The longtime home of Ma Baensch herring in Milwaukee's Riverwest neighborhood has a new owner — just a couple of weeks after the building was listed for sale.

The two-story, 9,650-square-foot facility, at 1025 E. Locust St., was sold for $625,000 to Fox Point-based Bender-McNamara LLC, according to state real estate records.

The new owner doesn't yet have specific plans for redeveloping the property, said Nathan Bernstein, registered agent for Bender-McNamara.

"We are just getting our arms around it," Bernstein said.

The property, located in what he called a strong residential neighborhood, has great potential to be converted into some sort of "community gathering place," Bernstein said.

That could include such uses as a restaurant, brewery or coffee shop.

Bernstein is director of commercial real estate at Joseph Property Development LLC.

Bender-McNamara is a company that Bernstein operates separately from Joseph Property Development.

The Ma Baensch property sold for well above its listing price of $539,000. It was listed with Colliers commercial real estate brokerage.

The building was sold by Wild Dreams LLC, operated by Kim Wall, president of Baensch Food Products Co.

The company, which produces 12- and 24-ounce jars of marinated herring, will keep its headquarters in Milwaukee County.

But the packaging operations are moving to a co-packing facility in Minnesota.

The building's age and need for updates led to Wall's decision to relocate to  more efficient space.

The building was constructed in 1914, according to the Wisconsin Historical Society.

It was used by Cudahy Brothers Co. before Baensch Food Products began using it in 1946. Wall bought the property, and the company, in 1999.

Baensch has been using co-packers since 2004 due to a significant increase in production, which the Riverwest facility was unable to accommodate.

More: The longtime home of Ma Baensch herring in Riverwest is being listed for sale. It could be redeveloped into new uses.

More: This former Bronzeville department store was covered with metal cladding in the 1970s. That's now coming off as the building is redeveloped.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Riverwest's Ma Baensch building has new owner with redevelopment plans