Festival Foods is in negotiations to open at store in the former Walmart building at 609 S. Taylor Dr. in Sheboygan, according to commercial real estate sources.
The building is owned by Milwaukee-based Boulder Venture LLC. Boulder Venture managing partner Robert Schmidt could not be reached for comment.
Steve Sokolowski, manager of planning and zoning for the city of Sheboygan, declined to comment on any potential tenants for the building.
Festival Foods is a grocery store chain with 14 locations in Wisconsin, but none in the southeastern portion of the state. Festival Foods stores are located in Appleton, De Pere, Eau Claire, Fond du Lac, Green Bay, Holmen, La Crosse, Manitowoc, Marshfield, Onalaska and Suamico.
“They are a great grocer, they do huge business,” one commercial real estate source said.
The Walmart store closed a few years ago after the company opened two supercenter stores, with grocery departments, in Sheboygan, one on the north side and one on the south side.
The vacant Walmart store has contributed to an increasing amount of vacancy at the adjacent Taylor Heights Shopping Center, which was previously anchored by a Piggly Wiggly store, which also closed. The nearby Memorial Mall also has a high vacancy rate.
City of Sheboygan officials hope to revitalize the area by creating a tax incremental financing (TIF) district to provide developer incentives.
