Milwaukee restaurant owner Brian Ward is planning a second Point Burger Bar location in the former American TV & Appliance store in Pewaukee.
Ward received a conditional use permit for the project this week from the Pewaukee Plan Commission. If everything goes as planned, he’ll get a liquor license and architectural plans approved from the city this summer, and have the restaurant open by October.
“It was always in the plans to have multiple locations, and then this opportunity came along,” Ward said. “We wanted to see how well the first one did and it is far exceeding expectations. The time is right to expand and this location for us is good.”
Ward opened Point Burger with Stevens Point-based Point Brewery in November 2015 at 10950 W. Good Hope Road. He also owns Ward’s House of Prime in Downtown Milwaukee and Delafield.
Ward will lease 15,000 square feet in the southeast corner of the store at W229-N1400 Westwood Drive, off Highway F just north of I-94, for the restaurant.
Frontline Commercial Real Estate bought the former American TV stores in Pewaukee and Brown Deer when the retailer closed in 2014.
The northern 90,000 square feet of the Pewaukee store is occupied by Veloce Indoor Speedway for indoor racing. Another 30,000 square feet of the building is still vacant, Ward said.
He said he is planning a few more locations between Milwaukee and Madison.
“We have to find the right fit for us,” Ward said. “Right now, we’re excited to be moving into the Lake Country area. We think there is a lot of opportunity there.”