Menomonee Falls is lining up another employer at the former Kohl’s Innovation Center, now the Ridgewood Industrial Center, and this one is expected to bring about 150 jobs along with a roughly 13,000-square-foot outdoor staging enclosure that just cleared a key village vote. The latest lease continues the property’s shift from corporate office space back to industrial use and adds to a run of redevelopment plays in the area that local leaders hope will boost manufacturing and logistics jobs in a busy suburban corridor.
As reported by the Milwaukee Business Journal, the new tenant secured site-plan approval for the 13,000-square-foot staging area and plans to staff roughly 150 positions at the Ridgewood property. According to that coverage, municipal planners recently signed off on the enclosure during a village review.
Ridgewood Conversion And Tenants
Wangard Partners bought the former Kohl’s Innovation Center and has been repositioning the roughly 311,700-square-foot building at W165 N5830 Ridgewood Drive into the multi-tenant Ridgewood Industrial Center, according to a developer release from Wangard Partners. Brokerage and property materials show the building laid out with 11 loading docks, about 1,458 parking spaces, and divisible build-to-suit bays aimed squarely at manufacturers and distributors that want modern space without going deep into the city.
What It Means For Menomonee Falls
The Village of Menomonee Falls lists the Kohl’s conversion as an active development project and notes site work to add truck docks and overhead doors to better serve industrial tenants, a clear signal that the goal is to pivot the site firmly back to industrial use. Village officials and developers have pitched the reuse as a way to capture family-supporting manufacturing and logistics jobs in the wake of corporate restructurings, although the incoming tenant has not yet released a detailed hiring timetable or pay information.
What’s Next
With the staging enclosure approved, the next milestones are tenant build-outs and construction work to complete the conversion. Brokers say the center still offers divisible suites and build-to-suit options for additional industrial users. Property materials and listings spell out the technical details on docks, power, and parking, and indicate there is room for further expansion on the nearly 25-acre site as more leases are signed.
For Menomonee Falls, the newly committed tenant, following the earlier signing of The Brewer Company at Ridgewood, underscores growing demand for modern industrial space in the Milwaukee metro area and gives the village another chance to land manufacturing and warehouse jobs. Watch for more lease announcements and hiring details in the coming months as the Ridgewood Industrial Center moves toward being fully up and running.
