Bottled Water Plant Plans Push Forward in MIlwakee

Oak Creek?An effort to bring a soda water bottling plant to the city to bottle and sell its municipal water advanced Tuesday with a decision to negotiate a deal for a vacant 80,000-square-foot building, reported an article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal.

The Plan Commission voted 8-1, with one abstention, to make an offer to buy the Outlook Packaging plant at 2025 Southbranch Blvd. for use by Black Bear Beverages of St. Francis.

Mayor Dale Richards said the Outlook Packaging offer would have to be sizably more than the $700,000 the city offered for the 40,000-square-foot ThermaSys Corp. facility, 190 W. Marquette Ave.

Richards said a higher purchase price would be offset by substantially lower equipping costs at Outlook Packaging.

He declined to state how much the city intended to offer for the facility.

Negotiations for the ThermaSys Corp. property broke off last month after attorneys for the firm were reluctant to meet city demands for financial assurances that the land be cleaned of volatile organic compounds. The firm also wanted about $500,000 more than the city was offering for the property.

Steven Yttri, general manager for the Oak Creek Water and Sewer Utility, said the city still wants to get the bottler operating in the city by this summer.

"We are in their busy season right now so it could be problematic," said Yttri.

Richards said Outlook Packaging announced its closing as the city was negotiating to buy ThermaSys.

"I think this would be an interesting proposal to look at and put the facility back into a productive purpose," said Richards.

Under a long-term strategy to expand the city's business bottling its municipal water, which it sells under the name Claire Baie, the city would buy the property and the water utility would lease it to Black Bear.

The firm began bottling Oak Creek's water last year.

Also Tuesday, the plan commission voted unanimously to recommend rezoning about 10 acres at 441 W. Ryan Road, where the city has proposed building a new police station, from park to institutional use.

Source: Milwakee Journal Sentinal