A California-based restaurant chain known for its pizza and craft beers is planning its first Wisconsin location, in Brookfield.
Huntington Beach, California-based BJ’s Restaurants Inc. has leased a 0.3-acre site at 17430 W. Bluemound Road, the former site of a TGI Fridays restaurant.
It plans to tear down the former TGI Fridays building to build a new structure for a BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse, according to John Kardelis of Colliers | Wisconsin, who brokered the lease for BJ’s.
BJ’s has 214 restaurants and seven brewing operations in the United States, but this will be its first location in Wisconsin.
“(The company) wanted to start a flagship location (in Wisconsin), so Bluemound Road is that, and they’ll be expanding throughout Wisconsin over the next few years,” Kardelis said.
The site is an outlot at the Brownstone Shopping Center on Bluemound Road. Other nearby restaurants include Red Brick Pizza, Jersey Mike’s Subs and Dairy Queen.
The owner of Brownstones Shopping Center was looking to “completely reimagine” the former TGI Fridays space in part due to sunken floors in different dining sections, Brookfield planning administrator Richard VanDerWal said.
The project is expected to begin in a few weeks, he said.
