Kmart closing in developing area of Wauwatosa

The Kmart store in Wauwatosa, at 3201 N. Mayfair Road, is scheduled to close June 21, according to an announcement from the state Department of Workforce Development. The building has large "store closing" signs hanging outside.

Layoffs for the store's 103 employees will begin June 14, according to the DWD, which will help workers find new employment.

Wauwatosa Development Director Paulette Enders said she was not aware of plans for the building to be sold or redeveloped, and she believed it would be leased to another tenant.

As several properties in that area are under transition, Alderman Craig Wilson said it would be ideal to see major redevelopment of that corner, northwest of Mayfair Road and Burleigh Street. But in the meantime, he said he hopes businesses are able to keep the block alive on each of their own parcels.

"It's not going to kill us to have some more routine development," Wilson said. "I think it would actually be a good sign that we don't have to have big orchestrated development."

The corner has historically seen several vacancies as other businesses have closed, but recently there has been more attention to the area with the nearby development of the Mayfair Collection. The former Siekert and Baum office supply store was replaced by a La-Z-Boy showroom earlier this year, and a Popeye's franchisee recently proposed taking over the vacant Wendy's site. The former Ponderosa building is still vacant.

A little farther west down Burleigh, a Meijer supercenter is scheduled to open in August. At Burleigh and Highway 45, the Mayfair Collection has plans to continue growing with more stores, a Whole Foods Market, a Hilton Homewood Suites hotel, four Bartolotta restaurants, and luxury housing units.