Two new retail options — including one that's even new to its parent retailer — are set to join the mix in the old Kmart at 120 E. Sunset Drive in Waukesha.
A Kohl's Off-Aisle store, a new concept store by the Menomonee Falls-based retailer, and Rogan's Shoes will help fill the gap between the two existing businesses, Xperience Fitness and Dollar Tree, in the coming months, opening in late March or early April.
There could still be more to come. A 10,000-square-foot addition to the former Kmart building is also part of the redevelopment plan.
A new aisle
The Off-Aisle store by Kohl's is a pilot venture, described as a discount store that will be stocked with merchandise returned to Kohl's stores and Kohls.com.
"It's neat (the company) chose Waukesha for their new concept," said Community Development Specialist Jeff Fortin.
In addition to Waukesha, Kohl's is also adding an Off-Aisle store to The Mayfair Collection in Wauwatosa, a new retail and dining shopping center just off Highway 45 at Burleigh Street.
When the Waukesha and Wauwatosa stores open this spring they will be just the second and third Off-Aisle Kohl's stores in the country. The first such store opened in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, in June 2015.
The addition of Kohls' Off-Aisle stores comes on the heels of a similar effort by Macy's, which added a chain of discount stores called Macy's Backstage last year.
Shoe also fits
Rogan's Shoes, headquartered in Racine, already has two stores in Waukesha County — in Brookfield and Menomonee Falls — among the 33 stores it operates in Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota and Iowa.
Fortin said he likes the mixture the shopping center will soon provide.
"(Rogan's) is growing locally," he said. "Both are good fits there."
Fortin said the Kohl's store is expected to be approximately 25,000 square feet and the shoe store about half that.
Community Development Director Jennifer Andrews said the developer is also in talks with a pet supply store to fill more of the former Kmart building. Andrews said after Kohl's, Rogan's and the pet store open, there would likely be room for one more retailer in the former Kmart building.
Still developing
Lockard Development, a nationwide integrated real estate solutions firm in Iowa, purchased the old Kmart property in late December 2014 after the city's plan commission approved of the redevelopment project for the 115,857-square-foot building.
In addition to the 10,000-square-foot addition to finish the first phase of redevelopment, two outlots on the property will be included as part of a second phase of the project. Tenants could include fast and casual food restaurant operators.
Because the plan commission has already approved the redevelopment of the site, any changes made by the developer for the building's addition would have to return to the commission for review, Fortin said.
The new development comes as a new supercenter store is being constructed across the street on Sunset Drive. Meijer, a food, clothing and home merchandising store, is opening later this year at the corner of Tenny Avenue and East Sunset Drive.
"I think retailers are seeing that the walls are going up across the way for the Meijer store and maybe that is helping attract new retailers," Fortin said. "This end of Sunset Drive is really taking shape."