Milwaukee office building in foreclosure following departures of major tenants

Listen to this article

The 100 East high-rise in downtown Milwaukee is in foreclosure after losing an anchor tenant last year.

The 35-story office tower at 100 E. Wisconsin Ave. has entered receivership as part of a foreclosure case that the lender Wilmington Trust brought against the owners of the building in April.

The foreclosure case against Hertz is working its way through Milwaukee County Circuit Court. Judge Christopher Foley appointed Friedman Real Estate Management as the receiver of the property.

An affiliate of Hertz Investment Group, of Woodland Hills, California, bought the building and an adjacent parking structure in 2016 for $78 million as part of a $416.9 million deal that included office buildings in Indiana and Ohio.

Just months after Hertz bought the property, however, the anchor tenant Michael Best & Friedrich announced it planned to move its more than 200 employees from 100 East to the 21-story BMO Tower, 790 N. Water Street, which was completed last year. The law firm completed its move in April 2020.

Another major tenant, PricewaterhouseCoopers, also announced it would leave the 100 East building in 2016. The firm took its 250 workers to the 833 East building in December.

Michel Best’s expected move led Morningstar Credit Ratings to place a $51.9 million mortgage for the property on its watchlist in 2018. The law firm held more than 90,000 square feet in the 435,629-square-foot building.

A listing from Colliers International advertises 73,195 square feet of space as being available in the building, a figure that doesn’t take into account Michel Best’s former offices.

The 100 East tower was built in 1989 and has an assessed value of $73.73 million. Follow @natebeck9