State DOJ seeking city office space for lab

The Wisconsin Department of Justice is shopping for a new office to house its Milwaukee Crime Lab.

The department issued a request for proposals from developers and property owners in November seeking 70,000 square feet of office and laboratory space in an existing city building that has easy access to the interstate freeway system.

The Department of Administration's Division of State Facilities will select a proposal for the new Crime Lab before the end of January, said Bill Peterson, real estate portfolio manager for the division. The state expects the Crime Lab to be in a new building by July 2008.

"It's an aggressive timetable, but the Justice Department is hiring extra forensic scientists in Milwaukee who need the space," said Peterson.

The Milwaukee Crime Lab request for proposals is one of the largest tenants currently in the market looking for office space in the city of Milwaukee, said Jack Jacobson, a principal and office property broker for NAI MLG Commercial, Brookfield.

"Considering the timeline, there's no opportunity for a build-to-suit deal," he said.

While the Crime Lab could be relocated anywhere in the city, Peterson expects most of the proposals to come from developers, brokers and owners with buildings in the downtown area.

The Milwaukee Crime Lab is currently located in a 45,000-square-foot building owned by the state at South 11th Street and West Lapham Avenue on the city's south side. The 30-year-old building cannot be expanded to accommodate the Crime Lab's future growth. The state has not decided what will happen to the old Crime Lab facility, said Peterson.

The Justice Department received authorization to expand its Milwaukee Crime Lab by adding DNA analysts and other forensic experts in the 2007-2009 state biennium budget, said Kevin St. John, a DOJ spokesman. The department is acting quickly to hire the new employees and upgrade the Milwaukee Crime Lab facilities, he said.

Peterson anticipates receiving between six and 12 proposals from developers, brokers and property owners. Considering the size of the office request, he expects most proposals to include buildings in downtown Milwaukee.
Proposals coming

Jacobson plans to offer the Justice Department space at the Schlitz Park Corporate Center in downtown Milwaukee. The advantage of the Schlitz Park location is there is ample parking and the ability to provide extra security for the lab, Jacobson said.

The criteria for the Crime Lab building in the request for proposal included security because the forensic scientists are dealing with evidence used in criminal trials. Because of the laboratory space needs, the building's heating, air conditioning and ventilation system also has to be state-of-the-art, said Peterson. The lab also needs parking for a minimum of 77 vehicles.

Considering the number of office vacancies in the downtown class B office markets, there is no shortage of available buildings that could accommodate the Milwaukee Crime Lab, said Ned Purtell, a principal and broker with RFP Commercial Inc., Milwaukee.

The Department of Administration has hired Mayer Helminiak Architects, Mequon, and Affiliated Engineers, Madison, to design the new Crime Lab facility. The state did not release a dollar figure of what it will spend on the new lab.

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source: bizjournals.com

JCTC to start work on allied health building

The appearance of the Jefferson Community and Technical College campus in downtown Louisville will undergo significant changes soon.

On tap is the addition of an allied health and nursing building and possible major renovations to its existing classroom buildings.

A groundbreaking for the $25.6 million allied health building is tentatively slated for May, according to JCTC President Anthony Newberry.

The three-story, 100,000-square-foot building will be constructed on the north side of the JCTC campus and will connect with its existing VTI building at Second and Chestnut streets.

Newberry said he expects an 18- to 20-month build-out for the project, with the building fully ready for use by spring 2010.

Full funding for the project was approved during the 2006 session of the Kentucky General Assembly.
Demand from medical center, hospitals

The building will house all of JCTC's allied health programs, which currently are scattered among its main downtown campus, its Jefferson Technical Campus at Eighth and Chestnut streets and its campus in southwest Jefferson County.

The allied health building will include a small clinic, laboratory space, a library, an interactive television conference center, computer stations, faculty offices and student and teacher lounges.

The building is intended to help meet demand for trained students to work at hospitals in the Louisville Medical Center and across the community.

It will be built on land that is partly vacant and partly used for parking.

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Crain heating and cooling expands into larger facility

Crain Heating, Air Conditioning & Home Generators Inc. has said goodbye to cramped quarters and hello to a much-needed larger space.

The Jeffersonville business, a dealer for Trane heating and air conditioning equipment and Guardian home generators, recently moved to a 26,000-square-foot location at 2005 E. 10th St.

Dan Crain Jr., company founder and president, said his company is leasing the space, located about a half-mile from its former offices.

Crain Heating is in negotiations to buy the building and 5-acre site for an undisclosed amount.

The property has been vacant since Slone Suzuki car dealership relocated its parts and service operations to Clarksville earlier this year.
More than sixfold increase in space

The relocation represents a sizable expansion for Crain Heating, which had been operating in only 4,000 square feet of leased space.

But Dan Crain already has figured out a use for just about every inch of the site.

For starters, about 10,000 square feet have been set aside for warehouse operations. Having room to move and store inventory gives the company greater flexibility in terms of equipment purchases and deliveries, inventory management and work schedules for installation crews and service technicians, Dan Crain said.

That was not possible before the move, he said. At the former location, daily equipment deliveries were necessary because the company was limited to only 1,000 square feet of warehouse space.

Besides an expanded warehouse, Dan Crain has plans for a 2,000-square-foot showroom, which Crain Heating did not have at its previous location.

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Briarcliff's $50M plan includes hotel, office building

A Kansas City developer expects to open the area's first Marriott Renaissance Hotel in late 2009 in Briarcliff. The $50 million-plus project aims to accentuate the Northland development's upscale appeal.

Rick Baier said the 250-room hotel will complement an adjacent office building that's under construction. The Hilltop at Briarcliff, containing 220,000 square feet on nine floors, will nearly double Briarcliff's office space when it opens in the summer.

Baier, who's developing the hotel with Dan Carr, said "we needed to step up the flag" with a full-service brand that includes restaurants and 10,000 square feet of meeting space at Briarcliff.

"We plan on being the leader as far as occupancy and average daily rates," Baier said.

Jeff Marvel, a Parkville-based lodging industry consultant, said Briarcliff is ready for the Renaissance's boutiquelike feel. The chain's nearest locations are in St. Louis and Des Moines. Weekday rates at the Renaissance St. Louis Grand & Suites Hotel begin at $189.

"Ten years ago, it wouldn't have made any sense because Briarcliff hadn't developed beyond residential," Marvel said.

Although Kansas City's hotel room rates lag those of larger cities where Renaissance Hotels are located, Marvel said Clay County now has nothing comparable. Current choices are limited to casino properties, he said. As a result, some executive travelers and meetings go elsewhere, either to Downtown or hotels near Kansas City International Airport in Platte County.

The new hotel will receive tax increment financing, which also has supported Briarcliff's other commercial development.

"There's absolutely no way the economics of the hotel would come anywhere close to working without the TIF," Baier said.

The Briarcliff West TIF Plan's Ninth Amendment, which includes the new office building, incited controversy after it was approved in January because the project will return all new taxes to the developer. Briarcliff's earlier phases receive TIF's standard reimbursement -- all new property taxes and half of new sales, earnings and other economic activity taxes.

Most of the Ninth Amendment's $132 million TIF budget will pay for new roads and other public works. That budget includes $15 million in what's called Super TIF, which captures the economic activity tax increment, which earlier projects do not.

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source: bizjournals.com

Argyle building owner nears a sale to out-of-town buyer

The St. Louis-based urban housing developer that owns the Argyle building in downtown Kansas City wants to sell the vacant structure.

McGowan & Walsh LLC wants $5.3 million for the building at 306 E. 12th St., across the street from City Hall.

Gib Kerr of Sperry Van Ness, the listing broker, said he's close to a deal with an unidentified out-of-town buyer.

Kerr also wouldn't reveal the prospective acquirer's plans, but he said housing or a hotel is likely.

The offering comes after McGowan & Walsh's October reorganization, which removed the firm from new projects.

Kevin McGowan, a McGowan & Walsh principal who formed a new company to run the firm's existing developments, couldn't be reached for comment.

Kerr said his client decided to concentrate on finishing two residential condominium conversions in the Crossroads Arts District.

After buying the Argyle building in 2002, McGowan & Walsh gutted the 10-story structure's upper eight floors and abated asbestos.

Kerr said Sprint Center's opening a block away makes the Argyle's location prime, as does the Kansas City Power & Light District.

Tim Schaffer of RED Brokerage LLC said Downtown's revitalization is drawing attention to once-overlooked properties. Still, he cautioned, the turnaround probably will come slowly.

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source: bizjournals.com