Milwaukee-based real estate development firm
Irgens bought 25 acres at the UWM Innovation Campus, located northeast of I-41 and Watertown Plank Road in Wauwatosa, where it plans to construct two office buildings.
An affiliate of Irgens purchased the land for about $5.26 million from UWM Innovation Park, LLC, an affiliate of the UWM Foundation.
Irgens said earlier this month that
it plans to build a 6-story, 178,000-square-foot office building and a 2-story, 70,000-square-foot office building on the north end of the campus. No tenants have been secured yet for the buildings, according to a spokesman.
The firm plans to begin construction on the two-story building in the next few weeks, Irgens chief marketing officer Steve Palec said Tuesday.
The
UWM Innovation Campus was on a portion of the Milwaukee County Grounds. Construction began in 2011. It was hoped the campus would become a major economic development engine attracting companies and supporting new businesses, leveraging its location near the freeway and the Milwaukee Regional Medical Center and its affiliation with UW-Milwaukee. While it has attracted some development including an office building for ABB, the Echelon Apartments, a Residence Inn by Marriott hotel and the UWM Accelerator building, the UWM Innovation Campus has failed to meet the lofty expectations for its development and much of the land there remains vacant.
In 2019, Irgens indicated it planned to buy land at the Innovation Campus to build office buildings there.
The 6-story building planned by Irgens will be built along the freeway. The two-story building will incorporate architectural elements sensitive to the nearby Monarch butterfly habitat protection area, Irgens said. Both buildings will be designed to quality for LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification and will incorporate pedestrian and bike path connections, the firm said.
Irgens also plans to build a 2-story parking deck at the UWM Innovation Campus.
