An affiliate of Brookfield-based Hammes Company is requesting a zoning change for vacant land in the Park East Corridor in downtown Milwaukee, to build an office building and parking structure on the site.
The zoning change is being requested by HFJV, LLC, led by Hammes, which would permit the construction of the office building at 210 E. Knapp St., on the block bounded by E. Knapp, N. Market Street and N. Water Street.
No further details have been provided and a representative for Hammes could not immediately be reached for comment.
The city Plan Commission will likely review the proposal in August before it goes to the full Common Council in September.
Previously, Hammes Co. had been working on a plan to build three office buildings on the vacant area northwest of Water Street and Knapp Street. It was a complicated real estate deal with a 0.37-acre portion of the site owned by Milwaukee County, a city street running trough the site and the remaining portion of the site being privately owned. The city street would have been vacated, under Hammes’ development plan.
But in November, Hammes dropped its option on the privately-owned parcel, located at at 1301-1357 N. Edison St., and Milwaukee-based Marcus Corp. purchased it.
Marcus Corp. is expected to make an announcement this year on plans for that site (combined with the city street and county-owned site) that could include a movie theater, housing and offices. Baltimore-based architectural firm InPlace Design, had displayed renderings of the, 780,000-square-foot development, to be called “Edison Place,” on its website. Marcus is not commenting on the project.
Marcus and Hammes have each also submitted separate RFPs to purchase the 1.5-acre site that Milwaukee County owns at 1301 N. Water St. The site is part of Marcus Corp.’s Edison Place place plans, according to the plans that were displayed on the InPlace Design website.
While Edison Place would be located northwest of Knapp and Water streets, the office building development planned by Hammes would be across the street, northeast of Knapp and Water streets.
