The owners of the Shops of Grand Avenue have purchased the upper four floors of the Matthews Building in downtown Milwaukee from an affiliate of Wispark LLC for $1.48 million.
The Aggero Group has already incorporated the 125-year-old, six-story office building at 301 W. Wisconsin Ave., into its proposed redevelopment plans to revitalize the mall. the building is connected to the shopping center on the second and third floors.
Currently, the entrance to the Matthews Building is off of 3rd Street. During a presentation in April, Chuck Biller, one of the owners of the mall, said it would be moved to Wisconsin Avenue, and spill onto the street.
The owners are envisioning another restaurant or café in that space, which was formally occupied by Office Max. They could not immediately be reached for contact Friday.
The mall’s ownership group is a joint venture between Milwaukee-based Aggero Group and Minneapolis-based Hempel Cos.
In December 2015, the group purchased the mall for $24.5 million.
Prior to this week’s sale, The Aggero Group owned the first two floors of the building. Bostco LLC, an affiliate of Wispark, owned the remainder of the 30,927-square-foot building. The building is assessed by the city of Milwaukee at $585,000.
In June, Bostco LLC listed the nine-story building at 331 W. Wisconsin Ave. for sale, which includes Bon-Ton’s corporate headquarters, a Boston Store and 74 market rate apartments, on the west side of the Shops of Grand Avenue. That property remains on the market.
Across the street from the mall, plans were recently announced to transform the long-vacant Warner Grand Theatre into a performance hall for the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra.
