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‘Unique’ office building proposed for Brookfield
Development to be new home of Gentle Family Dentistry
By LAWRENCE SILVER Freeman Staff
(Lawrence Silver can be reached at lsilver@conleynet.com)
BROOKFIELD – A New Berlin developer is proposing to build a $30 million mixed-use office building that would be the new home of Gentle Family Dentistry on the northeast corner of Moorland Road and Greenfield Avenue here.
The 127,000-square-foot, sixstory building would be unique for a suburban area, said Dan Ertl, Brookfield community development director, because of its vertical construction and two stories of underground, rather than surface, parking.
Ertl said soil conditions on the proposed site limit the type of construction available.
The building would be reinforced with a concrete support system deep underground, a technique more commonly used with downtown skyscrapers.
“The vertical-oriented development is refreshing and efficient for a suburb,” Ertl said. “This is something you would see downtown but not often in a suburb.”
William Hoeg, a managing member of WMH Leasing LLC, the developer of the proposed project, said the site was chosen because of its central location for Gentle Family Dentistry’s customers around the region.
The total cost of the project would be about $30 million, he said.
Hoeg said WMH Leasing would retain ownership of the building, to be named Fountain Brook Crossing, after its planned completion date at the end of 2008 or the beginning of 2009.
Along with Gentle Family Dentistry, the building would likely house medical, commercial and retail businesses.
Hoeg said beyond the vertical orientation of the building, the proposed development also is unique because of its green construction and overall design.
The building would include a roof-top, water retention garden, internal natural lighting and supplemental geothermal heating and cooling, which involves running fluid through underground piping to control the temperature of the building.
Hoeg said perhaps the most unique feature of the building would be the diamond-facet design.
Diamond-facet design, Hoeg said, improves on the efficiency of a rectangle building by adding several triangle pieces that jut out from where exterior walls would normally be flat.
The diamond-facet design gives the building corner offices on more than just the corners of the building, Hoeg said.
The building faces several hurdles before it can be constructed, however.
Ertl said the proposed site is zoned for a commercial building with about a third of the density being proposed. A public hearing will likely be held before Brookfield’s plan commission will discuss approval of the development, he said.
Hoeg also said he would not begin construction of the project until he has enough occupants for the building. WMH Leasing has no other projects of this size in southeastern Wisconsin, he said.
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