03_06_16_suburban firms moving downtown to attract and keep millennials_mjs
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9/27/2016 Suburban firms moving downtown to attract and keep millennials
http://archive.jsonline.com/business/suburbanfirmsmovingdowntowntoattractandkeepmillennialsb99679651z1371224511.html 1/7
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BUSINESS
Suburban rms moving downtown toattract and keep millennials
The former Laacke & Joys building at 1433 N. Water St. is shown south of development taking place lastweek along N. Water St. just north of downtown. The building will be combined with a ve-story additionto create 113,830 square feet of of ce space. Credit: Mark Hoffman
By Tom Daykin of the Journal Sentinel
March 06, 2016
As HSA Bank continues adding hundreds of employees to itsdowntown Milwaukee operation, the company is going to hiremore millennials like Michael Zimmerman.
Zimmerman, 28, joined HSA Bank in June, and works as aninformation technology professional. Zimmerman lives
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downtown, and wanted to work there after previously commutingto a Brookfield business park.
He now walks to work, saving a lot of money on gas.Zimmerman can walk to restaurants or food trucks for lunch,
instead of driving. Also, it's easier to meet his friends after work —because many of his fellow millennials have jobs in the downtown area.
Those factors make HSA Bank's Schlitz Park offices more appealing tomillennials, sometimes defined as people born from 1981 through 1996.The need to attract and retain younger professionals is driving moreemployers like HSA Bank to move downtown from Milwaukee's suburbs,business operators and office developers say.
"The location is part of the attraction" for younger workers, said ChadWilkins, president of HSA Bank, which manages health savings accounts.
"As a greater portion of the workforce becomes millennial, the employersare looking for sites that will attract the best talent," said developerStewart Wangard, who's lining up tenants for his new downtown officeproject. "The urban sites have better alignment with millennial values."
A Public Policy Forum survey of Milwaukeearea millennials found that37% agreed that downtown is the location in the metro area where theywould most like to work.
That survey, released in December, said 29% of the respondents disagreedwith that statement, while 34% neither agreed nor disagreed.
Also, 32% of area millennials said it's important to live within walkingdistance of work, with 39% saying it was not important and 29% saying itwas neither important nor unimportant.
Bank Moved From Glendale
HSA Bank moved to 1515 N. RiverCenter Drive, within Schlitz Park'sRiverCenter Building, in October 2014 from Glendale's Bayshore TownCenter. It's leasing 50,000 square feet.
Fire ghters union chiefplayed role in high-risezoning ght
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The company has since expanded that operation from 71 employees to269 employees, and expects to have around 500 employees at Schlitz Parkby the end of 2018, Wilkins said.
Schlitz Park has other businesses, such as CorvisaCloud, Infosys andTrusted Media Brands Inc., formerly known as Reader's DigestAssociation Inc., that have moved there from suburban locations over thepast three to four years.
Schlitz Park developer Gary Grunau and his partners since 2010 havemade investments to help the business park attract those firms.
That includes demolishing the former Schlitz brew house and replacing itwith a public square; new fitness centers; a bikesharing station, andrenovations at the Brown Bottle restaurant.
Grunau in August announced another series of improvements at thebusiness park. He recently landed a software firm that will lease 20,000square feet, but declined to provide more information until the lease isfinal.
Other employers that have moved to the downtown area include PlunkettRaysich Architects. The firm in May moved from Park Place businesspark, east of Highway 45 and north of W. Good Hope Road, to 209 S.Water St., in Walker's Point.
The firm has since hired younger employees who primarily live in thedowntown and east side area, said David Raysich, managing partner.
Some employees now walk or bike to work, he said, and coworkers oftenjoin each other for lunch by walking to nearby restaurants.
"That never happened in our old location," Raysich said.
Direct Supply Inc., based on Milwaukee's northwest side, in 2012 openeda technology center at 1020 N. Broadway, within Milwaukee School ofEngineering's downtown campus. It has since expanded the center, whichhas 70 employees.
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The company, which helps build, equip and operate longterm care andsenior living communities, opened the downtown facility in part to helpattract younger employees, said Bob Klein, senior vice president.
Direct Supply, which also is expanding its headquarters, has long hiredcollege interns. The downtown tech center makes it easier for them towork for the company while also taking classes, Klein said.
"And, of course, we hope that their positive experiences with us as internsleads them to want fulltime employment with us," he said.
Tower Built With Youth In Mind
Meanwhile, downtown's largest ongoing office project, NorthwesternMutual's 32story office tower, is partly tied to "the growing preferenceamong young professionals to work in an urban environment," said SandyBotcher, vice president of facility operations.
"We believe the unique nature of being located on the lakefront and in thecenter of downtown enhances our ability to recruit top talent locally,regionally and nationally," Botcher said in a statement.
The $450 million tower and commons area will total 1.1 million squarefeet when it's completed south of E. Mason St., about a block west of N.Prospect Ave., by the end of 2017. The company will add 1,900 jobs by2030 to its downtown campus, where it now has 3,600 employees.
Other investors and developers are pitching their downtown locations tosuburban businesses.
Wangard Partners Inc. plans to create a 113,830squarefoot officebuilding by combining the renovated fourstory southern portion of theformer Laacke & Joys building, 1433 N. Water St., with a fivestoryaddition. That addition would replace the building's northern portion,which would be demolished.
Wangard said his firm has several prospective office tenants, includingtwo potential anchors.
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He declined to name them, but one commercial industry real estate sourcesaid they are Brookfieldbased business marketing agency Bader Rutter &Associates Inc. and Oak Creekbased Master Lock Co. Executives fromboth companies said they were considering new locations, but declined tocomment on the Laacke & Joys site.
Wangard said the Laacke & Joys location, within walking distance ofrestaurants, stores and apartments, would help it attract office tenants.
"They want a unique environment that will attract the best and brightesttalent," he said.
The new Chicagobased owners of downtown's Two Fifty office tower,250 E. Wisconsin Ave., also hope to tap into that trend. That 20storybuilding is undergoing extensive renovations.
"I think employers are looking for a bigger labor pool, a more talentedlabor pool," said Jen Sweeney, director of property management atMillbrook Properties, one of the building's new owners.
But millennials aren't driving every company move.
Life sciences consulting firm Dohmen Co. shifted its headquarters fromMenomonee Falls to 190 N. Milwaukee St., in the Historic Third Ward, inJanuary 2015, and is expanding to a second building.
But "the desire to attract millennials was not the primary reason" forDohmen's move, said Sarah Zwicky, public relations director.
And, while it wasn't a major factor in Trusted Media's 2014 move fromGreendale to Schlitz Park, the downtown location has provided "a positiveside effect, as we've recently seen an uptick in millennialaged new hires,"said Catherine Cassidy, chief content officer.
Meanwhile, downtown parking is a concern for relocating suburbanbusinesses that use surface parking lots for their employees, said WilliamBonifas, a Milwaukeebased executive vice president at CBRE Inc.commercial real estate brokerage.
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Downtown offices often need more costly parking structures, althoughsome, such as Schlitz Park and the new Dohmen and Plunkett Raysichoffices, include parking lots.
"It is a complicating factor," Bonifas said.
Indeed, the Public Policy Forum survey said 74% of Milwaukee areamillennials named affordable parking as an important factor in their idealworkplace.
That was the No. 1 factor cited. Having a variety of restaurant optionswithin walking distance was the No. 2 factor, selected by 50% of thosesurveyed.
Other factors were having a variety of retail and shopping within walkingdistance, 46%; a workplace close to mass transit, 44%; a variety of nightlife and entertainment options within walking distance, 42%; and an easybike ride to work, 38%.
For Doug Kunde, walking to work is a big advantage. Kunde and his wifeare moving from Germantown to a condo building just a few blocks fromhis job at Plunkett Raysich.
Kunde, 32, said working downtown also means more options for lunch,and social events after work.
"There's just so much more to do down here," he said.
Facebook: facebook.com/JSBusiness
Twitter: twitter.com/TomDaykin
About Tom DaykinTom Daykin covers commercial real estate and development.
@tomdaykin [email protected] 414-224-2131
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9/27/2016 Suburban firms moving downtown to attract and keep millennials
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