Downtown: Historic building gets new tenant.
Continuum to move this spring
One of Milwaukee’s best-known historic buildings is getting a new office tenant.
The Mitchell Building, 207 E. Michigan St., will be the new home for Continuum Architects and Planners this spring, said building operator Josh Jeffers.
Jeffers is renovating the building’s fourth floor for the firm, with that work to be completed by the end of March. Continuum, which is leasing 7,800 square feet, will move to the Mitchell Building in April, Jeffers said Wednesday.
Continuum now leases 5,000 square feet at 228 S. 1st St.
The firm has been at that Walker’s Point building for around 20 years. However, the three-story, 40,000-square-foot building was sold in October to a group led by developer David Winograd, who will renovate it to create improved office space.
Continuum has worked for Jeffers on his renovations at the Mitchell Building, said Falamak Nourzad, a firm principal. The firm’s future home will provide a great opportunity to showcase its work and its vision, she said.
Jeffers said Continuum will fill space at the Mitchell Building left empty when a law firm moved out more than a year ago, and when Historic Milwaukee Inc. was relocated to the neighboring Mackie Building, 225 E. Michigan St.
All the remaining space at the six-story Mitchell Building is leased to advertising and marketing firm Laughlin Constable.
Jeffers’ group, 207 East Michigan Street LLC, is seeking a $1.2 million loan from the Milwaukee Economic Development Corp., a nonprofit business lender.
That loan would help finance $6.83 million in renovations that would accommodate Continuum, as well as renovations to the building’s roof, facade and other areas, Jeffers said. The primary lender on the project is Bank First National.
MEDC’s Loan and Finance Committee will consider the loan request at its Thursday meeting.
The Mitchell Building was built in 1876 by industrialist Alexander Mitchell.
Jeffers also is renovating the historic Mackie Building, which features the Grain Exchange Room banquet venue, offices and the new Mackie Flats apartments. Those apartments were completed in December, with more than half of the 25 units already occupied, Jeffers said.