FISERV DOWNTOWN HEADQUARTERS OFFICIALLY OPEN
Move from Brookfield called ‘investment for the long haul’
Fiserv Inc. has officially opened its new Milwaukee headquarters − marking the latest in a series of similar downtown developments in recent years.
Fiserv, a global financial and payments technology provider, began moving employees in January from its Brookfield headquarters to HUB640, the former Boston Store building, 640 N. Phillips Ave.
The company is leasing 168,000 square feet and is basing several hundred employees there. It marked the move with a Monday media event.
The new headquarters is “a dynamic destination for talent and clients” and “reflects our focus on creating value and enabling best-in-class results for our clients,” said Frank Bisignano, Fiserv chair, president and chief executive officer, in a statement.
Bisignano also called the headquarters, located four blocks from Fiserv Forum, a “superbly strategic location” providing an unparalleled ability to entertain clients.
“It’s an investment for the long haul,” he told Fiserv employees and guests in his remarks.
The office “brings added activity and vibrancy to the center of Milwaukee,” said Mayor Cavalier Johnson.
The headquarters features include an “experience center” for meetings with clients that also serves as a training center; Clover Cafe, named for Fiserv’s point-of-sale payments and business management platform and featuring Colectivo Coffee, and connections to a parking structure as well as 3rd Street Market Hall.
The Common Council and Johnson in December 2022 approved a plan to spend $7 million to help finance the building’s $37 million redevelopment to accommodate Fiserv.
That will be provided through annual payments for up to 20 years tied to HUB640’s higher property tax bills.
Fiserv must base at least 780 employees at HUB640 to obtain the full $7 million, and must keep
Location is “a dynamic destination for talent and clients” and “reflects our focus on creating value and enabling best-in-class results ...” Frank Bisignano
Fiserv chair, president and chief executive officer
its headquarters there for at least 16 years, according to a contract between the company and the city.
Fiserv expects to have 580 employees in its first year at the new headquarters, with that number rising to 780 by its fourth year. That includes 250 jobs that will be new to the Milwaukee area.
Also, the company is to receive up to $7 million in state tax credits in return for meeting annual job targets.
Fiserv posted 2023 revenue of $19.1 billion and net income of $3.1 billion.
HUB640’s other tenants include the new Kohl’s department store that opened in November.
Since 2020, companies that are relocating or opening new offices are bringing more than 7,000 jobs to the downtown area, according to the Milwaukee Downtown Business Improvement District.
That includes Enerpac Tool Group Corp. The company announced Feb. 21 it will move its headquarters, with around 130 employees, in early 2025 from Menomonee Falls to ASQ Center, 648 N. Plankinton Ave. − to be renamed Enerpac Center.
Other developments include Brookfield-based Milwaukee Tool, which last summer opened a new office at 551 N. Fifth St.; Veolia North America, which is moving to Enerpac Center by summer from 125 S. 84th St., in Honey Creek Corporate Center, and Allspring Global Investments, which plans to move its regional operations from Menomonee Falls to an office building, at 417 E. Chicago St., by early 2025.
Also, Northwestern Mutual has started work on a $500 million expansion of its downtown campus and plans to relocate its Franklin operations there beginning in 2027.
Executives at Northwestern, Fiserv and other companies have cited a similar broad factor in their decisions to open or expand large downtown offices: a need to better attract and retain talent − especially younger employees who prefer working, living and playing in urban neighborhoods.