Walmart plans to open a store at the former Lowe’s store property at 6300 W. Brown Deer Road in Brown Deer, according to numerous commercial real estate sources.
The Lowe’s store closed in 2011 and was one of 20 underperforming stores that the home improvement retailer closed at that time.
Last year Walmart closed its store at 8700 N. Servite Dr., Milwaukee, located southwest of Brown Deer Road and North 76th Street near the former Northridge Mall. Walmart said it was replacing that store with a new store that it opened in Timmerman Plaza at 10330 W. Silver Spring Dr., Milwaukee, six miles to the southwest of the near Brown Deer Road. The Timmerman Plaza store is a supercenter store with a grocery department, which the store near Brown Deer Road did not have. Presumably the new Walmart store at the former Lowe’s site will have a grocery department, since all new Walmart stores include grocery departments.
Walmart spokeswoman Lisa Nelson declined to comment on the project.
“We do not have anything to announce yet,” she said.
Brown Deer community development director Nate Piotrowski said the former Lowe’s property is under contract to be sold, but he would not disclose who the buyer is. Piotrowski said he expects a formal development proposal to be submitted to the village soon.
Although the former Lowe’s site is only about a mile east of Walmart’s previous location near Brown Deer Road, it is located closer to single family home subdivisions and in a more vibrant retail area real estate brokers say.
“That (site) allows them to get closer to the north shore and allows them to get out of what people see as the rougher section of Brown Deer Road,” said Ross Koepsel, partner of Commercial Property Associates.
ETE Reman Inc., a Milwaukee-based remanufacturer of transmissions and transfer cases for cars and trucks, plans to move its operations to the former Walmart store building at 8700 N. Servite Dr.
