A Sherwin-Williams paint store will return to Milwaukee’s Walker’s Point neighborhood with a 3,500-square-foot store in Wangard Partner’s Freshwater Plaza development.
Sherwin-Williams, which was located for several years at First and Virginia streets before its lease expired about eight years ago, will be located in a new outlot between Cermak Fresh Market and N. First Street.
“We believe there will be a strong commercial business now that there is a much stronger residential base in the Walker’s Point neighborhood,” said Stewart Wangard, chairman and CEO of Wangard Partners.
Wangard will begin construction on the store next month with construction expected to be complete in about six months.
Freshwater Plaza is a mixed-use development at the northeast corner of N. 1st Street and E. Greenfield Avenue. It includes a 46,280-square-foot Cermak Fresh Market grocery store, a four-story L-shaped building on the corner with 16,645 square feet of retail space and apartments on the upper floors and the outlot buildings.
Several of the retail stores have already opened and a coffee shop will open in the L-shaped building this summer. Cermak opened in June.
“The grocery store has been doing a steady business that is starting to build,” Wangard said. “Not everyone is aware it is there yet. There have been some stories written, but it still takes awhile to get the story out.”
Wangard is also in negotiations with the city for another outlot on the property, south of the Sherwin-Williams building. Wangard said he is still in negotiations with a variety of users for the building and would not comment on square footage.