The lead developer for the Mayfair Collection development in Wauwatosa has a signed letter of intent with a potential anchor tenant for a 120,000-square-foot office building that would be added to the mixed-use project at Interstate 41/U.S. Highway 45 and West Burleigh Street.
Until recently, HSA Commercial, the Chicago firm that has been developing the Mayfair Collection for the last six years, had not considered office buildings for the project, which predominantly consists of restaurants, retail space and apartments.
“(The office building concept at Mayfair Collection) is much more viable than before, when the original development agreement was signed in 2012,” said Timothy Blum, executive vice president of HSA. “We are hoping to strike a deal (with the potential tenant) but these things are always fluid. The point is, the market has liked what we’ve done, and there is interest there for office.”
Blum said the amenities at the Mayfair Collection are what has driven the interest from office users, which he declined to name.
“Where else can you go in suburban Milwaukee where you can live in an apartment building, go to lunch, shop, get a cup of coffee and go to the office?” Blum said.
If, or when, and office building is constructed on the site, it will be built north of the apartments.
In March 2017, Fiduciary Real Estate Development, Inc. began developing the first phase of what could become 1,050 apartments at the Mayfair Collection. The apartment buildings there will also include 50,000 square feet of retail space.
The Mayfair Collection includes a total of 500,000 square feet of retail. At the center of the project is a 18,400-square-foot building that has not yet been leased. Blum said that building was designed with an upscale restaurant in mind.
“We just have not secured the right tenant yet,” Blum said. “We’re being very selective of the quality, just like we’ve done with every other phase of this project. With phase one, we were patient and it paid off. It is performing exceptionally well and there is a list of tenants waiting to get in here.”
In addition to The Mayfair Collection, HSA is working on a smaller retail building on the opposite side of the street at the former Schwaab Inc. stamp factory building at 11415 W. Burleigh St.
HSA purchased the property in January 2015, and has redeveloped it into a 32,000-square-foot multi-tenant retail building.
There too, Blum said HSA is waiting for the right tenants.
“We are in this for the long hall,” Blum said. “We own almost the entire north side and a good portion of the south side between Highway 45 and Mayfair Road. We want to make sure this district is developed in a manner consistent with the city’s vision and synergistic with everything else done here.”
