities slip away.

In a brilliant move, the City is investigating the possibility of purchasing the County-owned land in the corridor through the Redevelopment Authority (a City government agency) and the Milwaukee Development Corporation (a non-profit organization); that way, the land would be under the control of the City, which has already denied such mandates.

The downside--it could cost the City $20-plus million for the land, or the County may simply not be interested in selling

Here's the article: Park East: City seeks county land to 'jump-start' development

***

Here is an editorial from the Business Journal about the County Board's proposal for community benefits mandates: County board hampers Park East projects

***

Once again, there is a proposal for a sports stadium to be built in the Park East corridor. This time around, a sports development company called CollegeTown is proposing a football stadium for UWM, which would also include retail and commercial spaces. This seems to be in the extremely preliminary, let's-kick-around-some-ideas phase (so there don;t seem to be any renderings or anything like that) and has some extrememly major hurdles to overcome--namely the fact that UWM doesn't have a football prorgam; and the University is unlikely to even consider creating one unless someone ponies up $15 million or so to get the ball rolling...er, tossed.

Sharing a new stadium with other schools could be a possibility, too. The Milwaukee School of Engineering (which a couple weeks ago opened its indoor athletic facility, the Kern Center, a few blocks away) hasn't been approached, but could benefit from having a stadium for its soccer, baseball, and track teams closer to the downtown campus. Marquette University is not interested in re-establishing its football program.

Earlier Park East stadium proposals include a 1998 plan for a mixed-use soccer stadium for an MLS expansion team (which never materialized, as it was a few years before the freeway demolition was ever approved); and a plan from the early-1990s for a downtown baseball stadium for the Brewers (owner Bud Selig wasn't interested).

See the article for more: Park East: Greenberg floats stadium site for new UWM football team

***

Developers New Covenant Housing Corp. has submitted proposals for an inner city redevelopment project on the site of the former Finney Library at W. North Avenue and N. Sherman Boulevard. The first phase includes plans for a Digital Outpost Cyber Spot Coffee Shop, and possibly an ice cream parlor and bookstore. A proposed second phase calls for demolishing some adjacent buildings to make room for more retail space, 6 apartments, and 8 townhouses.

Check out the article for details: New Covenant's proposal calls for retail, housing

[CityGawd5]

Well it's no major construction project, but this is interesting:

Time Warner Cable puts retail in picture at Wauwatosa store

Mayfair Mall outlet, opening today, is 1st in country for company

Wauwatosa - The first Time Warner Cable retail store in the U.S. opens Tuesday at Mayfair Mall, offering customer service and product demonstrations in a high-tech setting.

The 4,000-square-foot prototype is being launched as the nation's No. 2 cable operator is seeing market share erode because to intense competition from satellite dish operators. But sales of extra services, such as digital cable and high-speed Internet service, are boosting revenue for the New York media giant's cable division.

The test store at Mayfair, on the north end of the first level next to Marshall Field's, provides a showcase for those add-ons, as well as for Time Warner's newest offering, digital telephone service.

Like Apple's retail store down the corridor, the Time Warner store is striking and sleek in design, but it is larger and a blaze of colors, instead of an all-white motif. The Time Warner store features more than 40 plasma-screen TVs and a nine-screen video display that can run separate programs or a single huge image.

"It allows us to have a warm, hands-on touch with our customers," said Bev Greenberg, vice president of public affairs for Time Warner's Milwaukee office.

The store includes a home theater where visitors can learn how to use cable upgrades such as digital remote control and digital video recording. Consumers also can try out computers equipped with Road Runner high-speed transmission lines and meet with Time Warner representatives to plan wiring for home construction.

In addition, customers will be able to handle routine transactions such as bill payment and the return of converter boxes.

If the store is a success, Time Warner will open similar venues around around the country, but no other leases have been signed yet, said Makesha Benson, director of sales channels for Time Warner in Milwaukee.

According to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Time Warner cable revenue increased for the nine months that ended Sept. 30, to $5.9 billion from $5.4 billion. Increases from sales of high-speed data and advanced digital video services drove the gain.

Basic cable subscribers declined 0.3% in September compared with September 2003, totaling 10.9 million nationally. In Wisconsin, Time Warner Cable serves 450,000 customers.

During the same period, digital video subscribers increased 11%, and residential high-speed subscribers increased 22%.

Time Warner's Milwaukee operation is the company's fourth-largest, following those in New York, Houston and the Carolinas, Greenberg said.

Benson said Time Warner chose Mayfair because the mall draws 5 million visitors. "That competes with any other mall in the country," Benson said.

The company operates customer service offices in Plymouth, Racine, Kenosha, Greenfield, West Allis, Milwaukee and Cedarburg, which will stay open. An office in Wauwatosa, across the street from Mayfair, will close, Greenberg said.

[Markitect]

Milwaukee's lakefront will soon be home to another park. After several years of delays, work is set to begin this coming spring to convert a small man-made island into Lakeshore State Park. The island, which was created years ago off the shore of Maier Festival Park (Summerfest grounds) from displaced soil and rocks from the Deep Tunnel sewer project, will have docks, overnight camping for boaters, fishing areas, hiking trails, and a new breakwater.

Final approval from the Common Council is expected later this month.



^ The future site of Lakeshore State Park along the Downtown lakefront is an excellent place to catch a glimpse of Milwaukee's growing skyline. Note Kilbourn Tower, soon to be topped out.

Check out the Journal Sentinel article for more: Lakeshore park work could start in spring

[Markitect]

One of several endangered buildings at the Zablocki Vetrerans Affairs Medical Center will be preserved with a grant from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. The VA hospital grounds were established in the years after the Civil War, but today some of the buildings are underutilized, dilapidated, and/or in danger of being demolished to support new development. The grant will be used to rehabilitate the Surgeons Quarters, built in 1887, into a small housing and rehabilitation facility for homeless veterans and other medical patients. Officials hope this effort will get the ball rolling to rehabilitate other buildings on the VA grounds.

Read the details in this article from the Journal Sentinel: Old VA building to get new use - Homeless veterans, others to share housing



^ The former Surgeons Quarters at the Zablocki Veterans Affairs Medical Center, and gravestones at Wood National Cemetery.

***

Two art installations have been proposed for Veteran's Park on the lakefront. The problem is, they're proposed for the same location.

The first is a life-like scultpure commemorating the Great Circus Parade (an annual Milwaukee tradition, once again on indefinite hiatus due to funding shortages). The sculpture features bronze likenesses of Ben Barkin, Chappie Fox, and Bob Uihlein (who were instrumental figures in producing the parade), and a replica of the popular Cinderella circus wagon pulled by two ponies. The problem is, this proposal was thought to be dead after supporters let the paperwork and fundraising deadline expired. Now that another sculpture has been proposed for the site, circus statue supporters suddenly want another shot at it.

The second, and most recent, proposal is for an interactive, abstract sculpture called "Wind Leaves." The installation is a forest of sail-like sculptures with shiny silver discs which will move in the wind, glimmer in the sunlight, and are interactive--viewers will be able to turn the sails.

Check out the editorial from the Journal Sentinel for the debate: Circus Parade memorial is out of step



^ A rendering of the Great Circus Parade sculpture proposed for Veteran's Park.



^ A model of the "Wind Leaves" sculpture for Veteran's Park.

***
Part of the Columbia-St. Mary's Hospital campus consolidation and redevelopment on the East Side could include a new grocery store. As part of the upcoming hospital project, Columbia-St. Mary's purchased and demolished the Heiser Ford dealership at N. Prospect and E. North Avenues. Current plans for the site call for an 8-story medical office building and 600-car parking garage; the reaminder of the site would be open for other development.

Milwaukee-based Roundy's is exploring the possibility of building a Pick n' Save Metro Market--an upscale and small-format grocery store, similar to the one recently opened in Downtown. Austin-based Whole Foods, an upscale/natural/organic grocery retailer, is interested in the site as well (and has previously looked at other sites in the Downtown area).

More info in the Business Journal article: Grocery store wars: Roundy's, Whole Foods consider St. Mary's site for stores

[Markitect]

First, a bit of old news, because it relates to some new news...

The law firm of Quarles & Brady is working with several developers on options for a new building to house their offices in Milwaukee. Currently, the law firm leases space in 411 Building on E. Wisconsin Avenue.

Development proposals are expected to include office, retail, condominium, and possibly hotel space. Six possible downtown sites are under consideration:

- A parking structure located to the south of the US Bank Center, owned by US Bank

- Another adjacent site on E. Michigan Street owned by US Bank, currently occupied by the "Downtown Transit Transit Center" (over-glorified bus garage/turn-around)

- A parking garage on N. Water Street owned by the Marcus Center for Performing Arts--which happens to already have the Ovation Plaza mixed-use proposal, in need of an anchor tenant

- A surface parking lot at N. Jackson and E. Mason streets

- Another surface parking lot at N. Jackson and E. Michigan streets

- A possible "second tower" for the 1000 N. Water building, on top of the existing parking garage

In addition, Quarles & Brady has not yet ruled out renewing the lease at the 411 Building, however, the firm is expected to be reviewing proposals form developers very soon.

The article speculates the US Bank sites to be a prime choice for such a mixed-use development.

More info can be found in this article from the Business Journal: Quarles in quest for new downtown office tower - Six sites emerge as Milwaukee law firm reviews its options

***

And now in somewhat, possibly, related news, US Bancorp is exploring the possibility of a second tower at the US Bank Center, which could include space for offices (25,000 sq ft), condominiums (possibly up to 20 floors), and hotel/retail space on the lower floors. The site under consideration is the aforementioned parking garage on E. Michigan Street, which is located to the south of the existing 42-story tower.

There have been numerous proposals for a second tower at the US Bank (formerly Firstar) Center over the years; none ever came to fruition. This latest proposal is still extremely preliminary and speculative--detailed information is either not yet available, or just being witheld for the time being. US Bank is also reportedly awaiting to hear results from the Quarles & Brady development/site search, which includes this US Bank property (though one could speculate it would be natural for the two firms to team up on this).

Read this Business Journal article for more: Twin towers could soar at U.S. Bank - Second skyscraper would include upscale condos

[CityGawd5]

Twin tower? I hope they mean fraternal, but this would be exciting.


I was just at the old Vet's Center today...it's a hidden gem, that's for sure. A bit off the beaten path, but well worth finding.

[MSPtoMKE]

It must be true, Mark Belling was talking about it on the radio....


Just kidding, that is what i heard, i don't listen to that kind of crap. Anyways, i am not going to raise my hopes, but sounds good if it happens. I am pretty sure it would be a fraternal twin, CG5.

[Boatnurd]

Has anyone seen any renderings of this twin tower project?

[theodore]

It's just a proposal at this point. I wouldn't expect to see detailed renderings anytime soon.

Oh, and if you didn't know, most of the Milwaukee talk goes on HERE.

[Markitect]

PabstCity developers recently scaled back plans to redevelop the former brewery complex into a mixed-use enetertainment, retail, office, and residential center. Earlier plans were expected to cost $395 million, and involved a $75 million request for City funding using tax incremental financing. Such a high request threw up red flags with Mayor Barrett and the Common Council who questioned the need for such a high City subsidy (traditionally the City has used a 10 percent guideline for tax incremental financing--which that proposal exceeded), and there were concerns over what the money would be used for.

Developers went back and reworked their proposal, which now calls for a $317, and a request for a $39 million TIF--which still excedes the traditional 10% guideline, but seems to be more favorable to the mayor and Common Council. Cutting costs, however, means developers are now planning to demolish more of the old brewery buildings than originally proposed--which has raised concerns from local preservationists.

Developers say the new additions to the "demolish list" would be costly to renovate (they have found more structural problems and general neglect than originally anticipated), difficult to lease (large volumes of window-less space, which apparently could not have windows punched through them because it would alter the historic character of the buildings--at least according to some federal agencies who were contacted for funding possibilities), and have layouts that would be reltaively unusable to tenants in some cases. Preservationists claim those buildings are now planned for demolition because are looking to cut costs because they have not landed enough tenants.

But developers still plan to retain the most architecturally significant buldings within the brewery complex, which happen to be the oldest and most interesting (the former keg house, brew house, mill house, bottling house, and office/gift shop). Buildings originally slated for demolition were the more modern facilities, which have next to no redeeming or interesting characteristics at all (the distribution center, canning facility, and grain elevator/silos (probably the most interesting of this group, and it is unfortunate they were not considered to be saved and rehabbed into something)). The buildings added to the demolish list include some storage and fermenting facilities and the former malt house.

Developers will make a presentation to the Historic Preservation Comission later this month, which will them make a recommendation to the Common Council on whether the buildings should be demolished.

Check out this Journal Sentinel article for more details: Shaking up PabstCity plans - Developers now intend to demolish more of the old Pabst buildings than originally planned


^ Revised plans for PabstCity include demolishing the smokestack and lighter-colored building in the background, the building on the left, and the overhead walkway above W. Juneau Avenue. Developers intend to somehow preserve the Pabst sign, which could perhaps be relocated. The dark-colored building with the spire will be rehabilitated.

[Boatnurd]

Someone please point me to how you post pictures on this site. I have a number of great Milwaukee pics I want to share and am challenged to understand how to do that. I have been in a number of other sites similar to this but they have areas to download pictures to and then pull them up in the reply or forum. Urrrrr. I have contacted forum hosts to no avail.

[Tom In Chicago]

Someone please point me to how you post pictures on this site.

the FAQ is here (look for Adding Images):

http://www.skyscraperpage.com/forum/...?action=bbcode

It assumes that you have your photos hosted on a public server. . . I use Pbase (www.pbase.com) they offer a 30 day trial, but 'hot-linking' is only availble to paid subscribers. . . here's the link to their pricing page - http://www.pbase.com/pricing.html

[CityGawd5]

I'd be pissed if they took down the walkway and Pabst sign, even if they did store the sign somewhere else. But what can you do? It'll be interesting to see how the city responds to the new proposal.


I do have one question though -- they're tearing down some buildings because they couldn't punch windows in them because it would alter the historic character. Sort of hilarious in a really fucked up way if you think of it. Apparently it's more important to keep the building from being altered than to save it from being completely demolished. Or am I reading that wrong? It just seems so absurd...

[Markitect]

Originally Posted by CityGawd5

I do have one question though -- they're tearing down some buildings because they couldn't punch windows in them because it would alter the historic character. Sort of hilarious in a really fucked up way if you think of it. Apparently it's more important to keep the building from being altered than to save it from being completely demolished. Or am I reading that wrong? It just seems so absurd...

I had read that in some article a few month back. Developers, in their quest for money, had approached some Federal agency about getting some historic tax credits (I forget which one, maybe the National Parks--I think they're responsible for historic preservation) to pay for some of the renovation work on the buildings, which has a large, blank, windowless brick exterior wall. Developers wanted to punch holes in the wall to make windows, to make the interior spaces behind the wall marketable for whatever they had planned for that building. But if they put windows in that wall, the building would not be eligible for those historic tax credits from the Feds because the building would have been significantly altered from its original state.

That was several months ago. So I can only guess that since their intended money source for that part of the project was denied, they could get money from anywhere else (or perhaps didn't try anything else for that particular part of the project?) and after further investigation of the building, they found all those other difficulties, so they decided to nix the whole thing from this latest proposal.

But yes, there is a good deal of irony in the whole situation.

The City's Historic Preservation Commission, the Common Council, and architectural activists could axe the plans for axing some of those buildings, though. But even still, a money source would be needed to help fund the renovation (with or without punching windows in that wall).

I guess we'll have to wait and see how it plays out.

[Markitect]

The Sydney Hih building (also known as the Nicholas Senn Block), a well-known Donwtown landmark built in 1876, may be sold to a developer who will convert the building into condominiums and retail space. The building, actually a collection of four connected buildings along W. Juneau Avenue, has been eyed as a hot property since the immediately adjacent elevated Park East Freeway was demolished recently.

The developer has hired Johnsen Schmaling Architects to take on the renovation tasks--which presents a challenge as the floors of each building do not line up with each other. Parking will also have to be acomondated, perhaps in a new mixed-use parking garage that could be built on former freeway land.

See this artcile from the Journal Sentinel for more: Eclectic landmark to be reborn - Developer to create condos out of Sydney Hih building


^ The Sydney Hih Building stands alone on a city block it once shared with the Park East Freeway. In the coming years, it will be reintegrated with the urban fabric as the freeway corridor is redeveloped.


***


One of the latest renovated warehouses in the Third Ward is the Marshall Building, at the corner of N. Water and E. Buffalo Streets. While it may look like an oridiany warehouse building built in 1907, it holds the distinct, and rather obscure, honor of being the world's oldest surviving example of a once revolutionary method of flat-slab concrete floor construction. In 2002, the American Society of Civil Engineers declared the building a national civic engineering landmark.

The Marshall Building, originally a produce warehouse, is now home to a home furnishing store at street-level, and professional offices above.

More can be found in the Journal Sentinel:Historic Marshall Building not just a pretty face - Third Ward site pioneered concrete construction techniques


^ The exterior of the Marshall Building looks much like any other warehouse building constructed 100 years ago...


^ ...The interior, however, reveals the revolutionary construction techniques used at the time it was built. Rather than columns supporting wood or steel beams upon which the floor was laid, the Marshall Building uses mushroom-topped concrete columns reinforced with steel reinforcing bars which were tied into the a flat concrete floor slab above. An advantage of the new construction technique was that it saved the time and money involved in installing beams under a floor.

[Crazy Ivan]

The Business Jouranal - Milwaukee
From the February 4, 2005 print edition

Twin towers could soar at U.S. Bank
Second skyscraper would include upscale condos
Pete Millard

Plans for a second, 42-story U.S. Bank high-rise building likely will include luxury condominiums on the upper floors, continuing the residential boom in downtown Milwaukee.
U.S. Bancorp officials are pursuing plans on a site that serves as a parking structure on East Michigan Street immediately south of the existing U.S. Bank tower, 777 E. Wisconsin Ave. The parking ramp is connected by a pedestrian bridge to the existing building.

Plans for the building are still preliminary, but were confirmed by Andy Randall, president of U.S. Bank Wisconsin. Several real estate sources said the bank is considering as many as 20 floors of condominiums for the top of the proposed twin tower. The mixed-use building also would include more than 250,000 square feet of office space, a hotel and retail space on the lower floors.

Randall said the bank was not yet in a position to announce a timeline for when the project might get under way. He declined to reveal any specifics of the project.
"The mixed-use aspect of the project is still evolving," Randall said.

The building would be the third downtown Milwaukee high-rise with luxury condominiums to start in the last two years. Construction is under way on the $85 million, 56-unit University Club Tower at Prospect Avenue and East Wells Street and the $52 million, 74-unit Kilbourn Tower at the corner of North Prospect and East Kilbourn avenues.

The prospect of a new downtown high-rise with luxury condominiums didn't faze developers of the 33-story Kilbourn Tower or 34-story University Club Tower, which are located less than half a mile from the U.S. Bank building.

"It is reassuring there are other developers in downtown Milwaukee who share our optimism that the market is moving in this direction," said Blair Williams, a vice president at Mandel Group.

Mandel, a Milwaukee development firm, is building University Club Tower, which is slated to be completed in spring of 2006. University Club Tower is being constructed next to Kilbourn Tower, which is on track to be completed in May 2005.

"This is further evidence showing how strong the condo market is in downtown Milwaukee," said Dick Glaisner, a managing partner of Fiduciary Real Estate Development Inc., Milwaukee, the firm building Kilbourn Tower.

Both University Club Tower and Kilbourn Tower presold more than 60 percent of their condominiums, some of which had asking prices of more than $1.5 million.
Since 2002, developers have planned or built 2,352 condos valued at $739.4 million in four downtown-area aldermanic districts.
Previous interest

A Milwaukee real estate broker said U.S. Bank purchased the office building in late 2000 because it was interested in the property as a potential development site. For the past 10 years, half a dozen developers have made proposals to build a second tower at the East Michigan Street parking ramp, said several real estate sources.

The 1.1 million-square-foot downtown office building, Milwaukee's oldest and largest high-rise complex, was constructed in 1971 by First Wisconsin National Bank. First Wisconsin sold the building in the mid-1990s to Trammell Crow Co., Dallas, which then sold it to a group that included Equitable Insurance Co., the State of Wisconsin Investment Board and the California Public Employees' Retirement System. The group sold the building to U.S. Bank in 2000 for $203 million.

U.S. Bank officials are withholding comment on plans for the East Michigan Street site while they await word from Quarles & Brady L.L.P. on its downtown office plans.
U.S. Bank is one of several property owners and developers in the running to build a downtown office tower that would accommodate the space demands of Quarles & Brady, Milwaukee's second-largest law firm.

Quarles leases 160,000 square feet at the 20-year-old 411 East Wisconsin Center, 411 E. Wisconsin Ave. The law firm is seeking proposals from five developers to build a new downtown office building.

[Markitect]

Development opportunities in the Park East corridor have picked up a little bit of steam, now that all the leagal issues have been ironed out, for now.

A few weeks ago, the City put out a request for proposals on a small parcel it owns at N. Water/N. Jefferson/E. Pleasant Streets. Interested developers have until the end of March to turn in their proposals for the site.

Meanwhile, the Mandel Group continues to work on plans for a long-proposed project at the old Pfister & Vogel tannery site, along the Milwaukee River at N. Water and E. Pleasant Streets. The tannery buildings will be demolished to make way for 500 condo and apartment units, as well as 25,000 suqare feet of retail space. Being a riverfront site, it will also include a new RiverWalk segments.

Big Bend Development has been demolishing the former Milwaukee Center for Independence at N. Milwaukee Street and E. Ogden Avenue to make room for a mixed-use retail/condo/rowhouse project on that site.

Negotioations are underway for the sale of the Sydney Hih building at N. 3rd Street and W. Juneau Avenue, which is proposed to be converted into retail space and condos.

And this week, Milwaukee County is putting out a request for proposals on a 2-acre County-owned parcel--an entire block bounded by E. Ogden Avenue, N. Milwaukee, N. Jefferson and E. Lyon Streets.

The County will continue environmental testing on parcels it owns in the corridor before they are put up for sale. Results of those tests will be a factor when determing the sale price for each parcel.

Developers have been closely eyeing parcels and awaiting certain legal and political decisions (first at the City level, then at the County level) that have delayed development action up until recently. County officials anticipate the remainder of County-owned land east of the river to be up for sale by mid-2005, and the lots west of the river by March 2006.

Another development possibility still under occassional discussion is relocating Potawatomi Bingo Casino from its current site in the Menomonee Valley to a new facility inthe Park East corridor, just north of the Bradley Center. However, such a move is an extreme longshot because it depends on all sorts of approvals at all levels of government, plus the yet-unresolved gaming compact issue with the State, plus the Tribe already has plans underway for a casino/hotel expansion on the current site in the Valley.


^ This map summarizes what is in store for the Park East corridor.


^ An aerial view of the Park East corridor gives a sense of how much land was freed up when the freeway was demolished. In addition to land once occupied by the freeway, the redevelopment area includes adjacent blocks that have been underutilized for decades.

See this Journal Sentinel article for more on the topic: Small steps adding up for Park East - Milwaukee County to begin seeking development proposals for first 2-acre parcel Monday


***


In an effort to hel balance the 2005-2007 budget, Governor Doyle has proposed selling the Milwaukee State Office Building, a 10-story building at N. 6th and W. Wells Streets. Officials claim the building is too expensive for the State to maintain. The building, which holds about 100,000 square feet of office space in a prime Downtown location in Milwaukee's Civic Center, could sell for $5-8 million.

If the building is sold, the State would likely construct a new office building elsewhere in Downtown, probably in the Park East corridor. Another option being discussed is possibly joint-leasing space with Milwaukee County somewhere in the PabstCity development. In recent months, the County has been considering selling/demolishing its office building at N. 6th and W. State Streets (just up the block, and across the street from the State's current building) and moving those offices into the PabstCity development but no decisions have been made on those fronts yet. And yet another possibility if for the State to sell its building and then lease it back from the new owner.

The Governor's budget proposal, and thus the future of the State office building in Milwaukee, are under review by the Senate and Assembly up through this spring.

More info in the Business Journal: Doyle: Sell state office building - Prime downtown site could go private