Minnetonka, Minn.-based The Opus Group is planning a second phase for the Shoppes at Fox River retail development in Waukesha, and tenants for the second phase could be announced later this year, said Mike Fitzgerald, vice president of Mid-America Real Estate-Wisconsin, which is handling the leasing for the project.
The Shoppes at Fox River was built at 1200 Sunset Dr. on the west side of Waukesha. Tenants in the shopping center include: Target, Pick ‘n Save, Petco, Dollar Tree, Famous Footwear, Buffalo Wild Wings, Subway and GNC.
The second phase will have about 60,000 to 80,000 square feet of retail space, Fitzgerald said.
"We’re getting a lot of interest from national retailers," he said.
The second phase of the development will be built at a site where a Lowe’s store was once planned, until plans for that store fell through. The second phase will cover about 11 acres of the 18 acres that have yet to be developed in the project, Fitzgerald said. Later a third phase will be done to develop the final 7 acres, he said.
Associated Bank recently purchased a one-acre site along Sunset Drive and in front of the Target store at the Shoppes at Fox River, Fitzgerald said. The bank plans to build a new branch there to replace its branch in the Fox Run Center at 2306 W. St. Paul Ave., about a half-mile to the west, he said.
The Shoppes at Fox River was built at the former Fleming Cos. property northwest of Sunset Drive and Champan Drive. Opus started construction of the project in 2008. It was one of the few retail develoments built in the metro Milwaukee area during the Great Recession.
At the end of 2010 Opus sold a large portion of the shopping center to Farmington Hills, Mich.-based Ramco-Gershenson Properties Trust for $23.8 million. The deal consisted of 135,484 square feet of space that was attached to the Target store and in four free-standing multi-tenant retail buildings. The deal did not include the 132,382-square-foot Target store, the CVS store building the Chili’s restaurant building or the vacant land in the development. Target, CVS and Chili’s own its buildings and Opus retained ownership of the vacant land in the project, Fitzgerald said.
