After being denied a site in Wauwatosa, Uncle Julio’s a Dallas-based Tex-Mex restaurant chain, is trying for a second time to enter Wisconsin with a proposal at Brookfield Square Mall.
The 9,123-square-foot restaurant would be located at 115 S. Moorland Road, just south of Chick-fil-A, according to plans submitted to the city. The restaurant would include 164 outdoor seats and would employ approximately 100 people.
Uncle Julio’s was founded in Dallas in 1986. The restaurant specializes in fajitas with homemade tortilla shells and a specialty margarita known as “The Swirl.”
Uncle Julio’s has 29 restaurants in seven states. The closest Wisconsin location is in Vernon Hills, Illinois.
The Brookfield Plan Commission will review the proposal Monday. The Common Council will vote on it March 20.
In April 2017, Mayfair Mall owner GGP Inc. proposed demolishing the vacant 12-story office tower at the northeast corner of North Mayfair Road and West North Avenue in Wauwatosa and replacing it with two restaurants: Uncle Julio’s and Seasons 52|Wine Bar & Grill.
The following month the city’s plan commission shelved the proposal, wanting something denser for the corner. In October, HKS Holdings came forward with a plan to develop a 196-room hotel on the site, that will incorporate the existing tower.