SCHLITZ PARK LAUNCHES $6M RENOVATION
Schlitz Park’s new owners are launching a $6 million renovation of the downtown Milwaukee business park.
The improvements will feature a new pedestrian plaza to better connect the business park’s RiverCenter office building to the rest of the 32-acre Schlitz Park campus.
Known as Crossroads Plaza, it will be between the RiverCenter and the Bottlehouse office building and will energize what is now underused space.
That’s according to John Coury, a principal at business park owner Creslight Capital. He spoke at a Wednesday Zoom meeting to announce the renovations.
Other upgrades will include converting a loading dock into a new first-floor entrance to RiverCenter, a new pedestrian bridge from RiverCenter’s second floor to the plaza and a new direct entrance to the Bottlehouse office building.
That will help improve connections within Schlitz Park and to the nearby Milwaukee River, Coury said.
Meanwhile, RiverCenter, the Bottlehouse and the Stockhouse office building will have updated lobby and waiting areas. Those will include new LED lighting, new furnishings, new flooring and carpets, repainting walls and adding wood plating.
There also will be historic artifacts added to those buildings from the business park’s previous life as Joseph Schlitz Brewing Co.
The old powerhouse will be decorated with a large mural, with Schlitz Park working with the Milwaukee Downtown Business Improvement District on that project.
An artist hasn’t been announced. The goal is to integrate a sense of destination with the artist’s imagination of the history of Milwaukee and Schlitz Park, Coury said.
There also will be a new entrance off Cherry Street, as well as new tenant lounges and remodeled conference rooms. Rinka is the project architect.
The renovations have already started, with the plan to complete the work by March.
The project includes new food and beverage outlets that were announced in June.
Creslight said then it had a new contract with F Street Hospitality to reopen the Brown Bottle restaurant this fall at the Stockhouse and operate all food, beverage, catering and events at the business park.
That includes a new RiverCenter cafe that will replace Coffee With A Conscience, a 24-year-old social business venture of the Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corp.
Schlitz Park was sold in 2019 by Milwaukee developers Gary Grunau and Scott Sampson to Detroitbased Crestlight Capital and Fort Worth, Texas-based TPG Real Estate.
It has five buildings and 775,000 square feet of office space, with 31 tenants.
Some of the buildings date to 1870. After Schlitz Brewing closed, the Sampson and Grunau families converted the property into Schlitz Park in 1983.