AmFam sells downtown Milwaukee building but real estate activity increases 55%
In November, American Family Insurance announced that it was selling a building in downtown Milwaukee instead of developing it, but the news isn’t as bad as it seems.
MILWAUKEE – In November, American Family Insurance announced that it was selling a building in downtown Milwaukee instead of developing it, but the news isn’t as bad as it seems.
AmFam’s decision is based on the fact that a certain portion of their employees will still be working from home, but a closer look at downtown tells a different story; that the recovery is doing much better than in other cities.
Three years ago, American Family Insurance saw a brick-and-mortar opportunity, planning to renovate the historic Mandel Building on Martin Luther King Drive into new office space.
“As an organization, we are embracing new ways of working,” said Kari Grasee.
Grasee oversees real estate for the company, and with nearly 70% of employees fully remote, she sees another opportunity in a new space.
“We really take a step back and understand what our future needs are, and then we take action as the opportunities arise,” Grasee said.
American Family sells the Mandel Building, but while they are retreating, an expert is confident the space won’t be wasted and downtown is doing just fine.
“In the downtown market, activity is up 390% from June 2020, and 55% from January of this year alone,” said Andy Hunt, director of the Marquette University Center for real estate.
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Hunt said more tenants are looking for more space downtown, even with the rise of remote work.
“If you’re going to leave your house where you’re very comfortable with your office setup, you want to come into an exciting environment, where you want to be,” Hunt said.
Hunt said shorter commutes, coupled with recent successful projects like The Avenue, still make downtown Milwaukee a work destination.
“We’re lucky to be the size of the city that we are,” Hunt said.
The Milwaukee Downtown Business Improvement District also provided data from its latest Downtown Workforce Survey showing that 50 downtown employers estimate that between 60% and 65% of their employees are back at work. office, and they expect that number to increase by the end of the year.