Milwaukee-based real estate development firm Royal Capital Group has purchased 16.3 acres off of Brown Dear Road, just west of Badger Meter’s corporate headquarters, with plans to transform the property into one of the lifestyle campuses the company has pledged to develop in Wisconsin and across the country.
Details about the development might include weren’t immediately available on Friday, but the campus could contain elements similar to projects Royal Capital already has in the works at the ThriveOn project at the former Gimbel & Schuster’s building, at 2153 N. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. in Milwaukee and the 52-acre Cudahy Farms Healthy Living Campus planned for land around the YCMA off Swan Road and West Fairy Chasm Drive on the city’s northwest side.
“Brown Deer is a community with great history, progressive leadership and a profound level of middle-class diversity,” said Kevin Newell, president and chief executive officer at Royal Capital Group in email. “As we continue to advance our $1 billion commitment to (creating) comprehensive lifestyle campuses, we’ve acquired this site ahead of further neighborhood and municipal engagement, planning and design.”
The properties sold as part of the deal sit directly south of the intersection of West Brown Deer Road and North Arbon Drive. They include five mostly wooded, vacant parcels, and a sixth parcel at 4801 W. Brown Deer Road that is currently home to a shuttered former Associated Bank branch.
The properties are located about three miles east of the Swan Road site where the Cudahy Farms Healthy Living Campus is slated to be developed.
The properties were sold to Royal Capital Group by fellow development firm F Street Group.
According to Mike Doney, vice president of marketing of F Street Group, the company acquired the land and bank branch building as part of a purchase in December 2020. That purchase also included an office building at 4949 W. Brown Deer Road, which was later sold to Engine & Transmission Exchange, Inc.
“After the sale to ETE … we explored several opportunities for the additional land and branch building, but ultimately felt this was the best option for our investors,” Doney said in an email. “Our group continues to look for additional opportunities in Brown Deer and we’re excited to see Royal Capital’s vision for the space.”
