The Milwaukee Business Journal presented Jack Shaffer, chairman and founder, and Craig Phillips, executive vice president of Development, with the Deal of the Year Award for having negotiated a building sale to Seda International Packaging Group, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of packaging for food industries, at Park 94 at Mt. Pleasant, an 84-acre business park in southeast Wisconsin. Seda International Packaging Group selected Building 1, a 323,610-square-foot LEED Silver-certified warehouse and manufacturing facility located at 12501 Globe Drive, Mt. Pleasant, Wisconsin in Park 94, an HSA Commercial Real Estate development. Mr. Phillips was present at the ceremony and luncheon to accept the award on HSA’s behalf.

Seda International Packaging Group selected Park 94 at Mt. Pleasant after a competitive review of sites in the United States and Canada. The company projects it will make a $76 million investment in local operations at the Park 94 location, which will create almost 200 jobs. Based in Naples, Italy, Seda is comprised of 13 companies and 13 manufacturing plants in nine countries. Seda produces packaging for major global brands for a range of consumer goods such as food, ice cream, frozen food and confectionary.

Largest LEED-certified industrial property sale in area since 2008

The transaction marked the largest LEED-certified industrial property sale in Wisconsin since 2008, according to CoStar data. The 323,610-square-foot building was the first purely speculative LEED industrial development in Southeast Wisconsin and is one of few LEED industrial properties in the Midwest. The facility is expandable to 664,610 square feet, with 30’ clear-height ceilings, 40 docks, four drive-in doors, and a 151-car, 80-trailer expandable parking area.

The Park 94 facility was developed to achieve the LEED Core and Shell Silver designation while meeting the practical needs of prospective users. Drought-tolerant plants and bioswales reduce potable water usage, for example, while T5 fluorescent lights indoors reduce electricity. Building materials include recycled steel and crushed concrete, with low-emitting indoor paints, adhesives and sealants selected to maintain indoor air quality. The building also is designed to allow as much natural daylight as possible in the shopfloor and office space.

Located just 15 miles north of the Illinois-Wisconsin border at the intersection of State Highway 20 and International Drive, Park 94 at Mt. Pleasant is a multi-use business park development of Chicago-based HSA Commercial. The LEED facility, along with a 125,000-square-foot warehouse/ manufacturing facility, constitute Phase I of the 84-acre project, which is slated to offer additional warehouse and distribution facilities with 24 acres designated for retail use. Maysteel LLC, based in Menomonee Falls, Wis., occupies 40,744 square feet of space in the smaller warehouse, which offers 30’ clear-height ceilings, 21 docks, two drive-in doors, and 155-car parking. Earlier this year, Allstates Trucking signed a long-term lease for the remaning 63,838 square feet in the smaller warehouse building bringing the facility to 100% occupancy.

Park 94 is located in a tax-increment district (TID) that is part of 950-acre development zone. The zone will accommodate corporate, professional office, hotel, research, light-industrial buildings, retail shops and restaurants in the heart of fast-growing Mt. Pleasant. With access to two Interstate 94 interchanges and State Highway 20, as well as rail connections, Park 94 offers excellent visibility in the rapidly emerging Chicago-Milwaukee corridor and provides access to labor markets north and south. Nearby corporate residents include New Holland, Putzmeister, S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc., and a variety of business hotels, restaurants and other amenities.

Representing HSA Commercial Real Estate in this transaction were David Bercu, principal; David Liebman, senior associate; and Brendan Green, senior associate, with Colliers International. James Babiasz, principal, and Patrick Dedering, commercial real estate broker assistant, from The Boerke Company represented Seda International Packaging Group.