A struggling retail center in Brown Deer could get new life with updated retail space and housing under a new $21 million proposal from a Nebraska development firm.
The 21-acre site, located northeast of West Brown Deer and North Green Bay Roads, is currently occupied by a nearly 300,000-square-foot retail center that’s vacant aside from a Michaels craft store and Bath & Body Works, a parking lot, and a restaurant called Kitchen & Kocktails on a commercial outlot.
Woodsonia Real Estate has submitted plans to demolish the 300,000-square-foot building and replace it with a new 128,000-square-foot retail space. A tenant has not been disclosed for the space, though plans submitted to the show red accents to the storefront, a note on a floor plan that says “Bullseye’s playground” and a CVS Pharmacy and Starbucks inside, which are both found at most Target locations. Target’s logo is a bullseye. The closest Target locations are at Bayshore in Glendale and in Menomonee Falls. A Target store at 8501 W. Brown Deer Road closed in 2016.
To the north of the planned 128,000-square-foot retail space, Woodsonia is proposing a four-story building with three floors of market-rate apartments and 21,000 square feet of commercial space on the first floor. Plans say the number of units is dependent on a market study.
Kichen & Kocktails would remain in its existing space on the western end of the site and three new retail sites would be created in line with it. Tenants have not been named for these potential spaces, but plans show potential for restaurants with drive-thrus and other small retail spaces of various sizes.
Village documents indicate that the 128,000-square-foot retail building would be the first phase of the project, though Woodsonia did not immediately respond to request for comment on a more detailed timeline.
The development site is bordered to the north by more retail space that is vacant aside from a Pick ‘n Save. There are currently no plans for that portion of the shopping center, though city officials hope redevelopment at the southern end of the site will encourage investment to the north, city documents say.
Both sites are owned by a New York-based company called Namdar Realty Group, which owns properties globally.
Woodsonia, based in Elkhorn, Nebraska, which is outside of Omaha, owns and manages more than 60 properties, according to its website. The firm primarily does retail and multifamily development.
