Infrastructure work is underway and a ceremonial groundbreaking ceremony was held recently to celebrate the start of construction for the Drexel Town Square development, which will create a downtown for Oak Creek.
“There’s a lot happening here,” said Oak Creek Mayor Steve Scaffidi, referring to Drexel Town Square and other development projects in the city. “We are changing the discussion and the dynamic about Oak Creek. (Drexel Town Square) is a game-changer for Oak Creek. I couldn’t be more excited.”
Drexel Town Square is an 85-acre, mixed-use project by a team of developers, led by Wispark LLC, at the former Delphi plant site southwest of Drexel and Howell avenues. The project will include a 192,000-square-foot Meijer store, a 108-room Four Points by Sheraton hotel, several restaurants, a health care and fitness component, 500 to 600 upscale apartments, a mixed-use Main Street, a town square park and a new city hall and library.
At the recent groundbreaking ceremony, officials announced that Water Street Brewery will build a restaurant in Drexel Town Square, at the prime corner location of Drexel and Howell.
Water Street Brewery owner R.C. Schmitt opened the restaurant’s flagship location at 1101 N. Water St. in downtown Milwaukee in 1987. Then he opened Water Street Brewery locations at 3191 Golf Road in Delafield in 1999 and at I-43 and Highway 60 in Grafton in 2010.
“We’re excited to be here,” Matt Schmidt, director of operations of Water Street Brewery, said at the Drexel Town Square groundbreaking ceremony. “We can’t wait to break ground and get started.”
Development partners for the Drexel Town Square project include Barrett Visionary Development, which will build 500 to 600 upscale apartments on the west side of the site, and WiRED Properties, which will develop the mixed-use Main Street portion of the project.
“It’s very rare that a community like Oak Creek gets an opportunity to choose how it presents itself to the world,” said Blair Williams, president of WiRED Properties. “We hope to create a place where Oak Creek comes to gather and linger. We are thrilled to be here and think this is going to be an award-winning, ground-breaking development.”
Many of the components of the Drexel Town Square development will be completed in 14 to 15 months, Scaffidi said. More announcements are to come on additional tenants in the project.
“We’re going to announce new partners as the project goes on,” Scaffidi said.
