Local investors buy Tower parcel - New industrial, office tenants will be sought for site

The eastern portion of Tower Automotive Inc.'s former industrial complex has been sold to local investors, who will seek new industrial and office tenants for the site.

That 86-acre parcel, bordered roughly by W. Capitol Drive, W. Townsend St., N. Hopkins St. and railroad tracks, was sold by Tower to Milwaukee Industrial Trade Center LLC. The group is led by Jerry Blomberg, owner of Midwest Rail & Dismantling Inc., a West Milwaukee demolition firm.

The former Tower buildings, totaling about 2.2 million square feet, include large portions of heavy industrial space that is becoming scarcer as Milwaukee-area manufacturing sites are converted into new uses, Blomberg said Tuesday. The buildings include cranes for lifting heavy materials, as well as railroad access, he said.

Blomberg declined to provide the purchase price. Dickman Co. has been hired to find tenants for the buildings.

Dickman Co. has already fielded interest from prospective tenants, including local manufacturers, said Samuel D. Dickman, company principal. Some of the industrial space might be demolished in order to divide the buildings among new tenants, he said.

"We've got several people looking at different parts of that space," Dickman said.

Some 450,000 square feet is being used for storage, Dickman said.

Dickman said his firm also is seeking tenants for the former Tower office building.

That 230,000-square-foot building on Hopkins St., known for its Art Deco design, is being mothballed until a new use can be found, he said. Finding tenants for the office building will be a bigger challenge, given the general weakness in the office market and the property's location in an area better known for industrial space, Dickman said.

The former Tower complex covers about 140 acres and extends westward to N. 35th St.

The site for decades provided jobs to thousands of Milwaukeeans as an A.O. Smith Corp. automotive frame factory. It was sold in 1997 to Tower, which lost work as the U.S. auto industry declined. Tower closed its operations March 30.

The Common Council in 2005 designated the Tower site as a redevelopment area. Department of City Development officials in 2007 will begin using a $250,000 federal grant to create a detailed plan for the property. Much of the plan's success will hinge on the city's ability to get more federal money to help with an environmental cleanup that could cost millions of dollars.

In May, a new $24 million city public works office opened at the site, at 3850 N. 35th St. The 230,000-square-foot field office houses 480 city employees. Several old factory buildings were razed so the new public works building could be built.

Also, some former Tower buildings on the site's western portion have been sold to investors in recent years. Those buildings have been leased to various businesses, including a metal scrap recycler and a company that repairs postal carrier bags for the U.S. Postal Service.

The only property left at the complex that's still owned by Tower is 14 acres of vacant space that is south of Capitol Drive and east of 35th St., Dickman said.