The Pabst Farms development, once envisioned as a Midwestern upscale retail jewel destination in Oconomowoc, will soon be the home of a 151,000-square-foot Walmart Supercenter store and a 136,000-square-foot Sam’s Club store.
Walmart and Pabst Farms Development Inc. announced their plans for the two stores today.
The stores are planned to be built northeast of Interstate 94 and Highway 67 in the Pabst Farms Town Centre area of the development.
Prior to the Great Recession, Pabst Farms developer Peter Bell planned to create an upscale regional mall in the Pabst Farms Town Centre. However, that project has not moved forward, and attempts by Pabst Farms to attract upscale national retail tenants have been unsuccessful so far.
The Walmart Supercenter and the Sam’s Club stores would be the first significant development at Pabst Farms in several years.
“The city is excited to see the long anticipated Town Centre project at Pabst Farms get under way,” said Bob Duffy, economic development director for the City of Oconomowoc. “The new Walmart and Sam’s Club will not only provide approximately 400 new jobs, but since the Pabst Farms tax incremental district is in the process of closing early, this will mean a substantial direct increase in Oconomowoc’s tax base from day one.”
The Pabst Farms Town Centre is still planned to be a 1 million-square-foot, open-air retail shopping center. The Walmart Supercenter stores and the Sam’s Club store will anchor the western portion of that site.
“We remain committed to an upscale, regional shopping destination, and look forward to working with retailers like Walmart and Sam’s Club that are economically strong, weathered the recession, and are well-positioned to succeed in this new economic environment,” said Bell, president of Pabst Farms Development Inc. “As consumer spending continues to bounce back, there is more optimism in the retail sector than there has been in years. With Walmart and Sam’s Club committed, we are now actively working on retailers and a movie theater to fill out the rest of the development.”
