Schlitz Park gets new tenant

Engineering firm plans move to downtown site

A global engineering firm will be moving its Milwaukee-area office to downtown’s Schlitz Park, one of the business park’s new owners said Monday.

CH2M, which is part of Dallasbased Jacobs Engineering Group Inc., has signed a lease at the business park and will move there this year, said John Coury, principal at Detroit-based Crestlight Capital.

Coury declined additional comment. A CH2M/Jacobs representative couldn’t be immediately reached for more information.

Construction permits issued recently by the city Department of Neighborhood Services show that 14,650 square feet is being remodeled for the firm at Schlitz Park.

That space is at one of the office park’s connected Bottlehouse buildings, 1610 N. 2nd St.

CH2M/Jacobs is now at Honey Creek Corporate Center, 135 S. 84th St., on Milwaukee’s far west side. CH2M was acquired by Jacobs in December 2017.

Schlitz Park was sold last week to a group led by Crestlight Capital and Fort Worth, Texas-based TPG Real Estate.

The sale price was $101.25 million, according to state real estate records.

The 32-acre business park, with buildings totaling around 800,000 square feet, is 98 percent leased, Coury said.

The new owners will consider possible improvements at Schlitz Park, he said.

“We’re very excited,” Coury said. Schlitz Park’s occupancy peaked after a $30 million, multi-year renovation by its longtime owners, the Grunau and Sampson families.

That leasing activity brought 4,200 jobs to Schlitz Park, including more than 1,000 new positions to downtown.

The buildings, some of which date to 1870, originally housed the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Co. before being converted to offices in 1983.