International intrigue

Manpower’s new home stimulates downtown Milwaukee

As one of the state’s largest companies and one of the world’s largest staffing firms, Manpower could have built a headquarters with soaring towers or flashy accents.

But, true to its global approach, Manpower’s new headquarters, built along the Milwaukee River, gains its physical presence in a more European fashion.

“A lot of buildings in Europe look toward the river with their front doors,” said Gary Grunau, project developer and employee of Gilbane Building Co., the construction management firm on the project.

Grunau said Manpower attracts many international visitors who likely will appreciate that the building sits along a river walk.

The building also is situated in a way that lets it be seen from many vantage points in the city.

“It was a challenge to create a building that gives a nod to [Manpower’s] prominence but meets their desire not to be flamboyant,” said T.J. Morley, senior design architect with Eppstein Uhen Architects, Milwaukee. “They didn’t want an ostentatious building. It’s not a look-at-me structure.”

With a need for 290,000 square feet of office space, the building easily could have climbed up to 12 stories, Morley said. But Manpower chose a more moderate design, using a 70,000-square-foot footprint reaching up four stories.

Recognizing the company would bring more than 1,000 jobs into downtown, Milwaukee officials worked hard to create a desirable option for Manpower, which moved its headquarters from Glendale. Rocky Marcoux, commissioner of Milwaukee’s Department of City Development, said Manpower’s effect on the local economy is sizeable.

“(Manpower) liked the idea of being on the river,” Morley said. “Not just [for] the vitality the river offers, but also that this could be a catalyst for other properties on the river.”

Anecdotal evidence suggests the company’s decision to locate on the riverfront already has made a mark on the city. Marcoux said Staybridge Suites, an extended-stay hotel, chose to build in the downtown area because of Manpower’s decision to move there.

“This brings 1,000 people into the downtown, walking along the river, eating at restaurants, entertaining business clients,” he said. “It has a huge positive impact.”

Marcoux also said Manpower’s global presence helps put Milwaukee on the international map.

“Manpower is saying this is a vibrant community that can attract mid- and high-level employees,” Marcoux said, “and that they will want to live here.”

The building was designed with employees in mind.

Morley said the inner side of the U-shaped structure is largely glass, giving employees a look at the river and activity along Milwaukee’s Riverwalk and also a view of what is happening inside the opposite wing of the building.

“It creates an all-in-this-together feel,” he said.

Manpower wanted an environmentally-friendly headquarters, and the project was built with Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification in mind.

The 2.7-acre site, previously home to North Commerce Street, the Commerce Street Power Plant, a Pabst Brewery warehouse and a former rail yard, had contaminated soils to be removed, capped or vented.
“We reclaimed underutilized land,” Morley said, “and that’s probably the most significant aspect of the building in green terms.”

The building met other LEED goals, including extensive use of daylight in office spaces, an under-floor air distribution system to improve indoor air quality and energy efficiency, and locally manufactured materials, with about 20 percent of materials, by cost, manufactured within a 500-mile radius.

In addition to the office building, the project includes a seven-story parking structure with retail at the street level. Employees can cross from the structure to the office building via a skyway.

— Jennifer Pfaff