Rite-Hite Holding Corp. is proposing some changes to its Reed Street Yards headquarters project, which include increasing its office building's overall size but lopping off its top floor.
The global industrial equipment manufacturer and supplier
plans to relocate from Brown Deer to Milwaukee's Reed Street Yards business park, bringing with it approximately 350 jobs.
Initial plans called for a 137,000-square-foot, five-story office building north of Freshwater Way, and a 103,000-square-foot, two-story research and development building and 450-stall parking structure to the south. The City Plan Commission approved those plans in June.
Rite-Hite now wants to build a four-story, 158,300-square-foot office building instead, according to plans filed with the city. No significant changes are planned for the research and development building.
The change of plans doesn't represent an expansion even though the office building would grow in square footage, Sara Everts, a Rite-Hite spokeswoman, said.
She said the change is due to the company's wishes to use more of the land at its disposal, rather than build more upward. The footprint for the office building will be extended into an area that originally was to be set aside for future expansion.
"It's just a decision we made to use the land fully," she said.
The new plans would have the office building at 68 feet tall, reaching 84 feet at the rooftop penthouse enclosure. Previous plans had the building at 86 feet tall and 102 feet at the rooftop penthouse portion.
Other proposed changes include granite cladding, rather than brick masonry, on various parts of the office building, tech building and parking structure exteriors. Brick walls are also proposed at the southeast and southwest ends of the tech building, which are meant to screen dumpsters, recycling bins and other equipment from view.
Jeff Fleming, spokesman with the Milwaukee Department of City Development, said the modified plans will be brought back to the City Plan Commission in December. He said there may end up being some changes to what's been submitted since the city just received the new plans and hadn't had a chance to review them in detail.
The footprint of the newly proposed office building follows that of a conceptual building expansion to the building's west side, which was
outlined in a previous site plan. A company spokeswoman at the time said in May the expansion plans "are just future thinking."
That "future thinking" would have actually yielded an even bigger office footprint. The building addition as originally outlined would have created another approximately 51,000 square feet. When added onto the five-story building, Rite-Hite would have had about 188,000 square feet in all.
Other expansion possibilities previously outlines include a second approximately 29,000-square-foot building north of Freshwater Way to the east of the office building, and a roughly 30,000-square-foot addition to the R&D building.
[caption id="attachment_504910" align="alignnone" width="1280"]
Original site plans approved back in June show future expansion possibilities. Credit: Eppstein Uhen Architects[/caption]
