An Arizona real-estate investor said he purchased a Chick-fil-A building in the Milwaukee area because the restaurant is “one of the best tenants you can have.”
State records indicate the Chick-fil-A building in West Allis, at 2645 S. 108th St., was sold recently to West Allis LLC for a little more than $2.2 million. That’s significantly higher than its 2017 assessed value of $1 million, according to Milwaukee County assessment records.
The buyer is Phoenix-based investor Ismail Hamdan. He said the sale marks his first investment in Wisconsin and in a building occupied by a Chick-fil-A. Hamdan largely invests in Arizona properties, mainly gas stations and related businesses.
Hamdan said he became interested in the property almost by accident; he said he was speaking to a broker about an unrelated property.
“They (Chick-fil-A) are one of the best tenants you can have for leases,” Hamdan said. Speaking generally of the restaurant chain’s performance, he said, “They do more in sales in those stores in six days (a week because Chick-fil-A restaurants are closed on Sundays) than McDonald’s does in seven days. … They’re pretty top-notch.”
He said the lease for the West Allis Chick-fil-A is good for another 13 or 14 years. Hamdan, who said he lived in Milwaukee until around 1980, added he was also attracted to the deal because he likes the West Allis community.
According to an entry on LoopNet, the 4,877-square-foot building was constructed in 2016.
Since entering the Wisconsin market in 2014, Chick-fil-A has seen rapid growth in the Milwaukee area. It currently has locations in Oak Creek, Mount Pleasant, Pleasant Prairie, Greendale, Pewaukee and Brookfield. It also has a vendor stand at Fiserv Forum in downtown Milwaukee and has plans to open a restaurant in Glendale and another in Delafield.
