Wauwatosa's Mayfair Collection developing well

With sales reportedly exceeding original expectations, the once industrial warehouse corridor of the now Mayfair Collection in Burleigh Triangle has proved itself to be a staple Wisconsin retail and mix-use marketplace — with no reason to stop growing.

Eighteen months into its development, Mayfair Collection has pushed the land's property value to $40 million with anchor tenants such as Nordstrom Rack, Saks Off 5TH, T.J. Maxx (opening in November), DSW Designer Shoe Warehouse (opened Wednesday, Sept. 10) and the state's first Corner Baker Café, which will open in time for the holidays.

And that's just phase one. HSA Commercial Real Estate, Chicago, has projected a three-phase development of Mayfair Collection, which was built to complement Mayfair mall, 2500 N. Mayfair Road.

Phase two has already broken ground and points to a future Whole Foods and 144-room Hilton Homewood Suites hotel. It will also include a brewpub and a casual French bistro from Bartolotta Restaurants. The restaurants and hotel will be open by fall 2015, with Whole Foods opening early 2016.

In phase three, up to 1400 luxury apartments are planned for construction over five years in the 69-acre parcel of the triangle developers named "The District."

An announcement will be made in about 60 days related to the future residential development, according to Brenton Schrader, director of marketing services for HSA.

"In general, we're very pleased with how (Mayfair Collection) is performing," said John Ruggini, finance director for the City of Wauwatosa. "Based on the success of phase one, we're all pretty comfortable going forward." Ruggini said the property value had reached $40 million.

Specific numbers of sales and customers could not be retrieved from retailers, but HSA Development did announce that a 350-car parking structure will be built east of the shopping center in time for a spike of holiday shoppers.

"We're going to work at a breakneck pace," said Schrader. 

Mayfair Collection has also created a new access point just north of the main entrance at 114th Street. The new entry, 112th Street, will soon be signaled so customers can make a right into Meijer and a left at the future Whole Foods.

"We knew from the outset of this project that there was a lot of pent-up demand for better quality retailers throughout the metro Milwaukee area," said Schrader. "Many in the region were accustomed to traveling all the way to Illinois to shop their favorite stores, and they are very excited to have those brands close to home in a location that's so easily accessible from just about any direction."

Once T.J. Maxx and another unsigned tenant opens, phase one of Mayfair Collection will reach 85 percent tenant capacity.

The City of Wauwatosa was contractually obligated to reimburse HSA $5.2 million as early as October once 65 percent tenant occupancy was reached. Under the terms of a tax-incremental financing district, HSA paid upfront to remediate the site, demolish buildings and improve general infrastructure—work estimated to cost the $5.2 million.

The city will recover its payment through the increased property tax generated by the development.

Ruggini said a development agreement will be drafted for phase two this fall. It will be similar to phase one's contract with a few variances, as phases two and three have a residential component that will increase the land's property value.

"Without the new retail draws like Nordstrom Rack and Whole Foods, we'd have an uphill battle getting traction for either a hotel and residential development," said Schrader. "There is now concrete evidence that the demand is there and that should be encouraging for future retail growth."