The former Northern Chocolate Co. building, located at 2034 N. King Drive in the Bronzeville neighborhood has a new owner.
Equal parts business investment, historic curiosity and nostalgia led Alexander Cihla to purchase the 140-year-old Italianate style brick building. Cihla plans to convert the building into office space. Cihla’s Red Maple Investments LLC, which list him as the agent, bought the property on Dec. 1 for $329,000, according to city records.
Northern Chocolate Company was known for its hand-crafted candies and for its eccentric owner chocolatier Jim Fetzer.
Cihla remembers Fetzer and his penchant for ripping into customers who asked the wrong questions and pulled out their cellphones, according to a 2019 Journal Sentinel article.
It earned Fetzer the moniker “Chocolate Nazi” − a reference to the infamous “Soup Nazi” character from the “Seinfeld” TV series. Fetzer operated the business for more than 30 years. He died early this year at age 73.
Cihla found himself at the scolding end of one of Fetzer’s admonishments when he went to purchase several boxes of chocolate as Christmas gifts for employees at his property management company. He walked to the counter with seven boxes of mint meltaways. He was quickly told to put the items back.
Cihla said he was perplexed until he saw a very small sign saying “Maximum 3 per person.” Undaunted he returned the next day, and the next day, and the next day until his shopping list was completed.
Chocolate memories aside, Cihla said the building’s purchase is part of his company SNSHN – Property Management’s expansion. The space will allow the company to grow its newly-founded software engineering initiative.
“Picking this property in particular, and pursuing it aggressively, was done to expand our scale of responsibility in the Brewer’s Hill neighborhood and to feed our continued interest in historically significant structures,” Cihla said in a statement to the Journal Sentinel about the purchase.
To accommodate its new business endeavors, Cihla’ plans to renovate the lower level of the two-story building for office. The 3,000-square-foot building also has a second-floor apartment, which Cihla’s said would likely retain its historic condition.
The majority of the renovations would be done by June 2026.
The building’s renovation has been a treasure trove into Fetzer’s chocolate making career. Several chocolate molds have been found including Fetzer’s signature otter mold. Other memorable relics found include two operating rotary hook style phones, old furniture, and wood reservoir tub with pull chain.
But, to his wife’s chagrin, no chocolate recipes have been found.
“No such luck,” Cihla said.
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