Milwaukee County, State of Wisconsin pays $219M for space in new forensic lab

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Milwaukee County and the State of Wisconsin have bought their spaces at the new forensic and protective medicine facility in Wauwatosa. The government bodies paid a combined total of more than $219.3 million for the space.

The State of Wisconsin Department of Administration in early May paid more than $115.5 million for a condominium at 9400 W. Doyne Ave. in Wauwatosa, state real estate records showed. Milwaukee County paid more than $103.8 million for a separate unit inside the building, which is being built by Fond du Lac-based C.D. Smith Construction.

The 212,000-square-foot, four-story facility will be home to the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office, the Milwaukee County Office of Emergency Management and the state’s Milwaukee Crime Lab. It will also house Versiti Wisconsin’s organ procurement facility and tissue bank.

The county and the state have said they were moving on from the previous Medical Examiner’s Office and crime lab due to crumbling conditions and obsolete design.

The Medical Examiner’s Office will move from its former location at 933 W. Highland Ave. in downtown Milwaukee and into a 43,000-square-foot unit in the new facility. The state will move from the previous Milwaukee Crime Lab, at 1578 S. 11^th St., which was established in the early 1980s out of a former grocery store.

The project cost between the state and county is more than $233 million, county officials said in May 2025. Milwaukee County contributed around $120 million.

In March, the county issued a Request for Proposals for developers to acquire and redevelop the Medical Examiner’s Office on Highland Avenue. The Westown neighborhood property falls into the downtown area plan calling for new high density residential and affordable housing projects.

C.D. Smith Construction broke ground in November 2023, according to the company’s website. The project is expected to be completed in spring 2026.

The contractor partnered with Summit Smith Development, Royal Capital Group, HGA, SmithGroup, Continuum Architects + Planners and Crime Lab Design.