Madison-based development firm Neutral is now eyeing a spring construction start for its 32-story mass timber tower in downtown Milwaukee after successfully closing on the project’s $133.3 million construction financing, according to an announcement.
Known as The Edison, the 378-unit luxury apartment tower is planned for a site along the Milwaukee River at 1005 N. Edison St.
Neutral closed Monday on construction financing for the project. Little Rock, Arkansas-based Bank OZK provided senior financing and Chicago-based Pearlmark Real Estate delivered the mezzanine financing. Chicago-based JLL Capital Markets is facilitating the transaction.
Nate Helbach
“This transaction was months in the making and is a testament to both the project fundamentals and our team’s ability to capitalize projects in an extraordinarily challenging time for capital markets,” Neutral chief executive officer Nate Helbach said in the announcement.
The Edison was originally proposed in 2021 as a 15-story tower, but the building’s size increased twice before its current plans received final approval from the City of Milwaukee last year.
Neutral began some site work, including test piles, last year. Neutral has said the project will take about two years to complete. The firm is working with Fond du Lac-based general contractor C.D. Smith on the project.
In addition to the apartment units, The Edison would include two public plazas at the north and south ends of the development site, 7,000 square feet of retail space on the first floor, an amenity floor and 288 parking spaces.
Neutral is also planning to lease 100 spaces at a city-owned parking garage at 1024 N. Water St., which is connected to the 1000 N. Water St. office building that is owned separately. That agreement is pending before the Common Council, according to city documents.
Founded in 2020, The Edison would be Neutral’s first Milwaukee project. The announcement comes as the firm is nearing completion of its first project, a 206-unit mass timber apartment building in downtown Madison that will open this spring, and has broken ground on a second, a 33-unit apartment building also in downtown Madison that will open this summer.
Last year, Neutral stunned Milwaukee with an ambitious $700 million proposal at the Marcus Performing Arts Center (MPAC) parking garage site, which is across the street from where The Edison would be built. That project could deliver hundreds of hotel rooms, thousands of square feet of retail and office space and hundreds of multifamily housing units in a 55-story tower if completed. Neutral has not yet been awarded its one-year exclusive negotiation period with the city for that project.
Messmer High School appointed Richard Mannisto to serve as its new president, the school announced on Monday.
Mannisto, who is currently vice president of advancement at Wisconsin Lutheran College in Wauwatosa, will enter his new role at Messmer effective April 1. Mannisto will succeed Jim Piatt, who will retire in June after serving as president for 12 years.
“This is a tremendous honor and I am humbled to join the Messmer community,” Mannisto said. “I look forward to continuing the rich traditions of Catholic education at Messmer High School while also embracing the possibilities that lie ahead. Along with the students, faculty, staff and community, I’m confident we’ll ensure Messmer’s continued success and growth for generations to come.”
As vice president of advancement at Wisconsin Lutheran College, Mannisto has annually raised $10 million, as well as helped support program expansion and financial sustainability, according to Messmer’s Monday news release. He first joined Wisconsin Lutheran College in 2013 as vice president for development after previously serving in leadership roles at Wisconsin Lutheran High School and other organizations.
Mannisto has a doctorate in education from Concordia University, a master’s degree in music education from VanderCook College of Music and a bachelor’s degree in music education from Wisconsin Lutheran College.
“We are thrilled to have an educator and leader of Dr. Mannisto’s caliber as our next president,” Messmer board chair Jim Schubilske said. “With Dr. Mannisto’s wealth of experience, leadership and commitment to educational advancement, we are confident that Messmer will continue to thrive and evolve as a pillar of the Milwaukee community.”
In October, Messmer moved ahead with plans to transfer the ownership and operations of its elementary schools Saint Mary, located at 3027 N. Fratney St., Milwaukee, and Saint Rose, located at 514 N. 31st St., Milwaukee, to Seton Catholic Schools. Saint Mary and Saint Rose, which will continue to operate under the same names, joined Seton’s 12 Milwaukee Archdiocesan Catholic schools. These ownership transfers left Messmer with only its flagship Messmer High School campus, located at 742 W. Capitol Dr., Milwaukee.
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A speculative industrial building in Franklin sold this month for $19.55 million to SixSibs Capital Corp., which has an affiliated ownership with Milwaukee manufacturer Rite-Hite.
A Rite-Hite spokesperson confirmed the acquisition and said the company will not have any operations at the building. While affiliated with Rite-Hite, SixSibs Capital generally operates like any other real estate investor in that its projects are not directly linked to operations or buildings of the manufacturing company.
Located at 3617 W. Oakwood Road with 236,180 square feet, the Franklin building is on the market for lease to other companies. A team of brokers at CBRE in Milwaukee is listing the property for lease, according to a listing for the property.
In 2023, a SixSibs affiliate purchased a Mount Pleasant industrial facility for $17.55 million, according to state property records, as an investment property as well.
The Franklin building was developed and sold by an affiliate of Wauwatosa-based Wangard Partners, according to state property records.
Wangard is the developer behind the Franklin Corporate Park, which includes a second industrial building next door with around 300,000 square feet, according to Wangard’s website.
A representative from Wangard was not immediately available for comment.
Racine-based Modine, a manufacturer of thermal management and ventilation solutions, is building a second facility in India to meet increasing demand for its data center cooling solutions.
The new facility, which is being built in Chennai, is expected to open by mid-2025, according to a Tuesday announcement from the company.
The facility will manufacture data center cooling equipment under Modine’s Airedale brand along with cooling modules for stationary power generation equipment.
“This strategic expansion of two Modine businesses in India is an example of how we are driving growth by capturing the mega-trends connected to high-performance computing and AI,” said Neil Brinker, president and chief executive officer of Modine. “By increasing capacity and establishing production facilities in India, we are in a strong position to provide a range of highly engineered enabling technologies to the data center industry.”
This will be Modine’s second facility in India. Modine Thermal Systems India opened in 2007 and designs and manufactures cooling modules for off-highway and commercial vehicles, and power generation equipment.
Modine has recently invested in additional data center technology. In January 2024, the company acquired intellectual property from Plano, Texas-based TMG Core that included a liquid immersion cooling technology.
Glendale-based A.B. Data, which provides a range of business services, has donated a Fox Point office building to the Milwaukee Jewish Federation.
The 15,000-square-foot building, located at 8050 N. Port Washington Road, is vacant, according to marketing materials from commercial real estate firm Founders 3.
The Jewish Federation plans to market the property for sale, a spokesperson for the organization said.
The property was valued at $1.3 million, according to a deed posted by the Wisconsin Department of Revenue on Tuesday. It’s assessed value is $869,000, Milwaukee County records show.
A.B. Data co-managing director Bruce Arbit is a past president of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation, according to A.B. Data’s website.
A.B. Data provides services including fundraising, class action administration, direct and database marketing, digital and print communications, and incident response and data breach management to nonprofits and advocacy organizations.
The company did not respond to requests for comment.
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Brookfield-based Kowal Investment Group has been acquired by Overland Park, Kansas-based Creative Planning, one of the largest registered investment advisors in the nation, according to an announcement today.
Creative Planning was the second-highest ranked firm on Barron’s 2024 rankings of the top RIA firms in the U.S. Creative Planning and its affiliates have more than $345 billion in combined assets under management. The firm has more than 74,000 clients and 556 advisors in 97 offices, according to Barron’s.
Founded by Jeffrey Kowal, Kowal Investment Group had 20 employees and $1.3 billion in assets under management. The firm is also known locally for its retirement clinic show and daily business reports on News/Talk 1130 WISN.
The acquisition by Creative Planning closed on Dec. 21, with all of Kowal’s employees joining Creative Planning. Houlihan Lokey served as the exclusive financial advisor to Kowal Investment Group.
“We’re pleased to welcome Kowal Investment Group to Creative Planning,” said Peter Mallouk, CEO of Creative Planning. “Their reputation for building lasting client relationships through personalized financial guidance mirrors our own philosophy. This cultural alignment and shared dedication to client success makes them an ideal addition to our team.”
“What drew us to Creative Planning was their comprehensive approach to wealth management and their dedication to maintaining personal client relationships,” said Aaron Kowal, president of Kowal Investment Group. “This partnership helps ensure our clients benefit from expanded capabilities while maintaining the personalized attention they’ve always valued.”
Lake Mills manufacturer Aztalan Engineering has sold its headquarters complex for $5.1 million in a sale-leaseback deal that will allow the company to pursue acquisitions of other companies.
The two-building, 10-acre campus, located just under an hour west of downtown Milwaukee, includes a 30,000-square-foot building at 100 S. Industrial Drive and a 45,888-square-foot building at 150 S. Industrial Drive.
The complex was purchased by a Waukesha-based private investor, according to state property records and a press release from Milwaukee-based The Barry Co., which facilitated the deal.
Founded in 1978, Aztalan Engineering is a 100% employee-owned ESOP company that specializes in CNC machining, producing components for industries such as medical, aerospace and oil and gas.
The company purchased its two Lake Mills buildings in 2020 for $3.1 million, according to state records.
The sale-leaseback deal allows the company to continue its operations at the facility while utilizing the proceeds for strategic initiatives, including the acquisition of related companies, according to the release.
“This transaction highlights the creative efforts of The Barry Co. – David Buckley and Jim Barry – in structuring a mutually beneficial agreement that aligns with the objectives of all parties involved,” the release says.
Watertown-based Wis-Pak, a manufacturer and distributor of Pepsi-Cola and other soft drinks, plans to build a new corporate headquarters in the City of Oconomowoc.
The company submitted a letter of intent to the Oconomowoc Architectural Commission late last week.
That letter states Wis-Pak plans to build a two-story, 24,000-square-foot office building, to serve as its corporate headquarters, along Blue Ribbon Circle North in the Commerce Centre area of the Pabst Farms development. The Wis-Pak building would be located between the Ace Precision building at 977 Blue Ribbon Circle N and the Sentry Equipment Corp. building at 966 Blue Ribbon Circle N.
Wis-Pak’s management team will be relocated to the Oconomowoc office building. No manufacturing will take place at the site, according to submitted documents.
“The ability to add onto the initial proposed building with future sections is considered for the north side of the building,” according to the letter of intent.
Wis-Pak plans to break ground this spring on construction of the new building, which will take about a year to build. Representatives with the company weren’t immediately available to comment Monday on the reason for the office relocation.
The company’s 413,000-square-foot Watertown plant has one can line, one flex-can line and two PET Bottle lines, according to the Wis-Pak website. Wis-Pak also has a 48,300-squre-foot facility in La Crosse.
Wis-Pak is owned by 35 shareholders, representing 65 Pepsi-Cola franchises.
Milwaukee-based Plunkett Raysich Architects LLP is the design firm for the Wis-Pak headquarters project.
Rendering of new corporate headquarters for Wis-Pak, planned in Oconomowoc, courtesy of Plunkett Raysich Architects
David Alan Alan’s is located between St. Paul Fish Company, Thai-namite, and West Allis Cheese & Sausage Shoppe, in a space formerly occupied by Pat’s Ribs Place, which closed in late July.
David and Tina O’Bryan, co-owners of David Alan Alan’s Smokehouse & Saloon, announced plans in July for their second location. The restaurant’s main location is in Mukwonago, at 325 Bay View Road.
“We’re beyond excited to share our love of barbecue with the Milwaukee community,” said David O’Bryan. “Joining the impressive list of vendors at the Market means the world to us, and we’re ready to open our doors to welcome both new and returning customers to enjoy the food we’re so passionate about.”
Milwaukee Public Market, which opened in 2005, is located at 400 N. Water St. in the city’s Historic Third Ward and has 19 independently-owned vendors.
The St. Francis Brewery, which closed in 2019 and has been vacant ever since, will reopen under a new ownership team of Shallece Saleen and Dheren Stewart. Saleen announced the news with a Facebook post on Sunday.
“We are beyond thrilled to share that a lifelong dream is becoming a reality: we are bringing the iconic St. Francis Brewery back to life under our ownership,” she wrote. “We can’t wait to breathe new life into this community treasure and make it shine brighter than ever before.”
The restaurant will reopen this spring.
St. Francis Brewery opened in 2009 at 3825 S. Kinnickinnic Ave., northwest of Kinnickinnic and Howard avenues. It closed 10 years later and the 7,100-square-foot building was sold in 2021 to Franklin-based Sunset Investors for $1.4 million, according to state records.
NAI Pfefferle brokered the lease deal for Sunset Investors. Marketing information for the property indicates the building sits on a 2.36-acre site with 140 parking spaces. The building has restaurant seating for 265 and can seat an additional 55 at a large bar. A private dining room can host up to 50 people and the restaurant can seat 50 for outdoor dining. The building has a $500,000 stainless steel 7.5-barrel brewing system.
Stewart has 27 years of experience in the restaurant industry, including 10 with Texas Roadhouse. Saleen has 17 years of restaurant experience.
Saleen wrote that she and Stewart are planning “a fresh, creative menu” for St. Francis Brewery.
“I’m ready to get creative behind the bar, help lead the front of house, and most importantly, work side-by-side with (Stewart),” she wrote. “One of the things I’m most excited about is creating the MOOD Concert Series—an immersive experience pairing live music + specialty food (MUSIC + FOOD) designed to match the vibe of the evening. It’s all about bringing people together through incredible flavors and unforgettable sounds, creating moments that leave a lasting impression.”
Sheboygan-based SACO AEI Polymers, a manufacturer of plastic resin products, has purchased the 222,400-square-foot former Nemschoff facility at 2218 Julson Court in Sheboygan for $7 million, according to state records.
The facility is about three miles south of SACO AEI’s global headquarters at 3220 Crocker Ave. The company also has facilities in Ohio and the United Kingdom and recently expanded into Mexico and India.
SACO AEI makes plastic products for wires and cables, pipes and pipe fittings, wood plastic composites, flame retardants and more.
SACO AEI will use the facility as an expansion of its manufacturing and research and development. The building is currently undergoing renovations and will open for operation in about three months to begin manufacturing a new product line that will launch in June. The line will include new products like adhesives and food packaging, and initiatives relating to the recyclability of plastic materials, according to SACO AEI chief executive officer Luca Saggese.
The lab will hire 20 people to operate the new facility and will focus heavily on sustainability, Saggese said.
Former building tenant Nemschoff was a medical furniture manufacturer. It was acquired by Zeeland, Michigan-based office furniture, equipment, and home furnishings company Herman Miller, Inc. in 2009. That company is now known as MillerKnoll Inc., d.b.a. Herman Miller.
The former Nemschoff plant permanently closed in March of 2023, according to a WARN notice.
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Recent headlines have sent mixed messages about Milwaukee’s hotel market.
Last year, the Milwaukee Downtown Marriott filed for bankruptcy, adding itself to a growing list of downtown hotels that recently went into foreclosure and bankruptcy. Meanwhile, Milwaukee-based The Marcus Corp. continued a $20 million renovation of The Pfister Hotel and announced a $40 million renovation of the downtown Hilton Milwaukee, but that project also includes shutting down 175 of its rooms, with Marcus leadership citing – in part – a weak hotel market.
Still, three development teams appear to be moving ahead on plans to build new hotels in Deer District, Westown and on the East Side.
Industry experts anticipate these trends to continue in the years to come with more challenges for hotels looming, but gaps in the market could give way to even more hotel development on the horizon.
Data doesn’t bode well for Milwaukee
“Some hotels are underwater and are not covering their expenses,” said Greg Hanis, hotel industry analyst and president of New Berlin-based Hospitality Marketers International Inc. “Expenses have gone up significantly over the last few years, and room rate increases are not offsetting that.”
That analysis is largely based on numbers from real estate data company CoStar, which reported occupancy for downtown area hotels at 61.6% as of October 2024, down more than 16% from the same time period in 2019. The same report found that the average room rate as of October 2024 had increased 22% from 2019 levels to $178, but due to increased expenses, hotels only saw a 2% increase in revenue per available room, which is a better indicator of a hotel’s cash flow, industry experts say.
High labor costs, lack of consistent labor, increasing operational costs and refinancing of debt, among other factors, are all putting pressure on hotel operators, owners and lenders. The fallout from the pandemic isn’t helping either, largely due to a lack of business travelers since COVID-19 hit that are needed to provide a bulk of hotel business on weeknights and during the winter.
While other markets saw a slight increase in business travelers in 2024, that doesn’t appear to be the case in Milwaukee yet, according to Hanis.
“If I was commissioned to do a market study, which I’ve been doing for 42 years, and a developer said, ‘We want to build a new hotel in downtown Milwaukee,’ I’d have a hard time right now looking at these types of numbers and telling them it’d be a home run,” Hanis said.
The Trade hotel during the 2024 Republican National Convention.
Room for new hotel development
However, CoStar data generally includes properties at all price points, including class C properties on the outskirts of downtown, which developers of new hotels do not consider competitors.
Citing proprietary reports, Doug Nysse, hospitality industry advisor and director of project and development services with Colliers | Wisconsin, said occupancy for class A downtown hotels is slightly higher than 61% and room rate is “considerably better” than $178 a night.
“We may not be over built, but we may be under-demolished,” Nysse said. “This market, whether it’s downtown or including suburbs, has got some dinosaurs. There are hotels that are operationally obsolete and have hundreds of rooms but are maybe 30% occupied most of the time. If some of those were to be demolished, that would be beneficial to some of the newer properties.”
In December, Madison-based hotel development company North Central Group Hospitality (NCG), the developer of The Trade hotel that opened in 2023, announced that it had finalized plans for another hotel in downtown Milwaukee’s Deer District, called Moxy Downtown Milwaukee.
“There’s always the case of guests and customers looking for new experiences, and those new experiences are often provided by new hotels, whether it’s a new brand in the marketplace or it’s the repositioning or remodeling of a hotel to make it more appealing to travelers,” Nysse said. “That will continue in 2025 and beyond. There will be hotel developers that will find a way to build new hotels for those seeking out new experiences.”
There are some brands and some price points that are underrepresented in Milwaukee, Nysse said, adding that he anticipates an AC Marriott – typically a 4-star hotel – to be planned in Milwaukee in the near term, though he doesn’t know of any official plans.
“We’re still looking to fill some white space in Milwaukee,” Nysse said.
The Moxy Madison Downtown hotel. Image from Marriott
Further, Milwaukee-based HKS Holdings is continuing to refine plans for a Hilton Tempo hotel near the Baird Center downtown and a development group consisting of Milwaukee-based Klein Development and Milwaukee developer Jeno Cataldo recently completed demolition at a site on the city’s East Side for a proposed Hilton Tapestry hotel, though construction starts for both the projects have not been announced.
Industry experts agree that’s likely due to financing challenges as high interest rates and construction costs have made all real estate development challenging, and lenders are particularly hesitant to lend to hotel projects due to the market’s softening since 2019. The deals that are getting done nowadays are typically led by experienced hotel developers and often include some sort of additional financing through tax credits to renovate a historic property, as is the case with Marcus Corp. at the Hilton Milwaukee, or by acquiring a property at a discounted price, according to Hanis and Nysse.
“It’s been a long recovery from the pandemic nationally and there are lots of hotels that are struggling,” Hanis said. “But tourism has been strong, the group market has come back considerably, and there are developers that are still pulling off projects.”
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