Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Meijer Inc. plans to demolish a portion of Memorial Mall in Sheboygan, including the former Sears store space, to build a new Meijer store.
An affiliate of Meijer purchased the 367,147-square-foot mall, which sits on a 31-acre site southwest of Kohler Memorial Drive and Taylor Drive, from an affiliate of New York-based NorthStar Realty Finance Corp. for $10.75 million, according to a news release from Milwaukee-based Siegel-Gallagher.
“Yes, we have purchased that site,” Meijer spokesman Frank Guglielmi said. “We eventually plan to build a Meijer (store) on a portion of that site, but we have (not) finalized any construction timeline and it will be several years before we open a store there.”
The sale of the mall to Meijer was brokered by John Kuhn and Matt Chappell of Siegel-Gallagher, who represented NorthStar, and Meijer was represented by Michael Straits of Intrepid Properties and Robert Flood of RFP Commercial.
“This is a phenomenal location,” Kuhn said. “It’s at the Main and Main of Sheboygan. It’s a phenomenal piece of real estate.”
Memorial Mall, built in 1983, has struggled for years with a large amount of vacant space. It was acquired by NorthStar in 2011 in a foreclosure action. The sale to Meijer includes the adjoining Sears store property, which was acquired by NorthStar in late 2014. After that sale Sears closed the store.
Meijer plans to tear down the former Sears store space and a portion of Memorial Mall to create a site to build a Meijer store, Kuhn said. A portion of the existing Memorial Mall will remain, including the Kohl’s store and the Bed Bath & Beyond store, he said.
Most Meijer stores, which include large grocery and general merchandise departments, are about 192,000 square feet.
Meijer already has 213 stores in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky. But now the firm is entering the Wisconsin marketplace and plans to open several stores in the state. This year Meijer plans to open stores in Grafton, Kenosha, Oak Creek and Wauwatosa. The company also plans to open stores in Waukesha, Greenfield, Sussex and the Green Bay area.
“(Meijer is) being very aggressive with their expansion plans (in Wisconsin),” Kuhn said.
