A strip mall is planned at the site of the iconic Weissgerber’s Gasthaus, a German restaurant in Waukesha, according to documents filed with the city.
Those documents show a 9,800-square-foot multi-tenant retail and restaurant building planned at 2720 N. Grandview Blvd., the site currently occupied by the Gasthaus building. The strip mall would have three small restaurant spaces and three small retail spaces, according to the plans.
The Weissgerber family has operated the Gasthaus at the site since 1983.
City of Waukesha officials did not answer repeated calls for information about the project. Hans Weissgerber, one of the owners of the Gasthaus, also did not return phone calls. A manager at the Gasthaus said he had heard a rumor about the development, but did not have any information.
The proposal submitted to the city also includes a 2,600-square-foot stand-alone Panda Express restaurant building with a drive-through that would be built south of the multi-tenant strip mall building.
The strip mall building would also have a drive-thru window, for a coffee shop that would be located at the west end of the building. According to a city staff report, the coffee shop was originally going to be located on the east end of the strip mall building, where the Gasthaus building is currently located on the site. But city staff asked the development to move the coffee shop to the west end of the strip mall building, according to the report. The staff report also says some city staff members are concerned about adding two drive-thru windows and a new multi-tenant building in such close proximity on the site. “Staff continues to have strong concerns with (the) land use intensity of the proposal,” the report states.
The east end of the strip mall now shows a 1,847-square-foot restaurant with an outdoor patio, according to the plans.
The plans submitted to the city do not specifically say the Gasthaus building will be demolished, but the site plans show the strip mall building where the Gasthaus building currently sits.
The applicant listed on the development proposal is CFT Developments LLC, which is registered to Rosemead, Calif.-based Panda Restaurant Group. Representatives from Panda Restaurant Group did not return phone calls.
The Waukesha Plan Commission will review the project on April 27.
In addition to the Gasthaus, the Weissgerber family owns several area restaurants including The Golden Mast on Okauchee Lake; Seven Seas in Hartland and The Old German Beer Hall in Milwaukee.
