Office Space in Racine, Wisconsin

Van Vlissingen and Co. represents office tenants, buyers, and landlords in Racine, Wisconsin. Gordon Lamphere and our office team focus on tenant representation from 3,000 to 50,000 square feet, with leasing, sales, and property management for buildings up to 1,000,000 square feet.

Van Vlissingen and Co. performs more than 100 commercial real estate transactions annually, and our team has completed over $3 billion in transaction volume. We have operated continuously in Chicagoland commercial real estate since 1879, we work both sides of the Illinois–Wisconsin border, and we manage 870 acres and more than 6 million square feet across three corporate parks we developed ourselves.

Racine Has the Only Operational Frank Lloyd Wright Corporate Headquarters in the World

The SC Johnson Administration Building at 1525 Howe Street was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and built between 1936 and 1939. In the company’s own words, it is the only Wright-designed corporate headquarters that remains operational today, and it still serves as the hub of strategy and leadership for a global business.

The campus is a National Historic Landmark, designated on 7 January 1976, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places on 27 December 1974. Alongside the Administration Building stands the Research Tower, built between 1947 and 1950 — a 15-story structure with a brick facade and Pyrex-tube windows, its alternating square floors and circular mezzanines cantilevered outward from a central structural core. The original headquarters occupies a full city block bounded by 16th, Howe, 15th, and Franklin Streets, and the modern Fortaleza Hall and Waxbird Commons complete the campus, connected by shared spaces and a network of tunnels. Free public tours run.

Why this matters commercially, not just architecturally

A global consumer products company has kept its headquarters in Racine for nearly ninety years, in a building it could not replicate anywhere else. That is a durable anchor of a kind most cities of this size do not have, and it says something about the depth of Racine’s professional labor pool that a company of that scale runs global functions from here.

For an office occupier, the practical version is straightforward: the executive, marketing, legal, and finance talent that supports a global headquarters is in this labor market, and it is available at Racine salaries rather than Chicago or Milwaukee ones.

Headquarters detail per Wikipedia and S.C. Johnson.

What Does Racine Office Space Actually Cost?

Two published figures for this market look contradictory. They are not, and understanding why saves you from a bad decision in either direction.

The explanation

The $28 figure almost certainly includes small full-service suites, where rent, utilities, janitorial, and common area are bundled into a single rate. The $15 to $18 range covers large Class A and B floor plates quoted net, with the tenant paying taxes, insurance, and operating expenses separately.

Those measure different things and averaging them produces a number that describes nothing. It is the same misreading we address on our Cicero page, and it catches tenants and owners alike.

What to do about it

If you are a tenant taking 10,000 square feet or more, the $15 to $18 net range is your benchmark, and you should ask what the operating expense and tax loads add on top. If you are taking under 3,000 square feet in a suite, expect a full-service number closer to $28 and check what is genuinely included.

If you are an owner, benchmark against the same basis as your own offering. Pricing a 20,000 square foot net floor plate against a $28 full-service average will leave it vacant.

We model every option on a gross effective basis with identical inclusions, so the comparison is real.

Rate figures per CityFeet and CommercialCafe, the latter citing Yardi Research Data for 2026 on properties larger than 50,000 square feet.

How Big Is the Racine Office Market?

Larger and better graded than most cities of this size, though the listing counts vary by platform.

Reported availability ranges from 19 to 57 office listings depending on source, with an average available size of 11,502 square feet, a largest space of 408,875 square feet, and a smallest of 50. Across Racine County the counts run from 14 to 52.

The grading is the more useful figure. Among properties tracked in this market, Class A accounts for 38.24 percent of office listings and Class B for 55.69 percent, with Class C at just 6.07 percent. That is a well-graded inventory, and it means an occupier looking for genuine Class A space in Racine has real choice rather than one option.

That 11,502 square foot average sits comfortably inside our office tenant representation range of 3,000 to 50,000 square feet, which makes Racine a well-matched market for a mid-sized occupier — better matched than Kenosha, where the average is 4,630 square feet with a 21,392 square foot ceiling.

Listing figures per LoopNet, CityFeet, PropertyShark, and CommercialCafe. Class breakdown per CommercialCafe citing Yardi Research Data, 2026. These reflect current availability rather than total inventory and they change.

Who Employs Office Workers in Racine?

A narrower base than a metropolitan market, but with unusual depth at the top.

• S.C. Johnson & Son — global headquarters at 1525 Howe Street, running strategy and leadership functions for a worldwide consumer products business
• J.I. Case — the heavy equipment manufacturer, now part of CNH Industrial
• Dremel Corporation — the power tool manufacturer
• The industrial base — heavy equipment manufacturing, cleaning and chemical products, and heat exchangers, each of which carries engineering, procurement, quality, and administrative office requirements
• University of Wisconsin–Parkside and Gateway Technical College — Gateway’s Racine campus opened in 1972 on the former University of Wisconsin–Racine site
• The Mount Pleasant development corridor — office listings there cite proximity to I-94 and the Microsoft and Foxconn development

Racine’s history is one of invention: the city was the birthplace of malted milk and the garbage disposal, among others. The relevant point for office demand today is that a manufacturing economy of this depth generates substantial professional employment — engineering, supply chain, regulatory, legal, and finance — that a purely residential suburb does not.

Employer and industry detail per CityFeet. Confirm current corporate naming; J.I. Case now operates within CNH Industrial.

Where Is Office Space in Racine?

• Downtown Racine and the lakefront — the historic core near the Root River and Lake Michigan, with professional office, the Racine Art Museum, and the city’s cultural institutions.
• The Howe Street area — around the SC Johnson campus, the city’s most significant corporate address.
• The Highway 20 and Washington Avenue corridors — suburban and professional office along the principal east-west arterials.
• The I-94 and Mount Pleasant corridor — the western growth area, with newer product and proximity to the Microsoft and Foxconn development.
• The Green Bay Road corridor — running south toward Kenosha, with medical and professional office.

Downtown and the lakefront carry older, characterful stock at lower rents. The I-94 and Mount Pleasant corridor carries newer product with highway access. Those are different propositions, and the two-tier income picture reinforces the point: the City of Racine has a median household income of roughly $53,000 against Mount Pleasant’s $83,827, and the commercial markets differ accordingly.

Racine Sits Between Two Metropolitan Markets

Twenty-two miles south of Milwaukee and roughly sixty miles north of Chicago, which is a genuinely useful position for certain occupiers.

Access runs through Batten International Airport, Amtrak’s Hiawatha Line connecting Chicago and Milwaukee, and Interstate 94. Metra’s Union Pacific North Line is reachable from its Kenosha terminus roughly ten miles south, and the Belle Urban System provides local bus service.

For a business serving both Milwaukee and Chicago, Racine is one of very few locations that can reach each within an hour without paying either market’s occupancy costs. For a business serving only one of them, it is probably the wrong answer and we will say so.

The Wisconsin position also carries a broader tax and regulatory difference from Illinois — corporate income tax, property assessment, and unemployment insurance all differ — and a full comparison needs your accountant rather than your broker. We work both sides of the border and will lay out the real estate side honestly, including when the answer is to stay in Illinois.

Office Tenant Representation in Racine — 3,000 to 50,000 SF

Our office tenant representation practice covers the 3,000 to 50,000 square foot range across corporate, professional, engineering, medical, and back office requirements. Racine’s average available size of 11,502 square feet sits comfortably inside that band.

For occupiers entering or expanding in Racine, we run the full process: requirement definition, market survey across listed and off-market availability, building inspection, and comparative analysis of total occupancy cost rather than headline rent.

Four things drive a Racine decision.

Which rate you are actually being quoted. With published averages running from $15 to $28 depending on basis and building size, the first question is always gross or net, and what is included. We normalize every option before comparing.

Downtown versus the I-94 corridor. Older characterful stock near the lake against newer product with highway access and proximity to the Mount Pleasant development. Different rents, different tenants, different building risk.

Class, honestly assessed. With Class A at 38.24 percent and Class B at 55.69 percent of listings, Racine has genuine Class A choice. Whether you need it is a separate question, and paying Class A rates for Class B use is a common and avoidable error.

The cross-border comparison. For an Illinois business, Wisconsin’s tax and cost position is a real consideration and a real complication. We will run the real estate side properly and tell you when the answer is to stay where you are.

We negotiate the LOI and the lease — free rent, tenant improvement allowances, expansion and contraction rights, renewal and termination options, and parking. We work both sides of the table in Racine, and we tell you which side we are on before an assignment begins.

Office Leasing, Sales & Property Management in Racine — Buildings Up to 1,000,000 SF

For owners and investors we handle office leasing, investment sales, and property management, from single-tenant buildings to multi-building campuses up to 1,000,000 square feet.

Landlord Representation

We build and execute the leasing plan: positioning against comparables from transactions we negotiated ourselves, marketing to the regional occupier base, prospect qualification, and negotiation through lease execution. For a Racine building that means marketing across the state line as well as locally, because the cost differential against Illinois is the pitch, and it needs making to businesses currently paying Illinois occupancy costs rather than only to businesses already here. We report activity honestly, including when the market is telling you something you did not want to hear.

Pricing on the Right Basis

This is where Racine owners most often go wrong. Published averages for this market range from $15 to $28 per square foot depending on whether the sample is large net floor plates or small full-service suites. Benchmark against the same basis as your own offering, or you will either overprice and sit vacant or underprice and leave money on the table for a decade.

Investment Sales

Office assets trade on tenant credit, remaining lease term, building quality, and the durability of the employment base. Racine’s case rests on an unusually deep manufacturing and corporate base for a city its size: a global consumer products headquarters that has been here nearly ninety years, heavy equipment and power tool manufacturing, a well-graded office inventory at 38.24 percent Class A, and the Mount Pleasant development corridor to the west. We work with 1031 exchange buyers on identification and closing deadlines.

Who Manages Office Property in Racine?

Van Vlissingen and Co. provides comprehensive property management for office assets in Racine:

• Lease administration, rent collection, and enforcement of lease terms
• CAM and tax reconciliation, prepared to withstand tenant audit
• Building systems, HVAC, elevator, and life safety maintenance programs
• Janitorial, landscaping, snow removal, and parking management
• Vendor selection, contract negotiation, and performance oversight
• Monthly financial reporting, annual budgeting, and capital planning
• Tenant relations, renewal coordination, and suite turnover

Managing in Wisconsin means Wisconsin property tax and assessment practice, Wisconsin lease law, and Wisconsin vendor and licensing requirements. An operating budget imported from an Illinois property will not hold, and we budget a Wisconsin asset on Wisconsin assumptions rather than translating from Cook or Lake County.

Where a building offers small suites on a full-service basis, the owner carries utilities, janitorial, and common area costs directly rather than passing them through. That makes accurate budgeting and prompt escalation review considerably more important than in a net-lease building, and it is the most common source of margin erosion in small-suite office.

What Is Van Vlissingen’s Office Experience?

Van Vlissingen and Co. performs more than 100 commercial real estate transactions annually, and our team has completed over $3 billion in transaction volume.

The relevant credential for an office assignment is that we own and operate office space rather than only broker it. We developed and still manage 870 acres and more than 6 million square feet across three corporate parks, of which Corporate Woods in Vernon Hills is roughly 25 percent office across more than 60 buildings on 340 acres. Corporate Grove in Buffalo Grove carries office, research, and high-tech space across 200 acres, and Lincolnshire Corporate Center covers a further 330 acres.

We have leased and managed both large floor plates and small multi-tenant suites on our own balance sheet through multiple market cycles since the mid-1980s. When we tell you a headline rate is measuring something different from what you think, that is from running both kinds of building rather than from reading a listing platform.

See our full transaction history.

Why Work With Our Racine Office Brokers?

• More than 100 commercial real estate transactions annually, and over $3 billion in team transaction volume
• A defined focus: 3,000 to 50,000 SF tenant representation and buildings up to 1,000,000 SF for leasing, sales, and management
• The $15-to-$28 rate spread explained rather than averaged, because the two figures measure different things
• Every option normalized to the same basis before comparison
• We work both sides of the Illinois–Wisconsin border and will tell you when the answer is to stay in Illinois
• Wisconsin assets budgeted on Wisconsin assumptions rather than translated from Cook County
• Direct experience operating both large floor plates and small multi-tenant suites on our own account
• A fourth-generation firm, continuously in Chicagoland commercial real estate since 1879

Nearby Markets We Serve

Racine sits on Lake Michigan 22 miles south of Milwaukee and roughly 60 miles north of Chicago, adjoining Mount Pleasant and Sturtevant to the west, Caledonia to the north, and Kenosha County to the south. Office requirements frequently span the state line. We also broker office space in

• Kenosha
• Lake Forest
• Buffalo Grove
• Chicagoland

In Racine itself we also handle retail space and general commercial brokerage.

Racine Office Real Estate FAQs

What is the SC Johnson headquarters and why does it matter?

The SC Johnson Administration Building at 1525 Howe Street was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and built between 1936 and 1939. In the company’s own words it is the only Wright-designed corporate headquarters that remains operational today, and it still serves as the hub of strategy and leadership for a global consumer products business. The campus is a National Historic Landmark, designated in January 1976 and added to the National Register in December 1974, and includes the 15-story Research Tower built between 1947 and 1950 with its brick facade, Pyrex-tube windows, and cantilevered alternating floors. Commercially it matters because a global company has run worldwide functions from Racine for nearly ninety years, which says something real about the depth of the professional labor pool here.

Why do published Racine office rents range from $15 to $28 per square foot?

Because the figures measure different things. The $28 average almost certainly includes small full-service suites where rent, utilities, janitorial, and common area are bundled into a single rate. The $15 to $18 range covers large Class A and B floor plates quoted net, with the tenant paying taxes, insurance, and operating expenses separately. Averaging them produces a number that describes nothing. If you are taking 10,000 square feet or more, the net range is your benchmark and you should ask what operating expenses and taxes add. If you are taking a small suite, expect a full-service number and check what is genuinely included.

How big is the Racine office market?

Reported availability ranges from 19 to 57 office listings depending on source, with an average available size of 11,502 square feet, a largest space of 408,875 square feet, and a smallest of 50. Across Racine County the counts run from 14 to 52. The grading is more useful: Class A accounts for 38.24 percent of office listings and Class B for 55.69 percent, with Class C at just 6.07 percent, so an occupier looking for genuine Class A space has real choice. The 11,502 square foot average sits comfortably inside our 3,000 to 50,000 square foot representation range — better matched than Kenosha, where the average is 4,630 square feet with a 21,392 square foot ceiling.

Which employers drive office demand in Racine?

S.C. Johnson & Son runs its global headquarters here. J.I. Case, now part of CNH Industrial, and Dremel Corporation are also cited among the city’s major corporations, and the industrial base spans heavy equipment manufacturing, cleaning and chemical products, and heat exchangers. Each of those carries engineering, procurement, quality, regulatory, and administrative office requirements. The University of Wisconsin-Parkside and Gateway Technical College serve the city, with Gateway’s Racine campus opened in 1972, and office listings in the Mount Pleasant corridor cite proximity to the Microsoft and Foxconn development.

How is Racine positioned between Chicago and Milwaukee?

Twenty-two miles south of Milwaukee and roughly sixty miles north of Chicago, with access via Batten International Airport, Amtrak’s Hiawatha Line connecting the two cities, and Interstate 94. Metra’s Union Pacific North Line is reachable from its Kenosha terminus about ten miles south, and the Belle Urban System provides local bus service. For a business serving both Milwaukee and Chicago, Racine is one of very few locations that can reach each within an hour without paying either market’s occupancy costs. For a business serving only one of them, it is probably the wrong answer and we will say so.

Where is office space located in Racine?

Downtown Racine and the lakefront hold the historic core near the Root River and Lake Michigan, with professional office and the city’s cultural institutions. The Howe Street area around the SC Johnson campus is the city’s most significant corporate address. The Highway 20 and Washington Avenue corridors carry suburban and professional office, the I-94 and Mount Pleasant corridor holds newer product to the west, and Green Bay Road runs south toward Kenosha with medical and professional office.

What size office space does Van Vlissingen and Co. handle in Racine?

Our office tenant representation practice covers 3,000 to 50,000 square feet in Racine and across Racine and Kenosha Counties, spanning corporate, professional, engineering, medical, and back office requirements. On the leasing, sales, and property management side we handle buildings up to 1,000,000 square feet.

Who is the best commercial office broker in Racine?

Choose a brokerage that explains the $15-to-$28 rate spread rather than averaging it, normalizes every option to the same basis before comparing, and works both sides of the Illinois and Wisconsin border. Van Vlissingen and Co. developed and still manages 870 acres and more than 6 million square feet across three corporate parks, including Corporate Woods in Vernon Hills at more than 60 buildings, and we operate both large floor plates and small multi-tenant suites on our own account. We perform more than 100 transactions annually with over $3 billion in team volume, and the firm has operated in Chicagoland commercial real estate since 1879. Gordon Lamphere leads the office practice.

Do you manage office property in Racine?

Yes. We provide comprehensive property management for Racine office assets, covering lease administration, CAM and tax reconciliation, building systems and life safety programs, janitorial and parking management, vendor oversight, and monthly financial reporting. Managing in Wisconsin means Wisconsin property tax and assessment practice, Wisconsin lease law, and Wisconsin vendor requirements, so we budget on Wisconsin assumptions rather than translating from Cook or Lake County. Where a building offers small full-service suites, the owner carries utilities, janitorial, and common area costs directly, which makes accurate budgeting considerably more important.