HEARTLAND SNAPSHOT, APRIL 2007

Milwaukee Retail Market

Dan Cohen, Principal/Director of Development, Mid-America Real Estate

Milwaukee’s metropolitan area has experienced a number of retail trends, which reflect the overall retail development in the area. “These trends include [the development of] community centers with lifestyle attributes and tenant mixes, mixed-use projects, multi-level retail, and the inclusion of public places and public art in retail developments,” says Dan Cohen, principal and director of tenant representation at Mid-America Real Estate.

With significant developments recently completed or coming online in many submarkets, including Grafton Commons in Grafton, The Shoppes of Wyndham Village in Franklin and the 1.5 million-square-foot Pabst Farms project in Oconomowoc, the Milwaukee retail market is experiencing an influx of new retailers entering the market.  Many of these new retailers are nationwide restaurants and grocery stores such as Flemings Steakhouse, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Camille’s, Fresh Market, California Pizza Kitchen, Devon Seafood and Joey’s Seafood. Active developers in the area include General Growth Properties, Continental Properties, Told Development Co. and Commercial Horizons.

Cohen notes that the majority of development is concentrated in two distinct types of submarkets — the growth corridors of Oconomowoc, Franklin and Grafton, Wis., and infill and first collar development in suburban communities such as Wauwatosa and Shorewood, Wis.

Recent leases in the area include Roundy’s 55,000-square-foot deal in Brookfield; Marshall’s 37,220-square-foot deal for a department store in The Shoppes of Nagawaukee in Delafield; Outpost Natural Foods Cooperative’s 24,252-square-foot lease for a grocery store in Milwaukee; Best Buy’s 30,371-square-foot deal in Menomonee Falls; Michael’s 21,252-square-foot lease in Brookfield; Office Max’s 20,000-square-foot deal in New Berlin; and a 45,000-square-foot lease for LA Fitness.

According to Marcus & Millichap’s National Retail Report for 2007, the overall retail vacancy rate for Milwaukee was 9.3 percent for year-end 2006. The rate is projected to drop 10 basis points to 9.2 percent by the end of this year.

With all the residential growth recently experienced in the suburban areas, Cohen suggests watching the Grafton, the Oconomowoc/Highway 67/Interstate 94, and the Franklin/Drexel Avenue/Highway 100 corridors for future retail development. These areas have recently experienced large population growth, which will need to be met by new retailers and retail developments.


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