Athea Labs quietly expands on Milwaukee's north side with new building, jobs

You probably have used Athea Laboratories Inc.'s glass cleaner, laundry soap or other cleaning products without realizing they are made on Milwaukee's north side.

That's because Athea's cleaners, along with its weed killers, insecticides, wet wipes and other items, are made and packaged for companies that sell them under their own brands. That helps explain why Athea's continuing growth hasn't attracted much attention.

But that's now changing, with the company's latest expansion drawing an award.

Athea's purchase of a 78,000-square-foot industrial building next to its headquarters recently received a Deal of the Year Award from the Commercial Association of Realtors-Wisconsin.

Those annual awards recognize area commercial real estate transactions that create a big impact.

This year's winners include: Wisconsin's first Ikea store, under construction in Oak Creek; offices and other new uses at downtown Milwaukee's redeveloped former Laacke & Joys building; and The Corners of Brookfield mixed-use project.

The Athea development won in the industrial category. The award recognized the brokers who worked on the property sale: James M. Young and James T. Barry III, both of Barry Co.

Athea's corporate parent bought the building, at 1700 W. Cornell St., in April for $1.7 million. It's just east of the company's headquarters, 1900 W. Cornell St.

After the tenant's lease expires, Athea plans to create a corporate campus, said Steve Hipp, company president. 

Athea will move its operations from 7855 N. Faulkner Road, on Milwaukee's far northwest side, to the Cornell St. buildings, Hipp said.

Combining those facilities at one location will help Athea operate more efficiently, he said. The 65,000-square-foot Faulkner Road building is about 8 miles from the Cornell St. headquarters.

"It'll be real nice," Hipp said.

Athea is owned by chemical products maker Share Corp., which was founded in 1970 by Paul and Patricia Des Jardins. Their daughter, Laure Des Jardins, is Share's president.

Share in 2011 bought what is now Athea's headquarters, the 250,000-square-foot building at 1900 W. Cornell St., for $4.4 million.

Part of Athea's operations moved there the following year after $1.4 million in renovations were completed.

Athea had initially planned to combine all of its operations at its headquarters. But safety regulations barred the company from storing certain chemicals under the same roof.

That left Athea planning to build a separate facility on vacant land at its Cornell St. headquarters.

But that thinking changed when the neighboring building became available.

"That opportunity doesn't come along very often," Hipp said.

The building was owned by a group led by Matthew Ryan, who operates a Milwaukee landscaping and snow removal firm and owns other local industrial properties.

Ryan was leasing the Cornell St. building to Glendale-based plastics manufacturer Gossen Corp., which had fallen into receivership.

Gossen in December was purchased by another plastics maker, Inteplast Group, of Livingston, N.J.

There were some complicating factors in buying the building from Ryan, said Young, the Barry Co. broker who helped represent Athea in the transaction.

An environmental issue at the property, which Young characterized as "relatively basic," scared off Athea's initial lender. Associated Bank then stepped in to provide financing.

"Essentially, we had to switch lenders halfway through the process," Young said.

Meanwhile, Inteplast's lease could delay Athea's expansion plans for a few years.

Inteplast's lease expires in April, Hipp said. But it has the right to extend that date.

"We don't know if they'll use their extensions, or not," he said.

Athea plans to spend around $4 million to renovate the building and add new equipment, Hipp said. Chemical manufacturers and packagers face strict regulations for safely handling their products. 

"It's not easy, and it's not cheap," he said.

The company has 130 employees, up from 92 employees when it bought the Cornell St. headquarters in 2011. Hipp expects that growth to continue.

"We're having a good year," he said.

Around 80% of Athea's employees are Milwaukee residents, many of whom live on the city's north side, Hipp said.

"We want to be close to our workforce," Hipp said. "And we really want to make a difference in this neighborhood."

From Young's perspective, the purchase of the 1700 W. Cornell St. building isn't an award-winning deal just on its own.

"The Deal of the Year is the overall investment over several years with new jobs," Young said.

Tom Daykin can be reached at  tdaykin@jrn.com.