Hoping to expand its operations on Milwaukee's far north side,
Milwaukee Pallet Co., a maker and provider of wooden pallets, is planning to purchase the site at 6263 N. Teutonia Ave. and redevelop it.
The Teutonia Avenue property's current owner has been tax delinquent since 2012, according to a representative from Milwaukee's Department of City Development, and the site has about a century's worth of environmental contamination.
Milwaukee Pallet Co. plans to invest about $1.1 million into the site for environmental cleanup, as well as the construction of a new 18,000-square-foot building and the renovation of two existing buildings totaling 12,000 square feet.
The company will purchase the site for $1,000, according to city records, and could seek brownfield grants to support site remediation. The city is planning to tax foreclose the property.
The property is about a mile away from Milwaukee Pallet Co.'s existing facility on West Carmen Avenue, which company leaders said will continue to operate.
"We love Milwaukee so much and that's why we want to stay in Milwaukee,"
Leo Lara of Milwaukee Pallet Co. told the City of Milwaukee Zoning, Neighborhood and Development Committee last week. "Sometimes businesses have the chance to move to different cities, but we really want to stay here, grow here."
Milwaukee Pallet Co. is working with Cedarburg-based
Drake Consulting Group on the environmental remediation.
The ZND Committee approved the sale of the site last week.
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6263 N. Teutonia Ave. Image from Google Maps[/caption]