Activity picking up at New Berlin City Center

Construction has begun recently on additional portions of the New Berlin City Center development. “Things are picking up out there very fast,” said Steven Stewart, president and chief executive officer of Milwaukee-based Investors Equity LLC. The 52,000-square-foot New Berlin Library in City Center was completed about two months ago at the site, located south of National Avenue and east of Moorland Road. In a few weeks, construction is expected to begin on the first of 118 condominiums that will be developed by Deer Creek Homes LLP. Later this year, construction is expected to begin on 12 condominiums, a 56-unit apartment building and a 16-unit apartment building being developed by Hales Corners-based Wimmer Brothers.
Construction of the retail space and medical office space, which is being developed by Investors Equity LLC, began recently. When complete, the development will have 65,000 square feet of retail space, a 28,500-square-foot medical office building and 20,000 square feet of office space above the retail stores.
So far, four tenants – Bakers Ice Cream, Extreme Pita, Edward D. Jones and Supercuts – have committed to occupying space in City Center, Stewart said. Combined, those four tenants will occupy about 7,000 square feet of space, leaving about 58,000 square feet of retail space still available.
Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin plans to open a clinic in the medical office building. Stewart is in negotiations with one of the major health care systems in the Milwaukee area, which he declined to name, that would also open a clinic in the medical office building.
Stewart plans to attract three or four restaurant tenants to City Center, including a brew pub. The restaurants will likely be national chain, sit-down restaurants, he said.
Retail tenants are interested in the development because it will be easily accessible to residents in the area by car, bike or on foot, Stewart said. The nearby intersection of National Avenue and Moorland Road is already a major retail hub with Wal-Mart, Pick ‘n Save, Walgreens and several smaller chain stores and restaurants.
“It is the City Center (of New Berlin),” Stewart said. “It’s creating a mixed use downtown atmosphere. I consider it the epicenter for New Berlin’s business and retail district.”
Stewart also is a partner in the River Renaissance development in Milwaukee’s Historic Third Ward. The project, located on the Milwaukee River, is expected to break ground soon, he said. The eight-story building will have 72 condominiums priced between $190,000 and $850,000 and 18,500 square feet of retail space.
In addition, Stewart is a partner in a development planned on a nine acre site south of County Highway C in Plymouth, just west of Highway 57, where he and Brian Kliensmet plan to build 18 condominiums, 40 apartment units and four acres of retail development.
Menomonee Falls
Copesan Services Inc. plans to move its headquarters from 3490 N. 127th St., Brookfield, to a 25,000-square-foot office building that is proposed for a vacant lot on Technology Drive, across from the Sprinkler Fitters Union building. Copesan is an alliance of regional pest management companies with locations throughout North America. The building will be constructed by Menomonee Falls-based Wahlgren-Schwenn Inc. The company has about 70 to 80 employees at its headquarters office. Copesan has run out of room at its current location, said the company’s marketing director, Jon Bain. “We’ve been bursting at the seams here for the last couple of years,” he said. “It’s time for us to move to something more modern and updated.”
In the next few months, Wauwatosa-based Weas Development plans to begin construction on a condominium and retail development northwest of Good Hope Road and Appleton Ave. The site is just south of North Hills Country Club and is near the Woodland Prime Corporate Park. Weas plans to build 124 condominiums, priced between $250,000 and $450,000 and 35,000 square feet of middle to upper-scale retail space, said David Conine, partner with Weas Development. “We have a bank pretty well lined up, but I’m unable to reveal which one at this time,” he said. “We are pursuing a white table cloth restaurant, mid to upper end.” The exterior of the buildings will feature a variety of materials including steel, copper, iron, brick and stone, Conine said. “It will have timeless materials and design, something that lasts forever and doesn’t go out of style,” he said.
Cardinal Components Inc., a supplier of precision machine parts and fabricated parts, plans to move its operations from W165 N5815 Ridgewood Dr., Menomonee Falls, to a 28,716-square-foot building that is proposed for a vacant site located across from Old Orchard Road from Renee Drive. The proposed building would have 20,496 square feet of warehouse space and 8,220 square feet of office space.
Despite the downfall of Strong Capital Management founder Richard Strong, the Woodland Prime Corporate Park, where the company now owned by Wells Fargo is located, remains an attractive place for office tenants, Conine said. On July 1, Froedtert and Community Health will occupy 60,000 square feet of office space at 400 Woodland Prime, Conine said. The building is owned by Weas Development. Froedtert and Community Health will use the space for a data center for Froedtert Hospital and Community Memorial Hospital.
Boston-based Uno Restaurant Holdings Corp. plans to open a 6,500-square-foot Uno Chicago Grill restaurant, which is proposed for a vacant site at the northwest corner of Premier Lane and Thunder Ridge Dr. Uno Chicago Grill, formerly known as Pizzeria Uno, has over 200 locations in 32 states, Puerto Rico, South Korea and the United Arab Emirates. The chain’s only location in the Milwaukee area is at 15280 W. Bluemound Road, Elm Grove. Uno Chicago Grill is best known for its Chicago-style deep dish pizza, but the restaurant also serves steaks, seafood and other entrees.
Capital Properties Inc. is proposing a retail and housing development for an area northwest of Lilly Road and Silver Spring Drive. The company plans to acquire and demolish six homes to clear the site for the development. Preliminary plans for the site include nine acres of retail development with a bank, an 18,000- to 19,000-square-foot retail building and two buildings with 5,000 to 6,000 square feet of space for stores or restaurants. The project also includes a yet-to-be-determined number of condominiums.
Brookfield
Brookfield-based Thomson Corp. plans to build a 110,000-square-foot shopping center with several buildings at 15200 W. Greenfield Ave. A 55,000-square-foot Pick ‘n Save grocery store with a drive-thru pharmacy will be built in the first phase of the project, which is expected to break ground this summer. The second phase of the development will have five or six additional retail buildings, said Thomson Corp. president of land development Tim Smits. The stores could open in January, he said. Thomson Corp. received city approval to develop the site in 1998, when the company was negotiating to land Pick ‘n Save as an anchor tenant. The Pick ‘n Save deal fell through, and the project was put on hold until now, Smits said. Because Pick ‘n Save has such a large share of the Milwaukee-area grocery market, it is difficult for developers to build shopping centers with a grocery store as an anchor if they do not secure Pick ‘n Save as a tenant, Smits said.
Oconomowoc
Restaurateur Nick Tsioutsiopoulos plans to open an 8,500-square-foot Brisco County Wood Grille & Saloon restaurant in the Summit Centre Market Place shopping center, located in the 1200 block of Summit Avenue. Tsioutsiopoulos and his family also own the Brisco County Wood Grill in Menomonee Falls and Wild Fire Burgers in Oak Creek. The restaurant will be built by Oliver Construction Company and the site is being developed by Frontier Development LLC.
Milwaukee-based Wangard Partners plans to build a 25,000-square-foot building in the Prairie Creek Shoppes shopping center southwest of County Highway P and County Highway Z. Tobin’s, a pharmacy and gift shop located near downtown Oconomowoc at 201 N. Fowler St., plans to move to the proposed building and occupy 20,000 square feet of space. A ProHealth Care medical clinic will occupy the remaining 5,000 square feet in the building.
Pewaukee
Pewaukee developer Michael Bell plans to build a 9,600-square-foot multi-tenant retail building in the Lake Country Square development located in the 600 block of Ryan Street.
Wauwatosa
Rafael Escamillo, who owns the Mi Cocina restaurants in Brookfield and New Berlin, plans to open a Mexican restaurant at 869 N. Mayfair Road called Habanero’s. The restaurant will occupy about 4,700 square feet of space in a strip mall.
Hartford
Matthews, N.C.-based Family Dollar Stores Inc. plans to open a store at 46-52 S. Main St. The discount retail chain has 5,600 stores in 44 states and plans to open 500 to 560 during this fiscal year, which ends on Aug. 27.
Andrew Weiland is the Managing Editor of Small Business Times. Send news about commercial real estate to Andrew.weiland@biztimes.com or by calling him at (414) 277-8181 ext. 120. News can also be sent to Andrew Weiland, Small Business Times, 1123 N. Water St., Milwaukee, WI 53202.
Commercial Real Estate Transactions
Leases
Inland Companies
OnCourse Information Services has leased 7,200 square feet of flex space, and J.F. Harrison has leased 3,600 square feet of flex space, at Glendale Business Center, 6575-6693 N. Sidney Place, Glendale.
Promotional Product Solutions has leased 464 square feet of office space at 1126 S. 70th St., West Allis.
Office Furniture Options has leased 8,280 square feet of warehouse space at 4130 S. Towne Dr., New Berlin.
CC Services Inc. has leased 1,198 square feet of office space at Vincent Park, Brookfield.
Copper & Brass Sales has leased 57,378 square feet of industrial space at Franklin Park Industrial Center II at 9635-9655 S. Franklin Dr., Franklin.
Interfaith Conference of Greater Milwaukee has leased 1,545 square feet of office space at the Fenwick Office Building at 1442 N. Farwell Ave., Milwaukee.
A Touch of Country has leased 2,799 square feet of retail space at 10700 W. Oklahoma Ave., West Allis.
WIPRO GE Medical Systems has leased 565 square feet of office space at Merchants Grove at 2420-30 N. Grandview Blvd., Waukesha.
Mid-America Real Estate
Quizno’s has leased 1,752 square feet at Autumn Grove Plaza, Elm Grove, and 1,600 square feet at Stratford Plaza, Wauwatosa.
Second Wind Exercise Equipment has leased 6,752 square feet at V. Richard’s Plaza on Bluemound Road in Brookfield.
Starbucks has leased 1,800 square feet at the northwest corner of Squire Drive and Mequon Road in Germantown, and 350 square feet at Southridge Mall in Greendale.
Best Buy has leased 30,371 square feet on Richfield Way in Menomonee Falls and 21,000 square feet at Highway 41 and Highway 23 in Fond du Lac.
Children’s Orchard has leased 1,200 square feet of space at National Plaza, West Allis.
Office Max has leased 20,000 square feet of space at Moorland Commons in New Berlin.
NAI MLG Commercial
Cardinal Fitness has leased 8,565 square feet of retail space in the new Sunset Shops, located at the northwest corner of Sunset Drive and Prairie Drive in Waukesha, from General Capital Management.
Health Retreat Inc. has leased 1,370 square feet of office space in the Forest Grove Business Centre at 285 Forest Grove, Pewaukee, from BAP Properties Inc.
Lucent Technologies has leased 3,202 square feet of space and Extrusion Controls has leased 3,153 square feet of space in the Westbrook Business Center at 2325 Parklawn Dr., Waukesha.
Polacheck Company
GIGI Nails has leased 1,200 square feet of space at 3930 Brookfield Road, Brookfield, from S&L Holdings.
Penzey’s Wisconsin LLC has leased 3,035 square feet of space at 5016 S. 74th St. Unit D-05, Greenfield, from Greenfield LP an Illinois Limited Partnership.
Buy Seasons Inc. has leased 55,000 square feet of space at 5150 S. Towne Dr., New Berlin, from Demco Wisconsin 3 LLC.
Leach Company Inc. has leased 55,000 square feet of space at 8901 S. 102nd St., Pleasant Prairie, from CenterPoint Properties Trust.
Anixter Inc. has leased 65,417 square feet of space at 4420 Harley Davidson Dr., Wauwatosa, from CenterPoint Properties Trust.
Sales
Colliers Barry
Network Investment Partners LLC purchased 2.91 acres in the Sussex Corporate Center in Sussex from MLI/Trapp Limited Partnership. Network Investment Partners plans to build a 12,000-square-foot building on the site for its marketing company.
Grubb & Ellis|Boerke Company
Shaw Investments LLC purchased 22,543 square feet of industrial space at 742 S. Indiana Ave., West Bend, from Shaw Investments LLC.
Inland Companies
Office Furniture Resources purchased the 39,595-square-foot warehouse at 8787 W. Brown Deer Road, Milwaukee.
Bentley World Packaging purchased the 49,000-square-foot warehouse at 4134 N. Courtney St., Franksville.
Mid-America Real Estate
The Endeavor Group purchased 1.6 acres at Woodman Retail Center at Highway 50 and I-94 in Kenosha.
NAI MLG Commercial
Customer Granular Inc. purchased a 25,600-square-foot industrial building at 253 Wild Rose Road, Genoa City, from Amcore Bank.
Network Investment Partners LLC purchased 2.92 acres of vacant land in the Sussex Corporate Center from MLI/Trapp Ltd.
Dentom LLC purchased a 20,000-square-foot industrial building at 6580 N. Industrial Road, Milwaukee, from Allan and Blanche Luedtke.
Ogden & Company Inc.
LH United LLC purchased the former corporate headquarters of United Migrant Opportunity Services (UMOS) at 2651 S. 5th St., Milwaukee. The property includes five acres of land and three buildings totaling 18,000 square feet. LH United plans to use the property to develop a facility for a soccer league. UMOS has moved its corporate headquartes to 2700 S. Chase Ave., Milwaukee.
Polacheck Company
Homer Sod Farm Partnership purchased a 5,200-square-foot building and 4,550 square feet of land at 643 S. 2nd St., Milwaukee.
New Construction
The Jansen Group Inc., Milwaukee, has completed the addition and remodeling of the original two-story First National Bank of Hartford building at 116 W. Sumner St., Hartford. The interior renovation of the lower level, first floor and second floor included a new entry and atrium. The project added 20,000 square feet of space for new teller lines, a cash vault and support areas. The exterior improvements include a clock tower surrounded by colored concrete in a park-like setting.
Briohn Building Corp., Brookfield, has been contracted to design and build a 7,540-square-foot tenant improvement for Stephens-Trzinski in Pewaukee Woods North at N29 W23810 Woodgate Court West, Suite 100, Pewaukee.
Voss Jorgensen Schueler Co. Inc., Waukesha, has completed construction for a plant consolidation at the Falk Corporation building at 3001 W. Canal St., in Milwaukee’s Menomonee Valley. The project included conversion of foundry space into a machine shop to consolidate operations previously done at the Capitol Drive plant in Wauwatosa.
Montgomery Design Studio, Brookfield, has recently completed the interior design and tenant build-out of 7,200 square feet of space for Orthopaedic Associates of Milwaukee at the Orthopaedic Hospital of Wisconsin. Montgomery Design Studio also recently completed the interior design and tenant build-out of about 3,800 square feet of space for First Bank Financial Centre of Oconomowoc at the Summit Marketplace Center and the remodeling of First Bank Financial Centre on Brown Street in Okauchee.
MSI General Corp., Oconomowoc, was selected by Hartland-based Lake Country Detailing to design and build a new 5,924-square-foot building for the company at N64 W22550 Main St., Sussex.
Inland Construction, Milwaukee, was selected to build a 58,800-square-foot warehouse building, with some office space, in the Stadium Business Park II development at 39th and Mitchell streets in Milwaukee. Inland Construction recently completed a construction project for Fantastic Sam’s Hair Salon at 3970 N. Brookfield Road, Brookfield.
MEDC Loans
Christobal Martinez received a $67,500 MEDC loan and $107,500 in financing from other sources to purchase the building at 3447 W. Forest Home Ave. where he will operate a Mexican restaurant called Oaxaca Grill.
Nicholas Fiore, owner and president of Surfaces Transport Inc., received a $500,000 MEDC loan and $1.125 million in financing from other sources to buy the 70,000-square-foot building at 6066 N. 76th St.
Badger Sound and Lighting received a $137,500 MEDC loan and $137,500 in financing from other sources to purchase a 14,000-square-foot building at 3806 W. Douglas Ave. William Kaliebe is the owner of Badger Sound and Lighting.
Kismayo LLC, doing business as Club Timbuktu, received a $129,600 MEDC loan and $194,400 in financing from other sources to purchase the 5,200-square-foot building at 518-520 E. Center St. Club Timbuktu opened in December in the building, and features African cuisine, dŽcor and entertainment. Dini Omar Gagale and Youssouf Komara are the owners of Kismayo LLC.
S. Price Real Estate Holdings LLC received a $230,000 MEDC loan and $566,946 in financing from other sources to expand Jo’s Daycare Academy Inc., 4801 W. North Ave., into an adjacent two-story, 8,676-square-foot building. Schnell Price is the owner of S. Price Real Estate Holdings and Jo’s Daycare Academy.
Creative Business Interiors received a $800,000 SBA loan and $1.2 million in financing from other sources. Creative Business Interiors plans to purchase a 54,200-square-foot building on 2 acres at 11725 W. Fairview Ave., West Allis. The company is owned by Gary Zimmerman, John Norfolk and Stephanie Anderson.
April 29, 2005, Small Business Times, Milwaukee, WI