A growing Milwaukee development firm is moving its office within a Historic Third Ward condominium building.
Cobalt Partners LLC now uses around 3,000 square feet of street-level commercial space at Commission House, which has mostly residential condos at 400 N. Broadway.
Cobalt in 2025 announced plans to move to Commission House’s eighth floor after buying a penthouse for $1.1 million. The firm planned to convert it into a 2,800-square-foot office.
But Cobalt has since expanded, and now has 10 employees who need more space, said President and CEO Scott Yauck.
So, a Cobalt affiliate, The Better Claim LLC, bought two fourth-floor condos for $1.5 million, according to a deed posted online by the Wisconsin Department of Revenue on April 22. The seller was Affiliated Acquisition Inc., which lists David Schwonek as its agent.
Cobalt will renovate those units into a 5,600-square-foot office, Yauck told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
The firm plans to relocate there by year’s end, he said, and will likely list for sale the eighth-floor unit.
Meanwhile, Cobalt after relocating still plans to remodel its street-level office for a future restaurant. That could open next summer.
“We have been working with many interested operators,” he said.
The Commission Row building was constructed in 1911 as the home of grocery wholesaler E.R. Godfrey & Sons Co., according to the Wisconsin Historical Society.
It was part of Commission Row, where several produce wholesalers operated for around a century. Those buildings have since been redeveloped into condos, apartments, offices and retail space.
Tom Daykin can be emailed at tdaykin@jrn.com and followed on Instagram,Bluesky, X and Facebook.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Firm moving within Third Ward building, with restaurant replacing office
Reporting by Tom Daykin, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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