Pabst Farms and its regional mall developer, Beechwood, Ohio-based Developers Diversified Realty Corp., recently submitted new plans for the retail development in an attempt to address concerns of city officials.
The biggest change is the addition of landscaping, a small pond, a water feature and a monument sign/wall that would block the view of the backs of the large retail buildings at the corner of Highway 67 and I-94. City officials see that as a key gateway to Oconomowoc and they do not want people to see the backs of buildings as they drive in off the freeway.
The updated plans also eliminate two, 150-room hotels and trimmed the amount of office, residential and retail space bringing the total square footage for the regional retail development down to just more than 2 million square feet from about 2.4 million square feet in the original plans.
The updated plans also provide more details about the layout of 600,000 square feet of big box stores on the east end of the site.
The project still includes a 16-screen movie theater complex, a 30,750-square-foot bookstore, several restaurants and four anchor stores (one 165,000 square feet, one 137,000 square feet, one 96,000 square feet and one 53,000 square feet).
Construction for the Pabst Farms regional mall is expected to begin this year and be complete in 2010.
