Madison-based developer Hovde Properties, along with its partner Mountain Shore Properties, has purchased an office building at 417 E. Chicago Ave. in Milwaukee’s Historic Third Ward for $11 million, according to state records.
The 42,000-square-foot building is currently occupied by Eversana, a life sciences company. The building was sold by an affiliate of Milwaukee-based Dohmen Company Foundation.
Originally constructed in 1964, the single-story building was completely renovated in 2013 as a build-to-suit for the headquarters for Milwaukee-based The Dohmen Company. For several years the building was used for their affiliate company, Dohmen Life Science Services, according to a press release from Colliers.
Dohmen Life Science Services vacated the building upon their sale in 2018 to Water Street Healthcare Partners and JLL Partners. Water Street Healthcare Partners and JLL Partners own Eversana.
Colliers represented the seller 417 East Chicago LLC, an affiliate of Dohmen, and was the sole broker in the transaction. The sales team included Tom Shepherd, Jennifer Huber-Bullock, and Scott Welsh. This same Colliers team also recently represented affiliate entities of Dohmen in the sales of their buildings located at 215 N. Water Street and 200 N. Jefferson in the Historic Third Ward.
Hovde Properties intends to focus on the current attributes of the 417 E. Chicago St. building and work with its current and future customers to provide them with a quality work environment, Hovde president Randy Guenther said this week.
“We will also evaluate longer term development options over time, and given the outstanding location and size, (the property) will provide for many different options in the future,” Guenther added. “We thank The Dohmen Company and their leadership for working with us on this purchase and appreciate the efforts of Tom Shepherd at Colliers for brokering the transaction.”
Hovde Properties also owns the Brix Apartment Lofts located at 408 W. Florida Street in Milwaukee and will manage this new property from its offices there, Guenther said.
“Dohmen has called Milwaukee home for the past 165 years. We’ve been honored to spend many of those years within the Historic Third Ward. The sale of the 417 E. Chicago Street building is a mile marker in our transition into our new headquarters location in the vibrant Haylard Park neighborhood where we look forward to collaborating with our new neighbors to realize our vision of creating equitable access to healthy and happy lives,” said Kathy Koshgarian, president, The Dohmen Company Foundation, in the Collier’s release. “Dohmen was an outstanding steward for their assets in the Historic Third Ward and we look forward to 417 E. Chicago’s success under Hovde’s ownership.”
