The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation will move its headquarters from Milwaukee’s East Side to the new Hammes Co. building downtown, later this year, foundation officials announced on Monday.
The foundation’s offices are currently located in two of the three historic buildings it owns at 1241 N. Franklin Place.
With the move, the Bradley Foundation and related Bradley Impact Fund will occupy an entire floor of the new Hammes Co. headquarters downtown office building at 1400 N. Water St.
The Milwaukee-based grant-making organization, which honors the legacy of the Allen-Bradley Company co-founders, supports organizations that promote arts, culture, education and health, as well as conservative political causes.
It will occupy 15,677 square feet on the third floor of the Hammes building, said Rick Graber, president and chief executive officer of The Bradley Foundation. The plan is to move its roughly 28 employees into the new offices likely sometime in November.
Graber said the move reaffirms the foundation’s legacy in the city while allowing it to accomplish its work more efficiently by allowing all employees to work on a single floor.
“We looked for a building that would allow us to be more collaborative and efficient with what we do,” he said. “And this building does that.”
Graber said The Bradley Foundation considered several sites in downtown and the nearby Historic Third Ward before choosing the Hammes building. This location was ultimately selected in part because its characteristics aligned with the foundation’s principles, such as the tributes to America’s Founding Fathers in the building’s lobby.
“This building really struck us early on in the process as a perfect fit,” Graber said.
The Barry Company represented The Bradley Foundation in the lease transaction, and will work with the foundation in marketing its East Side buildings. Graber said they have not finalized an asking price for those three buildings, which were built in 1855 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Hammes Co. is developing and occupies two floors of the five-story building on the corner of Knapp and Water Streets. Phase one of the project includes the 94,000-square-foot office building and 360-stall parking structure, while a planned second phase could include a five- to eight-story building that would be 90,000 to 100,000 square feet in size.
The firm moved into the building earlier this spring, and is finishing up some work on the building’s exterior and landscaping. The project will finish within the next couple months.
“We’re excited to be a part of downtown Milwaukee’s future and it’s a perfect fit to have as a tenant one of our community’s most committed organizations,” Jon Hammes, founder and managing partner of the Hammes Co., said in a statement.
