(For more retail coverage, click GlobeSt.com/RETAIL.)
MILWAUKEE-A $69-million redevelopment Downtown has given a 500,000-sf, rundown industrial building a new lease on life, and the retail portion of the mixed-use Kenilworth project is ready for occupancy, according to Mid-America Real Estate-Wisconsin LLC. The local firm was recently tapped as the retail leasing agent for the project, which is owned and managed by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) and is being developed by Weas Development. The rest of the building features student housing, an art school and a parking garage.
Thirty days into the assignment, Mid-America principal Dan Rosenfeld tells GlobeSt.com that there has been some "very strong" interest in the 24,138-sf retail portion of the project. The company aims to land a national retailer for 15,678 sf of that space. The remaining space most likely will be a mix of small street-front shops.
"Our strategy is to find some new and unique retailers to Milwaukee that are going to compliment the demographic that exists on the east side," Rosenfeld says, adding that age and income levels in the area vary greatly. He says that housewares, clothing and office supply stores are the types of tenants being targeted for the larger space.
Rosenfeld adds that the project is surrounded by a "tremendous" amount of development, including several residential projects and the renovation of Columbia St. Mary's, a large medical facility and nursing school. In addition, Whole Foods just opened its first southeastern Wisconsin location in the eastside neighborhood at the beginning of October.
The building at 1925 E. Kenilworth was once divided into two factories--one produced early Ford automobiles and the other supplied torpedoes to the Air Force in World War II. More recently, it was a maintenance and storage facility for the UWM. In its current form, the building serves as home to about 370 graduate students and the Peck School of the Arts.
The building's existing 24,138 sf of retail space also is divided. The five-story East Building on Prospect and Kenilworth houses 15,678 sf of retail, the art school, and a parking garage. The seven-story West Building on Kenilworth and Farwell provides 8,460 square feet of divisible, student housing and parking.
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