Waukesha-based MRED-Cummings Commercial Development Corp. plans to build a 225,000-square-foot retail development on a 30-acre property east of Loomis Road and Highway 100 in Franklin, a neighborhood known in that community as the Crossroads Trade Area.
The property is the site of the former Coyotes Pub and Grill, now an abandoned building. It is also where Wal-Mart planned to build an 184,000-square-foot Supercenter store in 2004. Wal-Mart dropped those plans because of intense opposition by Franklin residents. At the same time, the city created a cap on the size of retail stores, limiting them to 125,000 square feet (except in the South 27th Street corridor).
The MRED-Cummings development plans include a 124,900-square-foot anchor store, with 25,000 square feet of multi-tenant retail space attached to the anchor store and five outlot buildings. The development would be called the Shops at Legend Creek.
Loomis Road and Highway 100 is a busy, but underdeveloped, intersection. A Walgreens store is located to the south, a Citgo gas station is located to the north and a small used car lot is located to the west.
“Tens of thousands of cars go by (the site) each day,” said Mark Lake, director of development for MRED-Cummings. “The site is begging to be developed. The question is, what’s the correct developmentω”
Two other major retail projects are in various stages of development in Franklin.
Franklin-based Mark Carstensen Construction & Development Companies Inc. plans to develop a 30-acre vacant property southeast of Drexel Avenue and Highway 100 with up to 295,000 square feet of upscale retail space. It would be anchored by a Sendik’s grocery store owned by the owners of Sendik’s of Brookfield Inc.
Equitable Development LLC is building Fountains of Franklin, an 80,000-square-foot retail and office development on the north side of West Rawson Avenue, just west of South 51st Street.
MRED-Cummings tried to attract a Sendik’s store for its development but, “they didn’t want to pay what we were asking,” Lake said.
Franklin is attracting more development as urban sprawl continues to spread into undeveloped areas of the city in southwestern Milwaukee County. The community is attractive to developers because of its high growth rate and has numerous high-income households, Lake said.
“We developed the Walgreens across the street,” he said. “We like this area, we like Franklin.”
Other developments in various stages of development in Franklin include:
• Bricton Group Inc. plans to develop a 100-room, five-story Staybridge Suites hotel at 9527 S. 27th St., which is southwest of the corner of South 27th Street and West Ryan Road. It would be the first hotel chain in Franklin.
• Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. is expanding its Franklin campus at the northwest corner of South 27th Street and West Drexel Avenue. The company is adding an $85 million, 400,000-square-foot, six-story building providing space for an additional 1,100 employees. The expansion will also include a six-level parking structure for 1,625 vehicles, a training facility for up to 100 people and a cafeteria for up to 500 people. The expansion will be an addition to the 500,000-square-foot office building and 900-stall parking structure that the company completed in 2004 on the 84-acre property, which was formerly the site of the 41-Twin Drive-In movie theater. That building also provides space for about 1,100 employees.
• Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare is building a 275,000-square-foot, $80 million outpatient hospital on a 55-acre site northwest of South 27th Street and Oakwood Road.
The city is trying to attract more commercial development to reduce the tax burden on Franklin homeowners. City officials have set a land use goal of 70 percent residential property and 30 percent commercial property. Much of the city’s existing commercial development is located along South 27th Street, providing tax base for the Oak Creek Franklin Joint School District, but not for the Franklin Public School District, which covers most of the city.
MRED-Cummings hopes to begin construction on its development at Loomis Road and Highway 100 by the middle of next year and open the first phase, including the anchor store, by late fall, Lake said.
Brewers Hill
John Nehring and Anne Finch-Nehring, who own several businesses including Nehring’s Sendik’s on Oakland, 4027 N. Oakland Ave., Shorewood, are planning to open a small grocery store in Milwaukee’s Brewers Hill neighborhood. The 12,000-square-foot store, called Nehring’s Market, would be part of the 44,000-square-foot Pleasant Street Market retail development at the northeast corner of Pleasant and Commerce streets. The project is being developed by Brewery Works Inc., owned by developers Gary Grunau and Scott Sampson. A representative for Brewery Works could be reached for comment.
Construction on the project could begin soon, John Nehring said. “We’re very close on a lease,” he said. “The design is pretty much finished.” The store could open by next spring, Nehring said.
Downtown Milwaukee
Hotel Metro, 411 E. Mason St., plans to close its Metro Bar and Café during the week of Thanksgiving to make some improvements. It will be closed from Monday, Nov. 20 through 4 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 24. The hotel will install new carpeting in the restaurant area, a new hardwood floor in the bar area and a new service station including new coolers and a new storage rack.
Brookfield
Milwaukee-based M&I Corp. plans to expand its office building at 401 N. Executive Drive from 65,000 square feet to 120,000 square feet. The 55,000-square-foot, three-story, $12 million addition will be used as a training center for the company’s employees, said Brookfield director of community development Dan Ertl. The company plans to add 35 to 40 full time employees in the building as part of the expansion.
Oak Creek
Apple Tower Development plans to develop 41 acres of vacant land northeast of South 27th Street and West Honadel Boulevard with medical office space, senior apartments and condominiums. The company has presented two conceptual plans to city officials. One plan would have 148 senior apartments and 200 condominiums. The other plan would have a combination of medical office space and residential units.
Seville Flexpack Corp. plans to build a 63,000-square-foot printing facility, just south of its headquarters facility at 9905 S. Ridgeview Drive. The company manufactures laminated printed packaging. The company provides packaging solutions to customers in the food, beverage, household, industrial, pharmaceutical and personal care industries.
West Allis
Developers Steve Stewart and Brian Kliesmet plan to begin construction by mid-December on their $11 million, mixed-use development at the corner of West Greenfield Avenue and South 64th Street, Stewart said. The five story building will have 22,000 square feet of first floor retail space and 42 condos on the upper floors.
Sturtevant
Milwaukee-based Marcus Theatres Corp. recently opened its new 13-screen complex at 10411 Washington Ave. in Sturtevant. The cinema is located just off Highway 20, about two miles east of I-94 and just west of the new Amtrak train station. The cinema includes a 70-foot wide UltraScreen.
New Berlin
Milwaukee-based Landscape Architects Inc. plans to build a 10,959-square-foot multi-tenant retail and office building on a 1.5-acre site at 3333 S. Sunny Slope Road. Two homes on the property will be demolished to clear space for the new building. Later, Landscape Architects plans to build another commercial building on an adjacent, and vacant, 1.9-acre property.
Waukesha-based TDI Associates Inc. plans to build a one-story, 9,000-square-foot multi-tenant retail and office building on a one-acre vacant site at 16850 W. Observatory Road.
Cedarburg
James Uselding plans to build a 7,326-square-foot, 15-bed community based residential facility (CBRF) on a half-acre vacant site just north of W51 N848 Keup Road. A CBRF is similar to an assisted living facility, which is a home for frail elderly residents providing them a lower level of care than at a standard nursing home.
Sussex
A Quiznos restaurant at N65 W24838 Main St., which had closed, will reopen under new ownership. Denver-based Quiznos specializes in sub sandwiches and has more than 4,800 locations.
Hartland Developer Scott Lewandowski plans to build a 2,537-square-foot gas station/convenience store on a vacant site at the northwest corner of Executive Drive and County Highway K.
Andrew Weiland is the managing editor of Small Business Times. Send news about commercial real estate to Andrew.weiland@biztimes.com or by calling him at (414) 277-8181 ext. 120. News can also be sent to: Andrew Weiland, Small Business Times, 1123 N. Water St., Milwaukee, WI 53202.
Leases
Christian Khayat leased 3,960 square feet of office space at 7363 Highway 50, Lake Geneva, from Nicholas Veith.
Combex Inc. d.b.a. Chaney Instrument Company leased 29,822 square feet of industrial space at 999 Wells St., Lake Geneva, from Trostel Specialty Elastomer Group Inc.
Dedicated Computing leased 20,575 square feet of warehouse space at Pewaukee Commerce Center II, N25 W23040 Paul Road, Pewaukee.
JASCorp. leased 6,423 square feet of office space at 12100 W. Park Place, Milwaukee.
National Association of Catholic Chaplains leased 3,393 square feet of office space at Airport Atrium at 5007 S. Howell Ave., Milwaukee.
FleetRisk Advisors leased 3,340 square feet of office space at Executive Center VI, 400 N. Executive Dr., Brookfield.
Concierge Care LLC leased 1,689 square feet of office space at 100 N. Corporate Dr., Brookfield.
Central Office Systems leased 7,000 square feet of office space at 2238 Bluemound Road, Waukesha, from Hilltop Properties LLC.
Sales
IBT West Bend LLC purchased 2.917 acres of land at 806-08 W. Paradise Dr., West Bend, from West Bend Partners Limited Partnership.
R&S Davis Investments LLC purchased a 2,137-square-foot office condo at 675 N. Barker Road, Brookfield, from Brookfield Watertown Office Ventures LLC.
Milwaukee Industrial Trade Center LLC purchased 2.2 million square feet of industrial space at North 27th and Hopkins streets in Milwaukee from
Mike’s No. 10 – Sherwin LLC purchased 4,800 square feet of retail space at 360 Bay View Road, Mukwonago, from TCB 12 LLC.
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local Union 2150 purchased the 12,000-square-foot former Fabco building at N58 W1377 Silver Spring Dr., Menomonee Falls. The local union will move its headquarters there from N8 W22520 Johnson Dr. Unit H, Pewaukee. The union’s current location is for sale.
St. George Publishing purchased the building at 205 Wilmot Dr., Waukesha, from Midwest Engineering.
Digital Intelligence purchased the 12,000-square-foot building at 17165 Glendale Dr., New Berlin.
Schecterle Properties purchased the DJs Lounge building at N56 W15572 Silver Spring Dr., Menomonee Falls.
New construction
Big Bend-based Peter Schwabe Inc. recently began construction to re-build the McDonald’s Restaurant located at 300 N. Moorland Road in Brookfield. The new restaurant includes seating for 120 in 5,351 square feet of space. The original restaurant, built in 1969, was also built by Peter Schwabe, Inc. and was their first in a long-standing history of building McDonald’s restaurants throughout the country.
Creative Constructors LLC, Menomonee Falls, is building the 4,800-square-foot Ruby Tuesday restaurant at 10843 W. Park Place, Milwaukee.
Briohn Building Corp., Brookfield, recently completed the design and renovation work of two Pick n’ Save grocery stores, a 94,000-square-foot store at 12735 W. Capitol Dr., Brookfield, and a 64,000-square-foot store at 6950 W. State St., Wauwatosa.
Anderson-Ashton Inc., New Berlin, was recently selected by U.P.I Manufacturing Company to design and build a 24,000-square-foot facility with office and manufacturing space on Godfrey Lane in the Town of Eagle.
MEDC loans
Midwestern Roofing and Construction received a $76,800 MEDC loan and additional financing from Layton State Bank to purchase the property at 7375 N. 51st St. The two-year-old company, run out of the home of Yolanda and Trais Haire, will move to the property.
Badger Railing received a $600,000 MEDC loan. The company plans to buy 1.86 acres of land in the 3800 block of West Milwaukee Road in the Menomonee Valley Industrial Center. The company will build a 27,600-square-foot facility there and move its operations to the facility from 1611 W. Canal St.
A Point of Healing LLC, an acupuncture business, received a $114,000 MEDC loan and additional financing from Park Bank to purchase the two-story commercial building at 4727 S. Howell Ave.
The Hmong Wisconsin Chamber of Commerce received a $125,000 MEDC loan and additional financing from Tri City National Bank to establish a revolving loan fund to help Hmong businesses grow throughout the state. The Hmong Chamber will use the funds to provide gap loans to businesses. The loans will range in size from $5,000 to $25,000.
Steinway Piano Gallery of Milwaukee Inc. received a $450,000 SBA loan and additional financing from Associated Bank to purchase the former Bradford Pianos retail building at 11550 W. North Ave., Wauwatosa.
Roots Development LLC received a $340,000 MEDC loan and additional financing from M&I Bank to build Scoopz Frozen Custard restaurant at3617-31 W. North Ave.
