Pitch made for Century City as site for vehicles
Nine members of the Milwaukee Common Council on Monday pitched the Century City Business Park as a possible site for Oshkosh Corp. to produce “next generation” U.S. Postal Service delivery vehicles.
Last week, the U.S. Postal Service announced it had awarded a multibillion-dollar contract to the company to build between 50,000 and 165,000 “next generation” delivery vehicles in the next 10 years.
“Once the home of A.O. Smith Corp./Tower Automotive, Inc., this is a site ready-made for a use of this type,” the council members wrote to Oshkosh Corp. President and Chief Operating Officer John Pfeifer. “The City of Milwaukee has already made substantial investments to prepare for just such a purpose and our Department of City Development stands ready to make certain that what few gaps may remain are closed to your satisfaction.”
They also wrote that the jobs that would be created are the type that supported families and long-term employment in the surrounding neighborhoods for generations.
The letter was signed by Ald. Khalif Rainey, in whose district Century City is located, Common Council President Cavalier Johnson and Alds. Nik Kovac, Nikiya Dodd, Chantia Lewis, Michael Murphy, Mark Borkowski, José Pérez and Russell Stamper II.
Oshkosh Defense, a subsidiary of Oshkosh Corp., will be building vehicles that are more sustainable than the ones currently used by the Postal Service, the company said. The vehicles will be zero-emission battery electric vehicles and fuel-efficient low-emission internal combustion engine vehicles, according to the company.
The contract states that the Postal Service will pay Oshkosh Defense $482 million to finalize the “production vehicle design” and for tooling and factory build-outs.
Oshkosh Corp. is expected to announce this year where it will produce the new vehicles in the U.S. Production will begin in the second half of 2023, Pfeifer said previously.
The production of the USPS vehicles would be a significant boost to Central City, a north side business park that has struggled to attract new development.
The Common Council and Mayor Tom Barrett in 2020 approved a $13.4 million public bailout for the site.
Strauss Brands Inc. had planned to move its slaughterhouse and meat processing operations to Century City from Franklin but withdrew in 2019 after meeting with opposition. Rainey went from supporter to opponent of the project.
Good City Brewing and Talgo’s rail car refurbishing facility are currently the site’s sole employers.
An indoor urban farm is also planned for an industrial building at Century City.
Legislation urging the company to build the vehicles at Century City will come before the Common Council Tuesday morning.
The council members in the letter said the next generation vehicles “represent an exciting step towards not only improving the service provided by the USPS, but in demonstrating the benefits of using cleaner energy in corporate vehicle fleets.”
“Looked at another way, they are about the future,” they wrote. “This is a future in which those who live and work near Century City deserve to share.”