While some areas within Waukesha have struggled to redevelop, other areas have brought growth, new life, new jobs and revitalized properties.
Such is the case commercially with The Shoppes at Fox River, built upon what was previously a grocery distribution center along Sunset Drive, and Woodman's Food Market, built on the site of a former concrete plant along Main Street.
A Walmart Neighborhood Market emerged on the site of an outdated Walmart off Highway 164. Still emerging is a commercial redevelopment at the site of the former Kmart site, also on Sunset Drive, spurred in part by the construction of a Meijer store nearby on vacant land.
The city has made industrial gains through redevelopment, as well.
After the former AMF bowling alley near the Waukesha County Airport closed early last year, an interested party was quickly approved to redevelop that commercial site for an industrial use.
"That site will gain value and jobs and it turned around pretty fast," Community Development Director Jennifer Andrews said. "That was an attractive site because it's in an industrial area and is close to I-94 so it has great access."
Andrews also highlighted Oberlin Filter, a longtime manufacturing company in Waukesha that is expanding in the city. It is in the process of building a 90,000-square-foot building just west of Bluemond Road on the city's north side.
All of these recent developments make Andrews optimistic.
"We feel really positive about the state of our commercial and manufacturing situation," she said. "As large of a city as we are, we always have businesses moving in and out, but we feel strongly that we're in a good position of attracting new tenants.
"We feel there is a lot of interest in the city."
Meijer's pending arrival
Perhaps the biggest, most recent example of that interest lies near the intersection of Sunset Drive and Tenny Avenue: the Meijer site and the Kmart redevelopment.
Meijer — a food, clothing and home merchandising store — is under construction on the southeast corner of the intersection. Store officials are planning a 2016 opening date.
There were many hurdles Meijer officials had to overcome during the approval process, including having the site rezoned from residential to commercial.
While Meijer ultimately got an approval from the city more than a year after first proposing the plan, why didn't Meijer just move into a location within Waukesha that was so desperately seeking a tenant and one that was already properly zoned for this kind of development?
Jim Ostrowski, real estate manager for Meijer, a company based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, said other Meijer stores have been built at existing commercial sites and if the situation was right, it could move into a vacant building.
In Waukesha, many sites were looked at but none of them — outside of its Sunset Drive site — met the needs of Meijer, Ostrowski said.
"We took and considered many properties, but none were big enough for us," said Ostrowski, while referencing the former Kmart site (11.7 acres) on Sunset Drive as well as the old Jewel-Osco property on Highway 164 that has sat vacant for seven years.
Meijer is building a 192,000-square-foot supercenter on the south end of the 31-acre property as well as a 2,500-square-foot gas station on the north end near Sunset Drive.
"This site met the criteria we were looking for and it's on the best site to best serve the community," Ostrowski said.
Spurring growth
Moreover, Ostrowski said Meijer spurred the redevelopment at the old Kmart site. As Kmarts have left the Milwaukee-metro market, it left a void at 120 E. Sunset Drive for three years.
And it probably would still be vacant if not for the Meijer development, Ostrowski said. Once the Meijer store was approved by the council last year, the redevelopment of the Kmart site got the go-ahead.
"We looked at that Kmart site for our Meijer site and it wasn't big enough and it already had an owner," Ostrowski said. "Plus, by us building near that location, we're now helping spur redevelopment there."
An Xperience Fitness will occupy the west end of the building, which had been in dire condition as it continued to sit vacant, and use approximately 43,400 square feet. A Dollar Tree is set to fill 11,480 square feet of the east side of the building.
Another 60,000 square feet of commercial space is still available, and no other committed tenants are signed, according to documents listed on Commercial Property Associates Inc.'s website.
There is also room for a tenant to occupy a 10,000-square-foot addition next to Dollar Tree. And two outlots, one 3,600 square feet and the other 7,000 square feet, are available.
Citywide expansions
All parts of the city has seen different levels of growth.
At the Woodman's site, currently only two of the outlots are filled — a Culver's was added first and a Waukesha State Bank was the most recent addition, both on the east side of the site along Highway 164. However, seven more spots are available.
Dan Rosenfeld of Mid-America Real Estate Wisconsin LLC said he couldn't comment on the progress of any potential commercial or restaurant options.
On the northwest side of the city, Good Harvest Market, which has a strong regional customer base, recently built a new site to meet a growing demand. A few blocks to the north, just off Interstate 94, a new Kwik Trip will emerge soon.
On the southwest side of the city, The Shoppes at Fox River has seen its commercial district fill up quickly over the last several years and is now undergoing another expansion.
And Walmart opened a new supercenter on the south edge of the city off Highway 59 and West Avenue.
While some have said more shopping centers are taking away from current centers in Waukesha, Andrews said the city is growing as it builds more single-family homes, especially on the south side. She added the city also wants new tenants to attract new users.
"We want to have a regional pull," Andrews said. "We want to attract from our surrounding communities. We don't want to be stagnant. We want to continue to make sure we have enough options and services for our residents."