The former Babies ‘R’ Us store building on Bluemound Road in Brookfield has been sold for $3.25 million.
Plymouth-based Van Horn Real Estate recently purchased the 44,000-square-foot building on 4.5 acres from its previous owners, Goldsmith Bluemound LLC of Santa Monica, California. The property sold for significantly less than its assessed value of $6.58 million.
CBRE represented the owners in the transaction. Van Horn retained the CBRE retail team of Gary Stein and Ben Weiland to market the property. Van Horn is looking to secure a tenant for the retail building as well as a proposed outlot that could accommodate another building up to 3,500 square feet in size.
Ben Weiland, senior associate at CBRE, said the owners are seeking a similar retailer or an entertainment tenant for the existing building. He said the building, constructed in 1995, is in good condition. The proposed outlot could be used as a bank branch or a single-tenant retail building.
Weiland said the building represents one of the last remaining big-box opportunities on the Bluemound Road retail corridor that he’s aware of.
He noted the immediate area around this property has seen significant investment over the last several years. For instance, the former Kmart store to the east, which closed in December 2013, is now being leased by The Hobby Lobby and Dunham’s Sports. Two outlots in front of that building are home to a Mission BBQ and a Panda Express.
“The former Babies ‘R’ Us building and the proposed outlot building each present a rare opportunity for a retailer to establish a high-profile stand-alone store in the premier retail corridor in southeastern Wisconsin,” Weiland said.
In March 2018, Toys ‘R’ Us Inc. (the parent company of Babies ‘R’ Us) filed for bankruptcy to begin the process of winding down its businesses and liquidating its inventory at 735 U.S. stores. The company operated nine stores across Wisconsin.
Other Toys ‘R’ Us properties have been sold in recent months. For instance, the building at 2433 S. Green Bay Road in Racine was sold in January for $1.4 million to Chicago-based KLA Development Portfolio Owner LLC.
