Refinancing deal could support sale of former Bucyrus buildings in South Milwaukee

A New York developer who has brought jobs and investment to the former Bucyrus Erie campus in South Milwaukee closed a loan of $15.1 million to refinance it.

This refinancing is being done as New York investor Reich Brothers LLC tries to sell three buildings on the 27-acre campus for a planned affordable housing and commercial redevelopment. According to a recent press release from iBorrow which provided the loan, the refinancing may help support the sale.

Founded in 2009, iBorrow focuses primarily on loans secured by property. According to CEO Brian Good, these 'entrepreneurial loans' can be shorter in term, but with higher interest rates than traditional financing.

Good stated that the market had shifted to our advantage in the past year, because many banks were shut down at the moment, and Wall Street was unreliable.

Good spoke highly of southeast Wisconsin's industrial market. Reich Brothers has filled the former Bucyrus Campus in South Milwaukee with almost 500,000 square foot of mostly industrial space. Good said that industrial properties are iBorrow’s preferred property type.

Good stated that the industrial market around Milwaukee and in Milwaukee itself has been doing really well. Wisconsin, Illinois, Midwest is where industrial property does better than other types of properties in the area. We've also got an A+ operator.

iBorrow had previously granted a loan based upon the South Milwaukee property for 2021.

In 2018, Reich Brothers purchased the approximately 27-acre campus as Caterpillar Inc. relocated its operations to South Milwaukee or other states. In 2019, Reich began renovating the vacant industrial buildings in order to attract new tenants.

Reich Brothers has agreed to sell the three office buildings to Milwaukee developers Scott Crawford Inc., and J. Jeffers & Co. for conversion into affordable apartments and business space. The project was approved but it is not known what will happen to it after the local officials did not award affordable housing tax credit during this year’s competitive awards.