posted on January 02, 2012 12:51
Milwaukee manufacturer WPC Technologies Inc. bought a roughly 74,000-square-foot industrial building in Oak Creek from AnchorBank and plans to move its operations there.
WPC Technologies paid $950,000 for the 4.7-acre Oak Creek site at 7350 S. 6th St., a good price even though the building will need electrical and plumbing repairs, saidBob Kruse, WPC executive vice president. The building had been listed for sale for $1.35 million.
A move from the company’s Milwaukee facilities will take at least a year, Kruse said. WPC Technologies has started discussions about public financial support with state and Oak Creek officials, he said.
The reason for the move is two-fold. The company will operate more efficiently in the one-story Oak Creek building than in its three multistory buildings in Milwaukee, Kruse said. The new building also will provide room for long-term growth for WPC Technologies, which has 35 employees, he said.
“Future growth is something we’re always looking for and this allows us to accomplish some of those goals as we look for future opportunities,” Kruse said.
The company will sell its four-building Milwaukee complex at 300 S. Barclay St., Kruse said. WPC Technologies is using three of the buildings.
The company makes pigments for noncorrosive paints used on airplanes and buildings, for example.
Captain Frederick Pabst Mansion Inc. bought an 11,000-square-foot high school building on West Wisconsin Avenue with long-term plans to move its offices there to renovate more floors of the historic mansion.
The nonprofit organization uses the third floor and the attic of the mansion for its offices and operations, but plans to renovate the space as it did the Pabst Mansion’s first and second floors, said executive director Dawn Hourigan. The renovation work cannot start until the offices move into the newly purchased building across the street, she said.
“We have every intention of opening up all of the other floors for restoration and public viewing,” Hourigan said.
The building, formerly owned by Eagle Prairie Inc., Milwaukee, is leased to Assata High School, which will remain there until the school finds a new location, Hourigan said.
“They would like to stay there for another two years, giving them enough time to find new accommodations and better accommodations,” she said.
The Boerke Company Inc. has marketed the property for sale for about a year, said David Pudlosky, who on Thursday was promoted to partner at the Milwaukee-based firm.
“The deal came together relatively quickly,” he said. “It was kind of a perfect scenario of an individual who wanted to sell and a group that is literally across the street.”
The Pabst Mansion organization also wants to buy the Brett Funeral Home across Wisconsin Avenue from the mansion, Hourigan said. The purchase is a long-term prospect because the owners currently are not interested in selling, she said. Eventually, the high school and potentially the funeral home could be converted into Pabst Mansion education center with exhibit spaces, a lecture hall and gift shop, she said.
1/2/12, San Antonio Business Journal, Sean Ryan