As reported in the Milwaukee Business Journal:
Phoenix Investors is working with the city of Milwaukee to clear and eventually redevelop a vacant, blighted industrial property on North 27th Street.
The property is at 4041 N. 27th St. in the 30th Street Industrial Corridor, where the city and other stakeholders are striving to attract more manufacturing jobs. The 8.3-acre property neighbors a larger former Aldrich Chemical Co. Inc. building Phoenix Investors bought in May 2015, and has been renovating for future tenants, said David Marks, Phoenix managing director.
The neighboring land has been neglected and a home to criminal activity that hurts the entire neighborhood, Marks said. Phoenix Investors hopes to demolish its last remaining buildings in March, he said. In the short term, it will be green space and parking for Phoenix’s other property on 27th Street. Eventually, Phoenix intends to develop more industrial buildings there.
This adjacent property was really a sore spot within the community, Marks said. It is beneficial to us as an adjacent property owner and a stakeholder in the community and it really is a win for the neighborhood.
Phoenix Investors for about six months has worked with city of Milwaukee officials on the effort, Marks said. Phoenix in September sued the property’s prior owner, Everest Power Systems LLC, and the parties worked out a settlement under which a Phoenix affiliate took ownership, Marks said.
“We’ve scrubbed a good portion of the site of some of the overgrown vegetation and some of the other places vagrants can hang out,” Marks said. “It’s no longer the problem it was six months ago.”
Now Phoenix is working with the city to foreclose the property, a process that will clear up any existing liens or other debts on the land. That agreement is not final and requires approval from the Milwaukee Common Council. A file regarding the agreement was submitted to the council on Tuesday for review.
“What it will do is provide clean title to the future owner,” Marks said.
Meanwhile, Phoenix Investors’ construction division is renovating the 289,000-square-foot former Aldrich plant on 27th Street. Marks said leasing activity is good, and one potential tenant is in talks to occupy a substantial portion of the building.
