Click here for a PDF of our building floor plan
Click here for a zipped DWG of our building floor plan

The 2555 South Lenox Street Building is a 16,000 square foot, one-story building located in Bay View, Wisconsin.

The building was originally built for “Krambo Food Stores” and opened for business on April 20, 1962. Krambo, a division of Kroger Co., was named after the chain's proprietors, C.L. and I.S. Kramlich. You can read more about the Grand Opening in this article in The Milwaukee Journal. The store's old parking lot is now home to the McDonald's, the previous entrance is now the vaults area, the wood shop and welding area were the produce department, and the carpeted area used to be the meat department. Several other features of the original building still remain including trenches and floor openings for refrigerated cases and the hydraulic pumps that used to work the automatic doors.

DataShield, Inc. was founded by a real estate executive named John O'Malley in 1978. The company was one of the first groups to offer disaster planning for commercial computer users. They provided “backup shell facilities” which had ample electrical service, backup generators, cooling, and phone lines for clients to keep their businesses running in the event of a flood, fire, or otherwise. They outgrew their original Greendale location and in 1982 expanded into a second building on Lenox St. The building offered two large data center rooms with raised access floors, anti-static carpet in the office areas, and secure off-site magnetic tape storage vaults. You can read an article on DataShield's operations here. In 2008, the Bay View Compass ran an article on various nondescript “mystery buildings” around town and Lenox made the list. You can read their article here.

We discovered the property in July of 2012, decided to purchase it in September, closed in October and officially took occupancy in January 2013. More about our history in this building can be found at the History of Milwaukee Makerspace page of our wiki.

• 16,000 square feet
• Concrete block exterior walls with brick facades
• Wood frame interior partitions
• Metal frame truss roof supported on 6“ columns throughout building
• Complete roof tear-off and replacement Fall 2012
• 480 volt, 3-phase, 1,200 amp electrical service
• 2” gas line to building at 9“ w.c. pressure
• 4 forced-air gas furnaces
  • Serving the East and West Rooms
  • 20” x 20“ x 2” filters
  • Added in Fall 2012 as part of initial renovation
• 1 forced-air gas furnace with DX air conditioning coil
  • Added in Fall 2012 as part of initial renovation
  • 20“ x 20” x 2“ filter
  • Originally served Lobby, Restrooms, Craft Lab, Meeting Space, Laser Cutter Room, and Electronics Lab
  • Compressor on roof
  • Added in Fall 2012 as part of initial renovation
  • Rezoned in Late 2013 to only serve Lobby, Laser Cutter Room, Craft Lab and Restrooms
  • Added a duct for the Telco Room
• 1 additional forced-air gas furnace with DX air conditioning coil
  • Zoned to serve only Meeting Room and Electronics Lab
  • 20” x 20“ x 2” filter
  • Compressor on roof
  • Added December 2013
  • Voted on by MMIG shareholders and paid for by MMIG
• Programmable thermostats on all HVAC equipment
  • Added in Fall 2012 as part of initial renovation
• 1 gas-fired unit heater in Vault Hallway
  • Existing with building
  • No filter
• 3 ceiling fans in Lobby
  • Reduced to two in Late 2013
• One 9.5 kW electric tankless water heater
  • Added in Fall 2012 as part of initial renovation
• One DuPont Whole House, In-Line Water Filter
  • Added in Fall 2012 as part of initial renovation
  • Replacement cartridges WFPFC900 (GE Model FXWTC)
• One 10 gal electric water heater
  • Existing with building
• Overhead fluorescent lighting throughout (high output T12 lamps)
• RFID-enabled access control readers at 4 exterior doors
• A 9 foot wide by 10 foot tall overhead door
• Acoustical ceiling tiles and grid in most rooms
• 12 foot ceilings in most rooms
• Genuine imitation laminate wood paneling in Meeting Area/Electronics Lab
• Anti-static carpet in lobby and meeting areas (per original DataShield plans)

See the Panels page for more info.

• Dogwood - Cornus racemosa (http://wisplants.uwsp.edu/scripts/detail.asp?SpCode=CORRAC)
• Juniper - Juniperus virginiana (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juniperus_virginiana)

Monthly life-safety inspections check list