Crossroads Collective food hall on Milwaukee’s East Side is closing after six years in operation.
Crossroads announced over social media Tuesday that May 8 will be its final day of service as a local restaurant plans to move into the space at 2238 N. Farwell Ave. It remains unclear which local restaurant will take over the space.
“Since opening, we’ve had the honor of hosting passionate vendors, welcoming thousands of guests, and helping launch businesses that have gone on to grow in big ways. The energy and creativity of this corner of the East Side has always come from the people and we’re proud to have been a part of it. Now it’s time to pass the torch to a local restaurant expanding into the space, a move that reflects what Crossroads has always stood for: giving small businesses a place to grow,” according to the social media post.
Crossroads’ current food vendors Scratch Ice Cream, Awi Sushi, Temple Goddess + Adonis Burger Co. and Capybara Cafe and its Pharmacy Bar will continue operating there through May 8, to accommodate the Milwaukee Film Festival which runs April 24-May 8 at the adjacent Oriental Theatre. Customers are encouraged to follow the businesses on social media for updates on what’s ahead for them, according to the post.
Milwaukee-based real estate development firm New Land Enterprises opened Crossroads Collective in late 2018 and continues to own and manage it today. Despite challenges in recent years with tenant turnover, winding down operations wasn’t initially part of the plan for the food hall, said Jodi Hogerton, marketing director at New Land.
“We had a restaurant operator approach us looking for a new location to expand their current operations, which is a normal thing for us, that’s what we do. But when we started going through what we had available and their wish list and checking all their boxes, we all kind of came to the discovery that the current space that Crossroads is in really is a perfect spot for them,” said Hogerton, who declined to disclose the name of the restaurant that will soon take over the Crossroads space.
The decision was a tough and bittersweet one for the New Land team, she said. The company, which owns the former Oriental Drugs building on Farwell and North avenues, took over the ground-floor space after Rosati’s Pizza closed in 2017. Managing director Tim Gokhman spearheaded the food hall concept as the first of its kind in Milwaukee at the time, offering restaurateurs a lower-cost option to get their business off the ground — and many vendors found success from the model. New Land guided Crossroads through the difficulties of the COVID-19 pandemic — requiring vendors to quickly pivot to curbside and carryout service — and other industry headwinds like staffing shortages and rising costs.
“The restaurant business is a famously difficult business, and we’ve had a lot of really big challenges from COVID to construction, and I think we had great times and we had really hard times. Probably every vendor experienced a really different thing based on what their business model was,” said Hogerton.
She noted the success story of Scratch Ice Cream, which got its start as one of Crossroads’ first vendors and continues to operate there today. Scratch has gone on to open additional brick-and-mortar locations in Brookfield, West Allis and at Zocalo Food Truck Park in Milwaukee.
“Looking at all of the really talented chefs and entrepreneurs that came through these stalls, that’s a point of pride and honor that we’re going to wear proudly,” she said.
New Land still owns the building and the move to lease the food hall space out to another operator is “less closing up shop and more passing the torch,” said Hogerton. She added that the East Side neighborhood was a major draw for the business. In 2023, a pedestrian plaza opened just outside of the food hall, on a portion of Ivanhoe Place, allowing for additional outdoor seating and gathering space.
One remanent of Crossroad’s original operation will be Shanghai, a speakeasy bar situated behind the food hall, only accessible through a unmarked corridor in Black Cat Alley. New Land converted an outdoor back-of-house loading area into the narrow, 20-seat bar as part of the renovations for Crossroads. Shanghai operates separately from the food hall and will remain in business going forward. Plans are in the works to expand the speakeasy’s physical footprint as soon as this summer, said Hogerton.
