Mayfair Collections project advances in Wauwatosa

City panel approves TIF, plan for $46 million project

Nov. 6, 2012

The Wauwatosa Community Development Authority last week approved the project plan and a special tax district for the Mayfair Collections development in the Burleigh Triangle, at the northwest of the corner of Burleigh and Mayfair roads.

The first phase of the plan, valued at $46.6 million, would be a 270,330-square-foot retail center on 23 acres on the west side of the triangle, bordered by Highway 45, according to the project plan.

The Chicago-based developer, HSA Commercial Real Estate, owns 62 acres of the 69-acre triangle, west and north of the McDonald's restaurant on the corner. Future phases would include a mixture of retail, restaurant, multi-family residential and office spaces.

The plan calls for new construction and the renovation of an existing warehouse on the site, formerly owned by Roundy's. Tim Blum, executive vice president of HSA, said Nordstrom Rack, Dick's Sporting Goods, and Ulta have signed on as tenants.

Blum said HSA was close to agreement with other tenants. He anticipated groundbreaking in the spring.

HSA will take out a construction loan for the entire cost of the project, city Finance Director John Ruggini said. A tax-incremental financing district was created for the project, under the terms of which the developer will pay upfront for infrastructure improvements, including improvements along Burleigh Road, and demolition of buildings and remediation of the site itself. The agreement documents put those costs at $5.2 million.

Ruggini said the city will reimburse HSA for these "public benefit" costs - things the city would eventually have addressed anyway - when the project is at least 65 percent occupied, along with a number of other financial requirements, within a specified window of time. Cash generated from taxation of the site and/or public bonding will be used to pay the developer, Ruggini said.

"We want to be sure that the project is viable before we provide money," he said.

The city also will make a $2 million loan to HSA, forgivable providing certain conditions are met.

Part of the long-term plan at the site includes space for a new firehouse, likely replacing Fire Station No. 2, at 4187 N. Mayfair Road, which, because of its location, has somewhat slower response times than the city's other two stations.

Community Development Authority chairman Alderman Craig Wilson, said the Burleigh Triangle is "often looked at as the armpit of Wauwatosa," and praised the development as a "catalyst" for the entire Mayfair corridor.

City Administrator Jim Archambo agreed, saying the project had ramifications beyond the specific site. "We're really looking to affect the whole corridor," he said.

"You're really setting the bar," Alderman Joel Tilleson told Blum. "I urge you not to chintz on it."

The Mayfair Collections development, along with a new Meijer store, planned for the corner of 112th Street and Burleigh Road, will create a new, more attractive "gateway" to the city, aldermen have said.

Next Step

WHAT: Mayfair Collections proposal goes to Budget and Finance Committee

WHEN: Tuesday, time to be determined

WHERE: City Hall, 7725 W. North Ave.

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