Milwaukee Office Market Report

Downtown relocations bolster fundamentals in the locale. Continued economic development efforts in the Milwaukee CBD have sparked some improvements in office performance against broader headwinds. The recent announcement of a headquarter relocation for financial services company Fiserv, Inc. is set to bring roughly 800 jobs to a new downtown location in the Westown neighborhood. This move comes after Brookfield-based Milwaukee Tool recently expanded into downtown, adding more than 1,200 employees over a three-year period that began in 2021. Local government financial support of these projects may encourage additional companies to migrate into the urban core in the coming years. This would have a long-term positive impact for the metro’s overall office performance. The Milwaukee CBD, which was the only major urban core in the Midwest to report vacancy compression through late 2022, holds approximately one-third of the market’s stock. Property performance in other areas of the metro, however, will remain tame amid national economic headwinds, with availability continuing to expand while leasing activity holds sluggish.