MANPOWER HQ NEIGHBOR RAZED

Developer had Promised $10 Million Renovation of Floorless Shell

By Michael Horne
and the Milwaukee World Hound Dog Team

Crews are busily demolishing 1330 N. Martin Luther King Drive, [See Map] a 22,782 square foot [floor area] vacant former power plant nestled between the Milwaukee headquarters of Time Warner Cable and the World headquarters of Manpower, Inc. The news was first reported in a July 17th, 2008 post in the Small Business Times [SBT], and the activity is in plain view from many vantage points downtown. The site is to be used as green space and as a potential development location.
The building, owned by Brewery Works, Inc. had been vacant for years, yet was a key component in the negotiations that led to the public financing assistance package for the Manpower building and hideous parking garage in 2006-2007. Developer Gary Grunau, who received a $4.7 million grant from the city as part of the $30 million TIF 41, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Tom Daykin on December 22, 2005, that "a planned $10 million remodeling of a former power plant south of the Manpower headquarters will create 60,000 square feet for 240 employees from other businesses."
The building was mentioned in hearings on the project, with Grunau emphasizing that Manpower did not want the building to remain undeveloped if it were to move its headquarters downtown. An analysis provided by the City of Milwaukee Legislative Reference Bureau for the January 31st, 2006 Zoning, Neighborhoods & Development Committee hearing on TIF 41 said "The developer ... plans a $4.7 million renovation of the North Powerhouse for office space based on conditions set forth by Manpower." [Emphasis added.]
As late as September, 2007, according to the SBT, Grunau planned a fall start on the project, but later determined the renovation was not feasible.
It is not hard to see why. The building, which appears to be seven stories from the street, is merely a shell, and contains no floors or other infrastructure. You'd think Grunau, a Licensed Professional Engineer since October 14th, 1966, would have known some time ago that the building was not likely to be redevelopable.
For instance, Grunau tore down a handful of floorless shell buildings when he bought and redeveloped the adjacent Schlitz brewery. The nearby Pabst Brewery developers also have removed floorless shell buildings.
But in neither of those cases was the public led to believe that there were actual plans to redevelop the buildings as "office space for 240 workers." You can't help but imagine that the promise to develop this undevelopable building was used to help secure city funding for the Manpower TIF and to ward off opposition to the project by those who might seek to preserve the building.
Also, the situation makes you wonder about the cupidity -- or is it culpability -- of Manpower officials. Did they ever grill Grunau about the building's potential? Did they question his analysis of its developability? Did they wonder why nothing was happening with the ugly building next door? Or were they in on it from the beginning?
Consider this a cautionary tale for officials and the public the next time smooth talking developers make wild promises in exchange for taxpayer millions.
In this scenario, the best strategy to tear down a building is to promise to improve it. This mollifies the preservationists, and prevents a distraction from muddying the issue at hand, which is getting your hands on city dollars.
Andrea Rowe Richards of the Department of City Development said the powerhouse was not part of TIF 41 term sheet or project plan and received no public financing. But it sure was part of the negotiations.