Stationery: Leader Paper moving, expanding.

Company heads to far south side

Longtime Milwaukee stationery maker Leader Paper Products Inc. bought a building on the city’s far south side where it plans to relocate and expand its operations.

Leader Paper Real Estate LLC, a company affiliate, bought the 187,568square-foot industrial building at 5111 S. 9th St. for $6.75 million, according to state real estate records posted Wednesday. The building, which is west of Mitchell International Airport, was sold by a Chicago investors group.

Leader plans to renovate the facility, build an 18,000-square-foot addition and install new equipment there, according to information disclosed in November by the city Redevelopment Authority. That would amount to a $9 million investment.

The company could move some operations to vacant space at the building, President Scott Wilke said Wednesday.

However, Wilke isn’t sure when Leader would complete that move. The building has some tenants with existing leases, he said, and work is needed to renovate the property.

Leader has around 110 employees.

The Redevelopment Authority might issue an industrial revenue bond to help finance the project.

The city would not be a lender for the project.

However, the bond issue would allow Leader to borrow money from a private lender by selling bonds issued in the authority’s name. The lender would accept a lower interest rate because it doesn’t pay federal taxes on such bonds.

Leader, which makes envelopes and other paper products, now operates in Milwaukee’s Walker’s Point neighborhood. The company was founded in 1901 and is owned by the Wilke family.

Leader, in 1950, built its facility at 935 S. 5th St. and completed a neighboring building at 925-929 S. 5th St. in 1960.

Additional expansions occurred on the block bordered by S. 5th, S. 6th, W. Walker and W. Mineral streets, including a new $4 million building completed in 2000.

Leader’s planned move would create a development opportunity for that Walker’s Point block.

The Leader property, totaling around 135,000 square feet, is along a recently rebuilt stretch of S. 5th St., between W. Virginia and W. Scott streets, that has seen several new investments.