MILWAUKEE – The Mayfair Collection is an ever-expanding mixed-use development that Tim Blum, executive vice president and managing director at HSA Commercial, believes is a perfect example of where the property type is headed. GlobeSt.com caught up with Blum to get his take on the project, the mixed-use market and what's to come for this property type in Wisconsin and beyond.

GlobeSt.com: Can you give a cliff-notes version of the Mayfair Collection project?

Tim Blum: The Mayfair Collection, the 69-acre mixed-use community outside Milwaukee in Wauwatosa, Wis., anchored by Whole Foods and Nordstrom Rack, transformed a blighted industrial area into a vibrant mixed-use district. Featuring off-price concepts like Nordstrom Rack, Saks Fifth Avenue OFF 5TH and T.J. Maxx, one of the state's first Whole Foods stores and destination-caliber local eateries, The Mayfair Collection most recently welcomed a hotel, luxury apartments and unveiled plans for a 30,000-square-foot coworking hub that will open this spring.

GlobeSt.com: How have you seen mixed-use spaces evolve over the years?

Tim Blum: A vibrant retail and restaurant scene is a fundamental building block for any mixed-use development as it creates the “there, there” that will attract residents, diners and shoppers to the project. For example, residential developers ignored The Mayfair Collection for years and did not believe that the site of a former industrial complex was well-suited for new housing. Once we announced Whole Foods and began attracting an eclectic lineup of local restaurants, competition became fierce among those same residential developers that saw value in these walk-to amenities.