Crow Holdings Air Cargo Development Project Adds Enhancements and Officially Executes Ground Lease with the County

Crow Holdings’ project to construct the South Cargo Logistics Hub at Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport (MKE), a state-of-the-art on-tarmac air cargo facility has made additional enhancements to the scope of the project. The project is a public/private partnership whereby most of the $75 million in capital cost and resources necessary to complete the project will come from private sources. At the end of the ground lease term, at their option, all improvements will become the property of the County.

Among the enhancements to the project, the size of the new facility has grown nearly 50,000 square feet, now totaling 337,000 square feet and is consistent with the 2022 Airport Master Plan prepared by Milwaukee County. Crow Holdings will also deliver a new garage for the Milwaukee County Highway department. Further, the project scope has grown to include large scale repairs to the +/-16 acres of public taxiway area directly adjacent to the project – all at the expense of the project and FAA. This added work will allow for modern wide-body cargo traffic to operate in this part of the Airport on a consistent basis for the first time.

The increased size will facilitate the simultaneous parking of up to five Boeing 777-8F, or equivalent, plane parking positions, with a multi-use apron to handle added smaller plane capacity. These additions could potentially more than quadruple MKE’s current cargo capacity. Additionally, the development would have the flexibility to accommodate a variety of end users including pharma, cold-storage, Class-1 cargo, and livestock.

All physical diligence, including extensive environmental investigations, are now complete. Full design and engineering plans are under review with the Airport and the project is set to begin construction activities this winter. Target completion of the project is slated for early 2026.

CBRE’s Scott Furmanski, David Prell, and Ted Gates will market the redevelopment on behalf of Crow Holdings.

The proposed project will serve as a legitimate option for cargo tenants looking to avoid the much higher congestion and costs associated with centering operations out of O’Hare. The MKE Airport has a population of nearly 13 million people within a two-hour drive time in Southeast Wisconsin and Chicagoland. The existing infrastructure within MKE will allow tenants to use the same carrier, cargo, handler, and freight forwarders that they would in O’Hare, all while serving the same end users.

“After 2 years of intensive efforts, and over $1.2 Million in diligence dollars spent, we are incredibly excited to reach this milestone with the Airport and the county. This project is a true testament of what can be achieved when public and private forces align,” said Jack Rabenn, Vice President at Crow Holdings. “We believe that this project will not only be an economic catalyst for Milwaukee, but also for the entire SE Wisconsin region and the broader state, which is further validated by the endorsements this project has garnered from a wide variety of stakeholder entities.”

“These sizeable enhancements and progress with the project make it that much more appealing to a variety of potential tenants,” said Furmanski. “With ample power availability in area and modern warehouse design, the South Cargo Logistics Hub will allow for a great number of potential uses including seamless handling of cold storage items, pharmaceuticals, food, and plant products.”