Runboard.com
Слава Україні!
Community logo


WELCOME TO URBAN MILWAUKEE:
Post. Discuss. Share.

runboard.com       Sign up (learn about it) | Sign in (lost password?)

 
ReddAlertIII Profile
Live feed
Blog
Friends
Miscellaneous info

Registered user

Registered: 08-2006
Posts: 141
Karma: 2 (+2/-0)
Reply | Quote
Brookfield Square


Image

Another mall makeover in works
Brookfield Square revamp sought to fight competition
By DORIS HAJEWSKI
[email protected]
Posted: Jan. 5, 2007
Brookfield - Facing intensified competition from area shopping centers, the owners of Brookfield Square plan to transform the mall in what is likely its biggest renovation since it opened in 1967.

Brookfield Square


Brookfield Square's owners plan to add a two-story main entry and a landscaped drop-off area. The renovation will also touch on the food court, which would include a large, circular fireplace.
 
Timeline
Spring openings

Fleming's Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bar, at the corner of W. Blue Mound Road and N. Moorland Road

Mitchell's Fish Market, on the east side of the center

Fall openings

Abuelo's Mexican Food Embassy, along Blue Mound Road

Claim Jumper, on the east side of the center

Summer openings

Fresh Market grocery store
 
More Coverage
Weblog: Doris Hajewski: Shop Talk
 
More Local News
You'll find more news, sports, photos and opinions about Brookfield and Elm Grove on BrookfieldNOW.com.
Advertisement

Buy a link hereThe plans presented to local officials call for an exterior and interior renovation that will give the mall a more upscale identity, with a streetscape and new canopied entrance at the east side.

The plans also show a new restaurant, Johnny Rockets, to be added to an expanded food court on the west side of the mall, and a small, unspecified retail store to be added to the east side.

The restaurant would be the first location in Wisconsin for Johnny Rockets, a 1950s-style hamburger chain based in California.

CBL & Associates Properties Inc., Brookfield Square's owner, hopes to start work on the project in the spring and finish in September 2008. In addition, four new previously announced restaurants and an upscale grocer, Fresh Market, are scheduled to open this year.

No price tag was available for the multimillion-dollar renovation project.

The proposal, which goes before the Brookfield Plan Commission on Monday, comes as competition heats up among area retail centers. The most recent development has been the conversion of the Bayshore Town Center in Glendale, which offers residents of the North Shore a convenient alternative to driving west for stores that previously had no locations on the east side of the metro area.

But Brookfield Square will face even more pressure from the west when General Growth Properties Inc., which owns and operates Mayfair Mall in Wauwatosa, builds a new shopping center in Oconomowoc in a few years. General Growth's Pabst Farms project is going through the approval process with the City of Oconomowoc.

"CBL's renovation of Brookfield Square, and the addition of four restaurants, is designed to enhance the shopping experience for our customers," said Michael Lebovitz, chief development officer. "Since retail is an evolving industry, a renovation is essential to keeping pace with the ever-growing market.

"With this renovation and new development projects, Brookfield Square will remain a source of pride for the community and will continue to be a premier shopping destination in southeastern Wisconsin."

Exterior, interior facelifts
The most dramatic aspects of the Brookfield Square renovation are the two-story main entry and the complete renovation of the food court, which will include a large, circular fireplace.

Drivers will be able to drop off passengers under cover at the main entry, which will be flanked by rustic stone pillars and landscaped with a fountain, flowers and bushes.

The food court will get carpeting and a soft seating area, with sofas and chairs arranged around the fireplace.

The entire mall will get new flooring and lighting, and the center court will get a water feature and a Starbucks cafe.

The renovation plan is being submitted to the city four years after Brookfield hired a consultant who recommended a much larger project, calling for the addition of more than 200,000 square feet of retail space, including a new anchor store, three residential developments and a parking deck. Those plans never materialized.

At the time, city officials said they feared the mall would fall behind competitively if it didn't expand and update its look.

Under previous owners, Brookfield Square was slow to change, relying instead for years on its premier location on the busy Blue Mound Road retail corridor. For example, Brookfield Square was the last area mall to add a food court, in the late 1990s.

CBL bought the mall from the Richard E. Jacobs Group of Cleveland in 2001 for $1.3 billion. CBL also owns malls in Janesville, Madison, Racine and Wausau that it acquired as part of that deal.


1/12/2007, 12:03 am Link to this post Send Email to ReddAlertIII   Send PM to ReddAlertIII
 
John562 Profile
Live feed
Blog
Friends
Miscellaneous info

Registered user

Registered: 02-2007
Posts: 76
Karma: 0 (+0/-0)
Reply | Quote
Re: Brookfield Square


I'm excited for this project. Hopefully there will be some new hotels or an office building. A 10 or 12 story building would be very nice. They should make Moorland a more important road, it seems to be losing out to Blumound and 94.
3/3/2007, 11:16 pm Link to this post Send Email to John562   Send PM to John562
 


Add a reply





You are not logged in (login)
Back To Top