Spurred by the close research and business development work between the Milwaukee region’s water technology businesses and academia, The Water Council is renovating a downtown Milwaukee warehouse into an unparalleled water research and business accelerator building. The center, scheduled to open in the summer of 2013, will be housed in a 98,000 square foot, seven-story building at 223 West Pittsburgh Avenue (recently renamed Freshwater Way) in the Reed Street Yards area of Milwaukee’s Walker’s Point neighborhood. The $22 million project will be a complete refurbishment of a century-old brick and timber warehouse into first class office and research space. The building will become the workplace for approximately 200 people and a catalytic project for the redevelopment of the Reed Street Yards and Walker’s Point neighborhood.
The center will feature a 45 person lecture hall, exhibition space for new prototypes and high-tech core facilities. These core facilities, such as a state-of-the-art water flow testing stand provided by Badger Meter, are critical to supporting the cutting-edge water research and product development activities of the cluster. The flow testing lab will enable researchers and businesses to do testing on-site instead of spending time and money in other locations across the United States.
The Accelerator will house large multi-national companies, small water technology businesses, academic research programs, business solution providers, water entrepreneurs and students of all levels. Creating connections between people working within the entire freshwater ecosystem is what makes the Accelerator unique. Programming for water technology entrepreneurs, Water Council members and the community will energize, coalesce, and advance Wisconsin’s water cluster.
Tenants Include:
Alga Bionics
A.O. Smith
Badger Meter
Envolus, Inc.
Greater Milwaukee Committee
Grundfos Pumps
Hanging Gardens
Ijinus
Michael Best & Friedrich
Pave Drain
Sloan Valve
Stormwater Solutions Engineering
University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee
University of Wisconsin – Whitewater
Veolia Water North America
Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation
Xela Innovations
The Water Council
