Ex-Kmart site in Waukesha to grow with new freestanding retail building

Plans for a new freestanding retail building at the Sunset Crossings development at 120 E. Sunset Drive received final approval from the Waukesha Plan Commission July 27. The project replaced the former Kmart building and has revitalized the the business climate in the surrounding area.
Published on: 7/28/2016

The Sunset Crossings development continues to grow.

The Waukesha Plan Commission on July 27 unanimously approved final site and architectural plans for a freestanding multi-tenant building to be constructed on an outlot at the former Kmart site, 120 E. Sunset Dr.

Two fast-food restaurants and a retail business, all thus far unnamed, will occupy the 6,400 square-foot building, according to planning documents, which will be constructed in front of the plaza that replaced Kmart, on an island outlot, surrounded on all sides by a parking lot.

The former Kmart building now houses an Xperience Fitness, Dollar Tree, Rogan's Shoes and Kohl's Off/Aisle.

Plans for the new building received preliminary conditional approval from the commission in June, and the development overall has revitalized the business climate in the area, city staff, officials and developers have said.

The final plans for the building were modified slightly to reflect input from planning staff and commissioners, said City Community Development Specialist Jeff Fortin, and include four-sided architecture and differentiation between the roof lines of each tenant's unit.

Redeveloping Sunset

The proposal comes as part of an ongoing redevelopment of Sunset Drive, which includes the Fox Run Shopping Center, The Shoppes at Fox River, Sunset Crossings and the soon-to-be opened Meijer supercenter.

The freestanding building proposal is an idea consistent with a vision spelled out when the Kmart redevelopment project began in 2015.

The recent upgrades to the former Kmart site — a 115,857-square-foot building on 11.7 acres purchased in December 2014 by Lockard Development — in particular have been a commercial boon.

Lockard, a nationwide integrated real estate solutions firm in Iowa, partnered with Milwaukee-based Endeavour Corp. on the project.

Developers have said the Xperience Fitness and Kohl's Off/Aisle businesses in particular have performed exceedingly well.