Construction of Walmart Neighborhood Market to Begin in Fall

A $10 million retail project anchored by a Walmart Neighborhood Market has won final approval in Menomonee Falls, including $820,000 in village funds to help pay for cleaning up a former gas station at the project site.


Gatlin Development Co. is to begin construction this fall on the 40,000-square-foot Walmart supermarket and a separate 5,000-square-foot building for other retail tenants, Village Manager Mark Fitzgerald said Tuesday. The buildings are expected to be completed by next fall.


Gatlin will demolish a former Piggly Wiggly supermarket and other vacant space at Pilgrim Village shopping center at Pilgrim Road and Main St. to make way for the Walmart grocery. Portions of the shopping center leased to Friends of Nature pet supply store and Otto's Wine and Spirits will remain.


The Village Board unanimously approved a development agreement with Gatlin on Monday. That agreement includes paying $406,000 to Gatlin for strips of land at the corner of Pilgrim Road and Main St. now occupied by a vacant gas station. The village will use that land for a future street widening, Fitzgerald said.


Also, the village is providing $414,000 to Gatlin to pay for demolishing the gas station and doing an environmental cleanup at that site. The gas station will be replaced by the smaller retail building.


The $820,000 will be repaid to the village through property taxes from the new development and other new projects within the village's tax incremental financing district on Main St., which includes the new Radisson Hotel. The payback will take an estimated eight years, Fitzgerald said.


Once the tax district's entire debt is repaid, property taxes from the Walmart, Radisson and other new projects along Main St. will go to the village, its school district and other local governments.


The village will advance no more than $820,000 toward redevelopment of the gas station site. A total of $620,000 will fund developer improvements, as well as a right of way land purchase allowing for future expansion of Pilgrim Road. The village also advanced $200,000 to buffer costs resulting from environmental remediation needed on the site.


Fitzgerald said all of the funds pertain solely to the gas station site, and will not be used for the larger development that includes the Neighborhood Market.


As part of the agreement, the village is requiring the developer to construct a “landmark” building on the corner of Main Street and Pilgrim Road. Fitzgerald said this will be a retail building with aesthetics suitable for that high profile corner in the village.


“This will be retail building very with pleasing architecture and appropriate design for that very visible corner,” Fitzgerald said.


An occupant for the “landmark” building is yet unknown, and plans for it will need to go through the village’s approval process. However, plans will likely appear soon as the village included a “time is of the essence” clause in the agreement, which requires timely completion of the project.


Since the gas station property is within a tax incremental financing district, the village will be repaid through additional tax revenue generated from redeveloping the site.


The overall redevelopment plans call for the construction of three more retail buildings along Main Street, in addition to Schlotzsky’s Deli, which will be remodeled. Both Friends of Nature and Otto’s Beverage Center will stay as well, but their storefronts will be revamped.


Both Minuteman Press and Sounds Audio have found new locations within Menomonee Falls. Minuteman Press has moved to the Falls Plaza II shopping center on Appleton Avenue. Sounds Audio has moved into the Neu’s building on Ridgeway.