In a $7 million deal, an affiliate of Minnesota-based real estate investment firm
Likewise Partners has acquired the real estate portfolio of Menomonee Falls-based
Engman-Taylor Company Inc., a distributor of metalworking tools and supplies.
The deal consists of three buildings, one in Menomonee Falls, one in Appleton and one in Machesney Park, Illinois, for a total of more than 79,000 square feet.
According to state real estate records, the Menomonee Falls property, located at W142N9531 Fountain Blvd.,
was sold Tuesday for $4.43 million. Also on Tuesday, a
property in Appleton was sold to the same LLC for $1.29 million.
"All three buildings are in established industrial parks that have really no land available for additional development and are very healthy with low vacancy rates," said
Steven Buss, founder and chief executive officer of Likewise Partners.
Engman-Taylor will still be the primary tenant of these buildings, according to Engman-Taylor vice president Jim Mueller, adding that he does not anticipate any changes to operations.
The company, which serves customers from two locations in Wisconsin, two in Illinois and one in North Carolina, was acquired last June by New York-based
MSC Industrial Supply Co., a distributor of metalworking and maintenance, repair, and operations supplies to industrial customers throughout North America.
“Essentially this was just the next step (after acquisition),” Mueller said.
Likewise Partners, based in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, is a real estate investment firm focused on the acquisition and development of industrial properties. Likewise targets industrial investments in Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Madison, Des Moines and Grand Rapids.
"The Engman-Taylor Industrial Portfolio adds another high-quality industrial customer to our holdings and expands our geographic footprint to
Wisconsin's Fox Valley and the
Beloit, Wisconsin/Rockford, Illinois industrial markets," Buss said in a press release.
The firm first entered southeast Wisconsin in 2021 and has been expanding its portfolio of cash-flowing properties, as well as its development portfolio, with buildings in Madison and Caledonia which are nearing completion, according to Buss.
