April 1, 2022 – West Bend, WI – Four national retailers including five Below, Big Lots!, HomeGoods and Sierra Trading Post are looking to settle in the former Shopko building, 1710 S. Main Street, in West Bend, WI and the City of West Bend will vote Monday, April 4, 2022 to provide $200,000 in financial assistance to redevelop the site.
Questions are being posed to members of the council:
– whether every new business project in West Bend receives $200,000 in funding to help with redevelopment.
–Â the $200,000 is listed as a ‘grant’ and part of an ‘Economic Development Loan’.. does that have to be paid back to the city of West Bend?
– the money is coming out of the General Fund. Is that taxpayer money?
– And, in the end, is a grant taxpayer money?
This is a working story and more information will be posted as details become available.
As reported first on WashingtonCountyInsider.com, Corta Development of Florida purchased the former Shopko building December 17, 2021.
Cory Presnick is Principal at Corta Development. “Three of the tenants will be inside the old Shopko building,” he said. “The five Below will go in the former garden center area on the south of the Shopko. That will be a new addition of square footage and the other three will be inside. We’ll have to add a dock for Big Lots!”
Presnick said Big Lots! will take up 35,000 square feet and will be on the north end of the development closest to Kohl’s.
The two other parcels within the building measure 24,000 and 19,000 square feet. five Below will be under 9,000 square feet.
Presnick said Corta Development is building to suite each tenant. “The goal is to get everyone open by the end of this year,” he said. “We’re going to have to get going fast and we’re planning to start demolition in a few weeks and once the weather improves, we will start exterior and interior construction.”
Progress currently includes reworking utilities and Corta has submitted a CSM for the outparcel for Phase II of development which includes bringing additional restaurants to the out lot along S. Main Street. ((check out the end of the article that talks about Taco Johns and Crumbl Cookies))
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Presnick said his vision on the out lots, that include the highest and best use, would be to cater to “single tenant buildings for restaurant” development.
Click HERE for article on possible Popeyes and/or Chick-fil-A
“There could be a multi-user strip building, but most likely we’ll try to find the best single users,” he said. “We’re excited about the project, and this will be great for the community.”
Presnick also mentioned the future development of the former Boston Store space, 1291 W. Paradise Drive in West Bend. It was Spring of 2018 when that store closed and then June 23, 2021 when the lot was purchased.
The video below is a step back in time before and after the Boston Store was constructed. Remember The Fashion Bug? How about Book Center or Little Professor?
There’s a lot of conversation surrounding the future tenant for the Boston Store site. Some of the national retailers in the rumor mill include Harbor Freight (currently a store in Germantown on County Line Road) or Northern Tool & Equipment, however nothing has been confirmed.
“The retailers are obviously seeing opportunity,” said Presnick. “It’s just finding the right space and being able to reuse the buildings. This is a good market, but it is not Milwaukee proper; it’s challenging to get the numbers to work.”
From an out-lot restaurant perspective, the Corta development project in Fond du Lac that includes Big Lots! and Hobby Lobby features a Taco Johns in the parking lot.
Click HERE Â New restaurant on Parkway Drive and Paradise Drive
Also keep in mind, following the opening of Crumbl Cookies in Germantown in March the store manager said the franchise had scoped out S. Main Street in West Bend. Click HERE for that conversation.