First redeveloped Pabst brewery building sold

The first building at downtown Milwaukee’s former Pabst brewery that was converted to a new use has been sold — as work enters the final stretch on redeveloping the larger complex.

The office building, known as Pabst Boiler House No. 10, was sold by PBH Redevelopment LLC for $5.7 million to Sheboygan-based J. Vollrath LLC, according to Colliers International, which brokered the sale.

The 40,700-square-foot, three-story building, at 1243 N. 10th St., is 100 percent occupied. Its anchor tenants include law firms Borgelt, Powell, Peterson, & Frauen S.C. and Ogletree Deakins.

The building’s features include underground heated parking, a rooftop deck and an environmentally friendly roof garden.

It was originally used as the boiler house for the Pabst brewery and was built in the 1890s. Pabst shut down the brewery in 1996. Zilber Ltd., led by the late Joseph Zilber, started the redevelopment work at the 21-acre site in 2007.

It is now known as The Brewery and includes apartments, hotels, craft breweries, restaurants, offices and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Zilber School of Public Health.

Pabst Boiler House No. 10 was the first building in the complex to be redeveloped.

An investors group, led by Max Dermond and Charlie Trainer, bought the building and converted into boutique loft office space. It opened in

2008.

“Our ownership group is very proud of the historic Boiler House project and its catalytic impact on the revitalization of the Pabst Brewery campus,” Trainer said in a statement.

“We are pleased to transfer ownership of the Boiler House to a Wisconsin investor who we believe shares our appreciation for this beautiful, historic structure and its context in the newly-restored, mixed-use neighborhood,” Trainer said.

The building’s initial tenants included Colliers, then known as Inland Companies, which later moved to another downtown office building.

Tom Shepherd, Scott Welsh, Lyle Landowski and Jennifer Huber-Bullock, all of Colliers, brokered the sale. The firm will continue to manage and lease the building for the new owner.

The newest projects at The Brewery include the Hyatt Place hotel, which opened in June, and Milwaukee Brewing Co./Glass + Griddle restaurant, which opened in September. No Studios is opening in October.

Projects under construction include Brewery Lofts and Vim and Vigor apartments.