WPS headquarters has been sold. The buyer is experienced in redeveloping large properties for business and residential use

Jeff Bollier, Green Bay Press-Gazette
·4 min read
The Wisconsin Public Service office, located on North Adams Street, is pictured from across the Fox River at Leicht Park on July 17, 2020, in Green Bay, Wis.
The Wisconsin Public Service office, located on North Adams Street, is pictured from across the Fox River at Leicht Park on July 17, 2020, in Green Bay, Wis.

GREEN BAY - WEC Energy Group has reached tentative terms to sell the former Wisconsin Public Service Corp. headquarters campus to an unidentified development firm.

The electricity and natural gas utility has agreed to terms to sell the 16.3-acre campus at 700 N. Adams St., WEC spokesperson Matthew Cullen said. WEC, the parent company of Wisconsin Public Service, declined to disclose the purchase price or identify the development firm.

The property was listed for sale for $13.5 million. Cullen said the company received multiple offers to buy the property after it was listed for sale in early 2021.

The purchase remains subject to ongoing site and project reviews that Cullen said make it difficult to know when the deal might close.

"The buyer we're working with is a firm experienced in redeveloping large properties for future business and residential use," Cullen said. "This is an exciting opportunity for us to contribute to the community's ongoing transformation in a way that will benefit downtown Green Bay for years to come."

The site presents an opportunity to redevelop a mix of uses on prime riverfront property at the confluence of the Fox and East Rivers. Neil Stechschulte, the city of Green Bay's Community and Economic Development director, said the site's location and the chance to reintegrate it with downtown gives the community a "rare opportunity."

"It's exciting news," Stechschulte said. "It's a big first step getting a developer committed to it. We're excited to get that moving forward."

The former WPS Headquarters at 700 N. Adams St. has been for sale since late 2020. The 16.3-acre complex includes about 170,000 square feet of office space.
The former WPS Headquarters at 700 N. Adams St. has been for sale since late 2020. The 16.3-acre complex includes about 170,000 square feet of office space.

As part of the sale agreement, WEC Energy Group this spring and summer will demolish a C-shaped trio of office buildings located along Elm Street between Adams and Jefferson streets, at the south end of the complex.

The demolition will also remove the skywalk that connects the buildings to the larger office building at the north end of the site.

Cullen said WEC is in contact with nearby businesses and will try to minimize any impact demolition might have on them.

Stechschulte said there's still a lot of work ahead for the developer and city planners before any redevelopment occurs.

He said the city is likely to play a role because the site is contaminated from previous uses and will likely need infrastructure improvements, especially for handling stormwater.

The East River Trail already runs along the site's northern and western boundaries, too, while CityDeck Landing is not far away from the site.

"We want to integrate that area into downtown as much as we can," Stechschulte said. "The whole campus has been isolated by itself for a long time. Reintegrating that will be a big deal."

Jeff Mirkes, executive director of Downtown Green Bay Inc., said it was "beautiful news" that the former WPS headquarters was one step closer to redevelopment.

"I’m definitely looking forward to learning more about the details," Mirkes said. "We realize the redevelopment of that site will take time, but it’s a beautiful site that could offer some outstanding views of the Bay of Green Bay."

Built in 1970, the office building served as WPS' headquarters through the utility's $9 billion merger with We Energies in 2015 to form WEC Energy Group. The complex includes more than 1,000 parking spaces and 170,000 square feet of office space spread across several buildings.

WPS, like other employers, in March 2020 shifted its office staff to remote work when the coronavirus pandemic hit Wisconsin. WEC Energy Group in July decided to make the closure permanent, shifting some employees permanently to remote work and moving others into the company's office building in Ashwaubenon.

Wisconsin Public Service provides electric service to more than 457,000 customers and natural gas service to more than 338,000 customers in northeastern and central Wisconsin.

The utility's use of the property dates back more than 150 years to when it was the site of a manufactured gas plant.

The plant contaminated the soil beneath the current office buildings and parking lots with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs. They are chemicals left over from the incomplete burning of coal, oil, gas and garbage that can be harmful to human health.

WPS continues to work with state and federal agencies to clean up the contamination in the ground and in the river. The utility partnered with Georgia-Pacific Corp. last year to dredge sediment from the East River where PAHs had become intermingled with polychlorniated biphenyls, or PCBs, a hazardous chemical that Georgia Pacific and other paper companies were responsible for removing from the river.

Contact Jeff Bollier at (920) 431-8387 or jbollier@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JeffBollier.

This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: WPS former headquarters in downtown Green Bay sold to developer