Warehouse sold to developer with plans for offices, retail space
Four-story building in Walker’s Point fetches $3.5 million
A large Walker’s Point building has been sold to a local development firm that plans to convert it to offices and retail space in one of Milwaukee’s hottest neighborhoods.
The four-story, 80,000square-foot building, 507 S. 2nd St., is now used by C. Coakley Relocation Systems Inc., a Milwaukee moving and storage company.
The building was sold by Roadster Inc., led by C. Coakley’s owner, Christopher Coakley, to 507 South 2nd Street Development LLC, led by Stewart Wangard, chairman and chief executive officer of Wangard Partners Inc., according to state real estate records.
The sale price was $3.5 million, according to those newly posted documents.
Wangard Partners executives couldn’t be immediately reached Wednesday for information about their plans for the building, now used as a warehouse.
However, the firm has posted information online indicating it plans to create upperfloor offices, totaling 60,000 square feet, and street-level office and retail space totaling 20,000 square feet.
The plans would include a rooftop terrace and underground parking, according to information posted at LoopNet.com, a commercial real estate web site.
Those marketing materials note the building is near several Walker’s Point restaurants and bars, as well as such developments as Wangard’s Freshwater Plaza apartments and retail development, north of E. Greenfield Ave. and east of S. 1st St.
Other new projects near the building include Artistry, the conversion of former artists studios to 38 apartments and 30,000 square feet of offices and retail space, at 133 W. Pittsburgh Ave.
Wangard Partners’ neo-gothic revival-style building was constructed in 1928 for Eagle Knitting Mills, according to the Wisconsin Historical Society. Its exterior improvements could be eligible for state and federal historic preservation tax credits.
The firm’s other projects include this year’s conversion of the former Laacke & Joys building, 1433 N. Water St., into an office building anchored by Bader Rutter & Associates Inc.