BMO Harris Bank has sold and leased back 10 more of its branch locations in Wisconsin, including three in southeastern Wisconsin.
According to state records, the properties were all sold to BL Branch Group II LLC, an affiliate of Syracuse, New York-based Brookline Development Co. LLC.
The bank branches BMO sold include the branches at 8300 W. Silver Spring Drive, Milwaukee; 112 E. Capitol Drive, Hartland; and 7535 Pershing Boulevard, Kenosha. Others that were sold are located in Beloit, Green Bay, Marshfield, Merrill, Oskosh, Portage and Watertown.
Altogether, the branches were sold for nearly $15.3 million. The Silver Spring branch in Milwaukee commanded the highest sale price of $3.39 million. The Hartland branch sold for nearly $1.24 million and the one in Kenosha sold for $1.2 million.
Chris Nardella, a BMO spokesperson, confirmed all branches that were sold were also leased back long term by BMO.
“I can confirm that we recently sold these locations as part of our sale lease-back initiative,” Nardella said in an email. “This has nothing to do with the actual operations of these locations. All of the transactions include long-term leases.”
The Canadian bank, which has its U.S. headquarters in Chicago, has in recent years taken advantage of what it calls an “attractive real estate market” to execute sale-leaseback deals of its branches throughout the state and region. This summer it sold its Menomonee Falls location to a Milwaukee investor for nearly $1.7 million.
Last summer, BMO sold nine Wisconsin branches in sale-leaseback transactions that totaled $11.3 million. And in 2016, it sold and signed leases at 31 of its Wisconsin branches that netted the bank about $45.6 million.
