A Waite Park, Minnesota-based development firm has purchased the former Sentry foods grocery store site in Whitewater, where it plans to build a 70-room hotel.
Warhawk Real Estate LLC sold the 7.4-acre site to WWHP LLC for $2.18 million, according to state records. WWHP LLC is an affiliate of United Development Solutions.
The property, located at 1260 W. Main St., includes the 52,000-square-foot former Daniels Sentry Foods store, which closed in December 2015.
At the time, the store’s general manager said the company tried unsuccessfully for more than two years to sell the building to another retailer.
Sentry was unable to compete with the Walmart store at 1362 W. Main St. after it started selling groceries in 2011, the store manager said.
The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Foundation purchased the property in 2016 with plans to lease the grocery store to UW-Whitewater for a community outreach center.
In October, United Development Solutions presented a plan to the city of Whitewater to construct a 70-room Fairfield Inn hotel on the site.
Representatives with United Development Solutions could not be reached for comment Thursday.
