BMO Tower development starts in downtown Milwaukee with parking structure demolition

After downtown Milwaukee's newest office tower is completed two years from now, it will help spur redevelopment of a neighboring building into a possible hotel, apartments and other new uses.

The 25-story BMO Tower's groundbreaking ceremony was held Thursday, about 11 months after the project was announced by BMO Harris Bank and development firm Irgens.

The demolition of the bank's seven-level parking structure, at the southeast corner of N. Water and E. Wells streets, begins Friday. Once that site is cleared, BMO Tower's construction will start.

It will be anchored by BMO Harris Bank's Wisconsin headquarters, leasing 123,000 square feet, which will move from its neighboring 20-story building at 770 N. Water St.

The other announced tenant in the tower is the Michael Best Friedrich law firm, which is leasing 59,000 square feet and will move from the 100 East tower, 100 E. Wisconsin Ave.

Irgens and its leasing agent, Colliers International, are seeking tenants for the remaining 187,000 square feet.

Irgens will complete the $132.6 million BMO Tower in December 2019.

After the bank moves from its current headquarters, Irgens will begin redeveloping that 49-year-old building. The firm bought it from BMO Harris in August for $7.1 million.

That remodeling will be extensive, with much of the interior demolished, said Mark Irgens, the firm's chief executive officer.

"It'll be a completely brand new building on the inside," he said.

Irgens also plans to replace the windows with larger windows that will lighten the building's appearance.

Much of the building likely will be transformed for uses other than offices, Irgens said.

Some concepts include a 100-room hotel, combined with "a couple hundred" apartments with rents aimed at middle-income people who work in the downtown area, as well as street-level restaurant and retail space, he said.

Irgens doesn't develop apartments or hotels, so the firm would seek partners for those uses, he said.

"We're in the process of trying to identify those folks," Irgens said.

The redeveloped building's tenants also would use a parking structure that Irgens plans to develop on a parking lot on N. Broadway, south of the BMO Tower.

Meanwhile, BMO Tower will include a flagship bank branch at Water and Wells streets, as well as additional street-level space for restaurants and other retail uses on Water St. and at Wells St. and Broadway.

The design, by Kahler Slater, will include two different types of exterior glass. It will feature floor-to-ceiling windows and outdoor terraces similar to those at Irgens' new 833 East office building, 833 E. Michigan St.

BMO Tower also will have a parking structure on the lower 10 floors, a fitness center, a conference center and other amenities for tenants.

The additional office tenants will likely come from both downtown and the suburbs, as well as from companies new to the Milwaukee area, Irgens said. That's similar to the mix at 833 East, which is anchored by the Godfrey & Kahn law firm and is 80% leased.

Irgens said BMO Tower and the redeveloped 20-story building also will benefit from being located on The Hop, the new streetcar which the city begins operating in fall 2018.

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"I'm very bullish on the streetcar and the positive impact that will have on downtown urban living," Irgens said.

Tom Daykin can be emailed at tdaykin@jrn.com, and followed on Twitter and Facebook.