MILWAUKEE WHEELHOUSE CREATES SMALL BUSINESS HUB
Curt Gest needed a place to run his woodworking business without having to worry about losing the lease.
Two years later, Gest manages a building on Milwaukee’s north side that houses his firm and five other small businesses, all operated by entrepreneurs in their 20s and 30s. They include an artist’s studio and a design shop for a firm that makes delivery bags for bicycle messengers.
Gest calls the building the Wheelhouse, an homage to its location along a former rail line — now a bike trail — on the border between the Riverwest and Harambee neighborhoods.
“It’s like a small business community,” Gest said.
The Wheelhouse, 3373 N. Holton St., has around 4,900 square feet, including 1,700 square feet set aside for a woodworking shop shared by its tenants.
The building also features a shared gallery, as well as a small kitchen and even a shower.
“We can get pretty dirty working,” Gest said.
His business, Gest Built LLC, is one
of three firms at the Wheelhouse that make cabinets, furniture and other woodworking products. The others are Wolf Tree Woodsmith LLC, owned by Tim Heinle, and woodworker Christopher Booth’s operation.
The Wheelhouse’s other tenants are Motherland Signs, operated by Jan Michel-Midelfort, bike messenger bag maker Vessel Workshop LLC and artist Paul Kjelland.
Some of those businesses were previously home-based or in smaller spaces that didn’t provide the proper furnishings, such as loading docks and an industrial power source, in order to grow.
“This is a space where you can legitimize your business,” Gest said.
Nick Costanzo moved Vessel Workshop to the Wheelhouse around 18 months ago from his Riverwest apartment.
Costanzo uses the space to design his bags and make prototypes. The bags are then manufactured under contract by Milwaukee-based Jonco Industries Inc.
The Wheelhouse provides inexpensive space, Costanzo said.
As someone who “dabbles in carpentry,” Constanzo also likes being able to use the woodworking shop.
He will keep Vessel’s Milwaukee design shop even after a planned move of his residence to California. Costanzo has been traveling a lot in Western states, where he’s expanding his business to making bags for rock climbers and other outdoors types.
“It’s so unique and so worth having that I’m going live in another state and still have my workshop there,” he said about the Wheelhouse.
Kjelland moved his studio to the Wheelhouse in November. His previous studio, in Bay View, was too solitary for an artist who thrives on collaborative work.
“I really like coming to a space every day where there’s a lot of energy and people working,” Kjelland said.
Gest found his tenants through word of mouth.
And, while Gest said there is strong demand from startups and other small Milwaukee businesses for inexpensive space, he took his time filling the Wheelhouse.
“We wanted to make sure everyone was a good fit,” Gest said.
Gest’s journey into becoming a building owner and developer started when he was looking for a new place to operate Gest Built, which was launched six years ago.
Gest Built was operating in a monthto-month lease on Milwaukee’s northwest side. Gest was worried about losing his lease, and in 2015 he began looking to buy a building with his business partner, Milwaukee attorney Travis Mueller.
Gest, who lives in Brewers Hill, found the Wheelhouse building in the nearby Harambee neighborhood.
The building was being offered for a reasonable price. But the 90-year-old structure, then used for storage, needed a lot of work, Gest said.
That included a new roof.
“In some places, it was actually snowing inside the building,” Gest said.
In January 2016, MG Property Holdings LLC, a group led by Mueller and Gest, took control of the property through a land contract with the seller and began renovations.
It took about 18 months to complete the work, which continued as tenants moved there. The building has new plumbing and electrical systems, a restored skylight and a rebuilt interior that includes a mezzanine level.
Gest and his partners did much of the work themselves, including the roof. They spent around $60,000 on materials and around $10,000 for Wheelhouse’s plumbing and electrical work.
“To call something my own, I was willing to make that investment,” Gest said.
“We kind of dove in head first,” he said. “There was just a lot of things to learn.”
That included navigating city building codes. The workshop had to be less than 2,500 square feet to avoid having to add a $60,000 sprinkler system, Gest said.
They’ve also had to better secure the Wheelhouse after a few break-ins. But Gest and his tenants still like the location.
“We’re not going anywhere,” Gest said. “This corner of the city needs a little bit of help.”
The Wheelhouse, at the southwest corner of N. Holton and E. Townsend streets, is on the same block as two other newer developments: the 36-unit Riverworks Lofts apartments, which opened in 2012 in a former industrial building at 3372 N. Holton St.; and Riverworks City Center, a retail center anchored by Family Dollar that opened last summer at 3334 N. Holton St.
The Wheelhouse also is on the Beerline Trail walking and biking path.
That path was created on a former railroad track, and the Wheelhouse name is a nod to that rail heritage, Gest said.
Also, Gest Built does some boat work, with Wheelhouse a nautical term. And, of course, he’s a baseball fan, so there’s the sports jargon connection.
“The term is very broad,” he said. The Wheelhouse is largely full. But Gest might draw some woodworking hobbyists to fill the building’s remaining “nooks and crannies.” Wheelhouse also could host weekend woodworking courses.
“There’s ways to make money in all sorts of directions,” he said.