The
Dohmen Company Foundation has purchased the former Fein Brothers Building on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in Milwaukee for its future headquarters.
The foundation plans to move to the 34,000-square-foot building at 2007 N. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. in 2021 after it completes renovations to restore the building “back to its original beauty,” it announced Thursday. The foundation is currently headquartered at 215 N. Water St. in Milwaukee's Third Ward.
"This is the perfect location for us for many reasons," said Kathy Koshgarian, who was recently appointed president and chief operating officer of the Dohmen Company Foundation. “Dohmen has called Milwaukee home for the past 162 years, so we're honored to be able to preserve an iconic piece of Milwaukee's rich architectural history and to become part of a vibrant community like Bronzeville. We're also very much looking forward to collaborating with our new neighbors to realize our vision of healthy communities powered by healthy people."
Fein Bros. announced in September it
plans to move its showroom two doors down, to 2025 N. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. The foodservice equipment and supply dealer has occupied the 2007 N. King Drive storefront, which is recognizable for its marquee and vertical sign, since 1967. The building was constructed in 1900, according to city records.
The Dohmen Company Foundation didn't disclose the building purchase price, but it is assessed at $763,800, according to city records.
The foundation said the space will house both its organizational headquarters and its Food For Health program,
a food service delivery program that it provides in partnership with Brookfield-based nonprofit health insurer Common Ground Healthcare Cooperative.
The Dohmen Co. transitioned in 2019 from a family-owned S-corporation to a benefit corporation owned by
The Dohmen Company Foundation, which is a private foundation. Since then, it has made four acquisitions of health and wellness-related companies, including
Madison-based FoodChain, Milwaukee-based Focused Fork, Delafield-based Salus Corporate Wellness, and
Chicago-based Cooked.
"Close to 80% of our $3.6 trillion annual health care spend in this country is spent treating chronic disease that is entirely preventable; and the trend line is going the wrong direction, with rising rates of diabetes, heart disease and obesity," Koshgarian said. "We believe the way to course correct is to allocate more dollars to preventive interventions like food, rather than allowing people to develop health problems requiring expensive medical treatment.”
For King Drive, the Dohmen Company Foundation’s planned new headquarters continues a trend of development activity on the commercial corridor. A
recent BizTimes cover story explored several developments that are planned or have been completed on King Drive in recent years totaling more than $130 million.
