The Milwaukee County Research Park is a thriving office park filled with a broad spectrum of research and development firms and office enterprises employing more than 4,000 people. However, the park’s development had stalled. Leadership from Milwaukee County, the City of Wauwatosa and Milwaukee County Research Park Corporation (predecessor to Milwaukee Regional Innovation Center, Inc.) collectively turned to Irgens for help. The solution was the Wood Lake Business & Technology Center, a series of three buildings totaling over 157,000 square feet of office, research and flex space. With this trio of buildings, the park was transformed from vacant land into a campus-like environment and destination for commerce. Starting with Wood Lake I, Irgens orchestrated the overall development of this three-building, at-risk project including financing and ownership, public approval, design, construction and ongoing operations. Wood Lake was a collective effort between the Milwaukee County Research Park Corporation, the City of Wauwatosa and Milwaukee County and serves as an example of Irgens’ ability to align the interests of both public and private stakeholders.

Wood Lake Business & Technology Center was designed to meet the needs of research and development as well as technology users. The past success of the development based on its premier location and timeless design has allowed for maintaining the facilities as competitive first-class business solutions.