Walker’s Point building will be converted into apartments
A historic building once planned as an expansion of Milwaukee’s Global Water Center is instead being converted into apartments.
The five-story building, at 326 W. Florida St., is a former warehouse that was built in 1894, according to city assessment records.
The city Department of Neighborhood Services recently issued building permits to allow the property to be converted into 35 apartments.
The building is owned by Global Water Center II LLC, a local investors group.
That group is led by developer Ann Pieper Eisenbrown, who converted a nearby former warehouse, at 234 W. Florida St., into offices around 10 years ago.
Eisenbrown, president of Pieper Properties Inc., declined Monday to provide more information about her apartments conversion project.
The group that owns the building was formerly affiliated with development firm HKS Holdings LLC. But HKS Holdings sold its interest in the group to Eisenbrown about six months ago, said Kyle Strigenz, an HKS principal.
HKS Holdings also had planned to develop apartments but was busy with other projects, Strigenz said.
The Water Council, a trade group for Milwaukee-area water technology firms, in 2015 disclosed plans to convert the warehouse into a 46,000-squarefoot office building.
The group said the building was needed to meet demand from smaller water tech firms. The 98,000-squarefoot Global Water Center, which opened in 2013 at 247 W. Freshwater Way, is mostly full.
But the Water Council last year dropped the proposed development after it failed to draw enough prospective tenants.
The building has a Romanesque Revival design, according to the Wisconsin Historical Society. It housed the Heinn Looseleaf Ledger Co. from 1910 until 1964, according to the society.
Eisenbrown’s development is the latest in an ongoing series of new apartment buildings created within the Walker’s Point neighborhood.
Other nearby projects include The Yards, a five-story, 87-unit building planned for 223 W. Oregon St.; The Quin, a five-story, 68-unit building under construction at 324 S. 2nd St.; and a five-story warehouse to be converted into 20 apartments at 331 S. 3rd St.