New life for tired Grafton State Bank building

The iconic Grafton State Bank building on Falls Road was a showpiece of the community when it was built in 1973 — but you can’t say that today.

The landscaping is overgrown and thick, the parking lot a field of ruts and the glass building, which sports reflective windows, no longer shines.

But that’s about to change. Jason Cousineau  and Clint Huhra, who bought the 40,000-square-foot office building in February, were on site last week as crews began hauling out reams of trash, recycling items that could be reused and preparing to return the building to its former glory.

“The tenants are like, ‘We haven’t seen this in five years,’” Huhra said. “I guarantee these windows haven’t been cleaned in 50 years. Once the glass is cleaned, it should reflect like it did at the beginning.”

Over the next year, he said, the building will be completly updated and become home to as many as 50 businesses.

Grafton Community Development Director Jessica Wolff, who toured the building with the duo last week, said the duo’s efforts are welcomed by the village.

“The village is very excited to see thenew ownership group take over the building and bring it back to life,” she said. “It has been sitting in a state of disrepair. It’s really kind of in a sad state.

“Giving it new life is something the village is very happy to see.”

The six-story Grafton State Bank building was touted as the tallest in Ozaukee County and its gleaming, reflective mirrored windows shone.

But since BMO Harris Bank — which purchased the Grafton State Bank — moved out of the building years ago, it has changed hands several times and fallen into disrepair.

“It’s a really neat building,” Huhra said. “We know it’s an eyesore. It’s dark, dingy, overgrown. But overall, it’s not in horrible shape. I think a lot of it is just basics.”

“Think of it as a big cosmetic facelift,” Cousineau added, noting some areas will require more extensive work than others but nothing will be left untouched. “We’re very, very excited for the opportunity to bring this building back to life. It’s fun.”
In the coming months, there will be a bevy of work done there.

“In the next 90 days, you’ll see changes coming,” Huhra said, especially to the exterior.

That includes cleaning up and replacing the landscaping and exterior lighting, demolishing the former bank drive-through and washing the windows.

Crews will also begin work on the first floor, which was home to the bank in its heyday, and mezzanine levels of the building, which will be known as the West Falls Center.

“You have to find the highest and best use of a building,” Cousineau said. “We think the highest and best use is what we’re bringing here.”

The lobby will be rebuilt with a waterfall feature and sitting area surrounded by offices that will welcome people to the building, Huhra said.

“It’s going to create a welcoming face to the building,” he said, adding the intention is to impress clients of the businesses housed there. “It will be more of an experience.”

The lobby will be surrounded by offices that will bring in foot traffic, Huhra said, citing an insurance office as an example. Those offices will have frosted glass doors and windows customized with the business name and logo that will allow light to flood the interior lobby.

At the same time, the men plan to convert one floor into a space for 18 salon suites for hairdressers, aestheticians and similar businesses, Huhra said. This area, too, he said, will attract foot traffic to the building, which in turn will help bring in additional tenants.

Other public areas of the building, such as the hallways and restrooms, will also be improved quickly.

Most of the building will be converted to office suites. There, small businesses and entrepreneurs can rent an office and share support spaces, such as a conference room.

These offices can be customized if businesses sign up in the next couple months, Cousineau said.

“A lot of people don’t need a huge office,” he said. “They need a quiet space where they can get some work done.”

There will also be some co-working spaces for people who just need a small area to get some work done.    

A number of the existing tenants — there are 10 to 12 in the building — are expected to remain, the men said.

While some people may question if there’s a need for so much office space in a world where working from home has become common, Huhra and Cousineau said there is a need.

Many of these small businesses have a unique niche, Huhra noted.

“I like to hear the tenants’ stories. We’ve got some really cool businesses in our buildings, and sometimes they do things that I never would have thought were a business,” he said.

While you might expect a local developer who appreciates the history of the building to do a project like this, that isn’t the case here.

Huhra, who lives in Baltimore, and Cousineau, who hails from Moline, Ill., met when they were involved in the same break-out session during an online real estate conference. “We clicked,” Huhra said, noting they have complimentary skills and a similar philosophy that serve them well in business.

They have worked on a number of projects together over the past two years, so when a broker suggested they take a look at the Grafton State Bank building, they jumped in.

The men handle commercial real estate projects, and this one “hit on all cylinders,” Huhra said. “One of the things we’ve kind of perfected is this type of building.”

This is their first project in Wisconsin —

“Hopefully not the last,” Cousineau said.

The men use local contractors for the work, and they said it’s been especially uplifting to hear the comments from workers as they’ve come into the building.

“It’s been fun hearing the excitement from the contractors,” Cousineau said. “It’s neat with the history this building has in the community, people will always remember this as the bank. One of the guys was talking the other day, ‘I remember coming here as a kid with my dad.’ That’s really special.”