Manpower's world headquarters decidedly suburban

I just received an invite to the grand opening of Manpower’s New World Headquarters “in commemoration of the company’s return home to downtown Milwaukee.” There’s going to be champagne, cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, and valet parking. The attractive invite was die cut in the shape of Milwaukee’s skyline, which really didn’t require much die cutting since the skyline consists of one or two modestly tall buildings. Nevertheless, the invite gives the impression that Manpower’s new building is adding something to the skyline. But that would be misleading because the new building is four stories. Its parking garage is taller!

When I asked Manpower CEO Jeff Joerres during the building’s groundbreaking about 18 months ago why Manpower wasn’t putting up a tower that would be a landmark and that would make people stop and take note, he said that Manpower wasn’t a tower kind of company (does that mean no one in the company likes to move up?), not showy or flashy. I think that was Milwaukee-speak for, “We don’t want to spend a lot,” even though the city kicked in $25 million in tax incremental financing to help defray the cost of the $64 million building.

This world headquarters looks decidedly suburban. There’s nothing architecturally or even visually interesting or inspiring about it. It’s simply your typical Milwaukee red brick structure with some glass thrown in to keep its daytime inhabitants from becoming mole people. And the side most people will see – along Martin Luther King Drive – resembles the back side of a strip mall, complete with an asphalt surface parking lot. The only things that make the building palatable are that it fronts on the Milwaukee River and the colorful flags out front. The plaza that opens to the river, however, is stark. A fountain reinforcing the building’s connection to the river would have been nice, but it probably would have been considered too showy, flashy, or expensive. No, I think I’ll pass on this invite.

For the world headquarters of an $18 billion company, this building is bland and boring. And for the $25 million the city gave to Manpower, it should have held the company to higher building and architectural standards, but that’s what happens when a city has no real leaders.