Lease for Milwaukee’s Derse property opens as company moves to Oak Creek

Derse, a Milwaukee-based marketing agency specializing in trade shows and events, is getting ready to move to a new, larger headquarters in Oak Creek. When the company finally moves, its 155,000-square-foot landmark industrial property will be available just a pitch away from American Family Field.

In June 2025, Derse announced it would leave its headquarters at 3800 Canal St. in Milwaukee and consolidate its Milwaukee and Waukegan operations at a 31-acre site on the southwest corner of Howell and Oakwood roads in Oak Creek. Construction of a new facility was scheduled to start in 2026, and occupancy is expected in 2027, according to the news release.

In the initial announcement, Derse CEO Brett Haney said there were fewer than 36 months left on the leases at the Milwaukee and Waukegan facilities. The new facility will accommodate hundreds of new jobs.

An affiliate of Milwaukee-based Fiduciary Real Estate Development picked Milwaukee-based The Barry Co. to market the property. Jim Barry, president at The Barry Co., said his firm is in the early stages of marketing but the building is suited to be the headquarters of an industrial-oriented company.

The property features around 32,000 square feet of modern, Class A office space with two window-lined levels served by an elevator, Barry officials said. It has around 125,000 square feet of warehouse, shop or production space.

The Menomonee Valley headquarters has access to nearby major freeways and a 15-minute drive to the Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport, officials said. It has around 30-foot clear heights in the warehouse, plenty of natural light, outside storage ability, potential for building expansion and the possibility to divide the facility to accommodate multiple users.

Kevin Barry and David Barry of The Barry Co. are the exclusive brokers for the property.

Jim Barry said demand for industrial property in the southeast Wisconsin region was strong with historically low vacancy rates continuing for many years, along with existing infrastructure and buildings to support warehouse and manufacturing operations.

“We’ve had a very strong manufacturing and warehousing economy that requires more demand for space,” Barry said. “Part of that is the growth in e-commerce, the reshoring of operations from overseas and that Wisconsin has a strong climate for manufacturing. The manufacturing tax credit is an extraordinarily attractive thing for a lot of manufacturers. Our workforce is strong and our government is stable, so all those things are positive factors in terms of demand for industrial real estate.”

The property is located on a more than 8.24-acre plot of land and was built in 2008, according to the city of Milwaukee assessor’s office. It was sold by the Redevelopment Authority of the City of Milwaukee that year.