George Bockl is a man who makes no distinctions between business and pleasure. If you pulled up a chair, poured a warm cup of coffee and asked the legendary Milwaukee commercial real estate developer about his 60 years in the business, he would plainly tell you that the two have always been one in the same for him.
The energetic 89-year-old whose enthusiasm revitalized the historic Third-Ward from dusty warehouses to deluxe office spaces, developed affordable downtown housing, and created Milwaukee’s first modern offices in the form of the Bockl Building, has always taken great pleasure in transformation. That’s the nature of his business. Whether writing a new book or developing properties, the philosopher/commercial developer behind George Bockl Enterprises, Inc., has made a career out of the belief that creative work is the best therapy life has to offer.
"I feel very fortunate that I was led into a wonderful field where I had some leisure to write and, at the same time, to create," he reveals reverently. "The universe is constantly creating, that’s its main thrust. When you create on a human level you are in tune with that which is basic to humanity, that’s the way I look at it."
With the recent release of his eighth and ambitiously titled book, "Where Did We Come From and Where Are We Going?", Bockl remains doggedly convinced that personal beliefs, with an eye toward a bigger picture and a constructive work ethic, are the key elements for any business venture.
"When you are interested in your business only to the point of, ‘How much can I make, how can I maneuver to make what I want without that spiritual overview,’ you are settling for a barren life," he observes through the eyes of experience. "When you can be secularly creative and furnish those things that add to the creature comforts of people, making everything that you do become sacred and important because you are doing it with a certain overarching idea that it’s helping someone, you get fulfillment."
Zen and the art of real estate development
Bockl’s approach to his creative business philosophy has always been two-fold: creating a win-win scenario and taking risks. The development of Milwaukee’s Third Ward is just one example of his personal credo that "uncertainty is full of possibilities and opportunities."
Noting that the Third Ward was a portion of the city which had been "asleep for 60 years" prior to its transformation, Bockl took a chance during the 1970s and ’80s in buying both the Marshall Building and the Landmark Building – abandoned Third-Ward warehouses at the time – and charging a low rent of $3 per square foot to budding basement entrepreneurs who were low on cash but hungry for success.
Since that time Bockl calculates 300 or 400 small businesses have been launched as a result of being given their "big break" in his vision of a fertile Third Ward.
"We created 1,000 jobs as a result of that, which I’m proud of," he says.
Another example of his recurring theme of profitability in uncertainty is his very own namesake, the Bockl Building, which, after having changed hands a few times in the years since he originally built it in 1957 on a $3 million loan using his properties as collateral, he still owns.
"It almost broke me," he recalls of the risky venture located at 2040 W. Wisconsin Ave., a whole 20 blocks from the bustling downtown area. "But it was so rewarding because it was so full of uncertainty. My grandson says, ‘Papa, I think you weren’t such a smart businessman to do what you did.’ And when I look back it was really taking too much of a chance, but it was a big success."
And a hard-earned one, but these days the Bockl Building generates more than $1 million in yearly rental revenue, and includes tenants ranging from health-care professionals to insurance companies. "Most people are so afraid of what’s going to happen, but in real estate, unless you take chances, nothing happens. If you can get into something that is really uncertain and if it succeeds, it triples the income."
And that, of course, is the trick. That most real estate investments pose at least a certain degree of risk is obvious, but exactly how much risk should a risk-taker risk? Bockl will tell you that the answer is not so obvious. Equal parts of imagination, self-interest and generosity, plus a good old-fashioned pioneer spirit are just some of the elements Bockl himself has employed as part of his own strategy. "If you can have a successful business (motivated by) self-interest as well as fulfilling others, then you’ve got a win-win that should be the aim of all people," says Bockl.
But where does he see the next hot development?
In typical Bockl fashion, the answer depends on the dreamer. "Real estate development depends on the imagination of certain individuals," he points out. "If you have 100 unusual imaginative real estate people, they can change what is happening to a city. If you don’t have them, the city stultifies. Nothing happens."
What next?
Bockl is still active three hours each day in overseeing his remaining properties which, in addition to the Bockl Building, include The Chalet at the River, a downtown apartment building at 823 N. 2nd St., the Marshall Building, 207 E. Buffalo St., and the Landmark Building, 316 N. Milwaukee St.
However, when the time comes to step down, and he’s still not saying when that time will be, Bockl plans on handing over the reigns of George Bockl Enterprises to Mike Moony, who manages the Marshall Building.
Bockl describes Moony as a searcher, like himself, who has been with him for the last 15 years. Moony, a former professor of Shakespeare with a doctor’s degree in literature, approached Bockl about a job in building management after experiencing a restlessness with the academic "ivory tower," and wanting to really mix "where the bullets are alive and human nature is raw." Bockl knew he had a good fit.
"I’m lucky to have had him, and I think that he’s very happy that he stepped down, or stepped up … however it is that you want to look at it."
