Harley-Davidson says it plans to invest in its Juneau Avenue headquarters and the near west side of Milwaukee, even as remote and hybrid work options take on a greater role at the company.
However, the size and nature of the investment remains unclear and there may not be any details until 2023.
Jochen Zeitz, chairman and chief executive officer of Harley-Davidson, said Wednesday during the company’s earnings call that the company would “be announcing more details in the new year on our plans.”
He did say the Harley-Davidson Foundation would be making the investment “on the heels of our $10 million investment into our museum campus, focusing on our Juneau home and the near west side of Milwaukee.”
“We know that the faster we move forward, transform and innovate the more important it becomes to remember where we came from,” Zeitz said. “We want Milwaukee and our roots in Wisconsin, including Juneau, the Product Development Center (in Wauwatosa), the powertrain operations (in Menomonee Falls) and Tomahawk(, Wisconsin plant), to be as relevant today and tomorrow as it’s been in our past, and for our presence here to not only benefit our employees but our community and customers alike.”
A Harley spokesperson did not immediately respond to an email seeking additional details on the company’s plans.
A recent filing with the city of Milwaukee indicates the company has plans to subdivide its headquarters property, which includes a large amount of surface parking spaces. The filing indicates the purpose of the move is to “redivide lots to facilitate land transfer.”
There has been
increased attention on Harley’s plans for its headquarters after Zeitz told Bloomberg the company planned to repurpose its 500,000-square-foot corporate headquarters complex at 3700 W. Juneau Ave. on Milwaukee's west side amid greater utilization of hybrid and remote work.
In a LinkedIn post on Friday, Zeitz said “we are excited about the ideas we have to invest in our Milwaukee campuses for the future.”
“By building on our most recent investment into our Harley-Davidson Museum Campus, we know we can adjust elements of our footprint to adapt to a new way of working and living – not only for our employees, but importantly for our surrounding communities too,” the LinkedIn post said.
The Juneau Avenue headquarters was home for around 890 Harley employees in 2021, according to the company’s latest Inclusive Stakeholder Management report, down from nearly 1,100 in 2018.
The report does not detail how many of Harely's headquarters employees spent time working remote. It does say about 100 of the employees were executives or senior officials, 150 were “First/Mid Officials & Mgrs," and roughly 550 were professionals.
Harley also had 770 employees at its Product Development Center in Wauwatosa and 851 at its Pilgrim Road facility.
The report does shed some light on how usage of the Harley headquarters facility changed amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Total waste and water consumption at the facility both decreased more than 75% from 2019 to 2021, natural gas usage and CO2 emissions were down around 45%, and electricity usage was down around 32%.
