Completed Projects

Project J.F. Ahern

3861 W. Milwaukee Road, Milwaukee, WI 53214
J.F. Ahern

Project Description

J. F. Ahern Company’s (“Ahern” or the “Company”) Southeast Wisconsin regional office, currently located in Menomonee Falls, was established in 1991 and is one of six locations in Wisconsin and 13 in the Midwest. The Menomonee Falls location currently employs 65 office personnel and 125 field and manufacturing personnel, and is expecting to continue its growth. Approximately ten percent of this workforce is comprised of apprentices or trainees that are being developed locally to support future corporate growth.

Ahern has identified a new Milwaukee-area property which consists of approximately five acres of land to construct a 65000 square foot office and fabrication facility that it intends to further expand to 90,000 square feet at a later time. The required space will house approximately 190 current employees and allow an increase of 25 new employees. Approximately 40,000 square feet of the initial 65000 square feet would be dedicated to fire extinguisher recharging and modular construction fabrication. As a leader in sustainable contracting, the Company intends to incorporate LEED and other green construction applications into the facility. Ahern’s intent is to include systems and guidelines similar to those used to expand its Fond du Lac, WI corporate headquarters in 2007, which resulted in LEED Gold certification.

CDE Alignment

First-Ring Industrial Redevelopment Enterprise’s (FIRE) emphasis on industrial property in Brownfield areas having multiple distress criteria aligns well with this project. In addition, the sustainment and growth of quality jobs (jobs at higher wages with benefits), the fact that the majority of Ahern's jobs are jobs in which job training is provided by the company for internal growth potential, and the inclusion of green attributes in the building’s design in which LEED Gold is being sought also matches FIRE priorities.The project is aligned with community goals.

Total Project Costs $10,232,500

FIRE NMTC Allocation $10,000,000

NMTC Investor US Bank CDC

Closing Date May 2012

Distress Criteria
  • Area MFI: 35.9%
  • Poverty: 36%
  • Unemployment: 2.09 times the national average
  • Federal Designated Economic Development Zone
  • 2010 FEMA Designated Area

Community Impacts
  • 190 Sustained Jobs
  • Creation of 25 Permanent Jobs
  • Creation of 48 Temporary Jobs
  • Creation of 73 Indirect/Induced Jobs
  • $48.8 million in economic output
  • Tax revenues generated from continued business tax, real estate, and retained and increased employee base (IMPLAN estimates this to be approximately $554,854 per annum)

FIRE welcomes requests for NMTC’s throughout the year as we work to maintain an active pipeline of viable and potential projects throughout the region. 

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