Milwaukee Electric Tool shows off redeveloped corporate campus in Brookfield as it adds jobs

Milwaukee Electric Tool Co. doesn't exactly rise to the top of anyone's list of major corporate headquarters in southeastern Wisconsin.

In a region that includes well-known office buildings housing such companies as Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co., Rockwell Automation Inc. and S.C. Johnson & Son Inc., Milwaukee Electric Tool for decades was based in a utilitarian structure at a low-key Brookfield site. 

But, with a $33 million-plus redevelopment finishing up, the global company is making a statement about its local presence — and planned growth.

"Our Brookfield headquarters provides an atmosphere of vision and passion so essential in a fast-paced, innovative environment," company spokeswoman Kharli Tyler said.

"The Brookfield campus is a critical component in driving the significant growth we are continuing to see," Tyler said.

Known informally as Milwaukee Tool, the company's expanded corporate campus houses 924 employees, with more than 100 jobs added since the project was announced two years ago. The company also has 222 employees at its Empire Level Manufacturing Co. division, in Mukwonago.

Milwaukee Tool's Brookfield expansion project has an internal opening celebration set for Dec. 5.

The project was announced in November 2015.

Milwaukee Tool said then it was planning a $33 million expansion that could add around 500 jobs within five years.

After receiving city approval, construction started in April 2016 on a 207,000-square-foot office addition at Milwaukee Tool's corporate headquarters, 13135 W. Lisbon Road. 

The new four-story addition is connected to Milwaukee Tool's older facility, which has 183,000 square feet on just one level.

Milwaukee Tool, founded in 1924, focuses on making power tools for the construction industry.

The company in 1965 completed construction of the Brookfield facility, where it had both offices and manufacturing operations. That building was twice expanded in the 1970s.

But the company began moving manufacturing operations out of Wisconsin, including some major cuts in the 1990s. The Brookfield facility's last manufacturing jobs left in 2004.

Over roughly the past 10 years, Milwaukee Tool has redeveloped former manufacturing space at that one-story Brookfield building to accommodate its administrative offices, as well as such departments as research and development, packaging design, marketing, sales and training.

As it introduced new products, the company grew from just over 300 jobs in 2011 at its Brookfield campus to almost 800 jobs when it began building the headquarters addition in 2016.

Milwaukee Tool, a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based Techtronic Industries Co. Ltd. since 2004, does its manufacturing in Mississippi, China and Germany, along with its Empire Level division in Mukwonago.

Along with beginning construction on its addition, Milwaukee Tool in 2016 also bought a 3.5-acre site across Lisbon Road from Wangard Partners Inc., the company's development and construction consultant, for green space, employee parking and possible long-term growth.

The company paid a Wangard Partners affiliate $635,000 for that site, 12930 W. Lisbon Road, according to state real estate records.

In February, Milwaukee Tool disclosed additional plans to build an 18,000-square-foot expansion to its 16,500-square-foot research facility, known as the Rapid Innovation Center.

The company also proposed a 10,000-square-foot expansion to its 5,600-square-foot annex building. 

Those smaller projects, for which Milwaukee Tool declined to provide cost estimates or construction schedules, haven't yet started.

Employees began moving to the headquarters addition in stages this summer, Tyler said. It was designed by Stephen Perry Smith Architects Inc., with Hunzinger Construction Co. serving as the general contractor.

The new building is designed "to immerse our employees in an environment reflective of the users they design and develop tools for," Tyler said.

For example, there are large lighting fixtures with decorative features made from industrial materials such as pipes and heating conduits.

Door handles at the building's main entrance are fashioned from large drill bits. And the main open staircase, made from steel, has an industrial feel.

All of those items showcase the craftsmanship of Milwaukee Tool's customers, Tyler said.   

To encourage collaboration, the addition features open air creative and cross-functional meeting space, a wide variety of furniture and office space choices, increased natural lighting and "an environment that stimulates creative thinking and problem solving," she said. 

The expansion's financing includes a $6 million city grant provided through a tax incremental financing district.

The property taxes from the new additions will pay off that city debt within an estimated 15 years. Once the debt is paid off, those taxes will go to the city's general fund, its school district and other local governments.

Also, Milwaukee Tool could earn up to $18 million in state income tax credits depending upon the number of jobs it retains and creates in both Brookfield and at Empire Level.

Tom Daykin can be emailed at tdaykin@jrn.com, and followed on Twitter and Facebook.