Officials with Chicago’s HSA Commercial always had big dreams for its Mayfair Collection mixed-use development in the Burleigh Triangle area of Wauwatosa, Wis. Now those plans include up to 1,050 luxury housing units.
The luxury apartments mark the third phase of the Mayfair Collection, a 400,000-square-foot development at Highway 45 and Burleigh Street in Wauwatosa. The first phase, which included retailers such as Nordstrom Rack, Dick’s Sporting Goods and Saks Fifth Avenue OFF 5th, opened in April in of last year. The second phase, under construction now, will be anchored by a Whole Foods Market scheduled to open in 2016.
The luxury apartment units, which will be built during the next seven to 10 years by Fiduciary Real Estate Development, will make up the third phase, to be called The District. This phase is the first to feature residential units. Fiduciary is scheduled to break ground in the spring of this year on the first 250 apartment units and 50,000 square feet of ground-level retail space.
Tim Blum, executive vice president of retail development for HSA, told Midwest Real Estate News that the Mayfair Collection development was never planned to be an ordinary power center. Officials with HSA, the project’s master developer, have focused on attracting only high-end or unique specialty retailers.
The long-range plan? This high-end retail would attract residential development.
“We felt strongly that if we introduced some quality commercial components, whether retail, hotels or restaurants, as long as they were high-quality, that would drive residential,” Blum said. “We have been rigid in identifying the merchants that we want associated with this project. We have always wanted the best-in-class.”
A long road
The Mayfair Collection was not an easy project to jumpstart. HSA Commercial started assembling the parcels of land for the project in 2004. In 2007, the company finally acquired the last piece, a parcel of about 35 acres that once housed a warehouse for Roundy’s Supermarkets.
Once HSA had the land it needed, company officials began planning its development. But then the economic downturn hit, forcing HSA to rework those plans.
This led to the company’s decision to develop the Mayfair Collection in phases. Blum says this approach meant that HSA could take advantage of whatever sectors were hot in the Milwaukee area at the time. When HSA first began developing the Mayfair Collection, retail was what happened to be strong.
“Office wasn’t very viable at the time,” Blum said. “And we couldn’t find residential developers interested in working with us. Retail, though, was strong, especially if you were focusing on the best-in-class segment.”
The strength of the retailers and restaurants targeted for the Mayfair Collection are what attracted Fiduciary to the project, Blum said.
“This isn’t some run-of-the-mill power center with a lot of unrelated big box buildings strung together,” Blum said.
The luxury apartment units making up The District, and located next to the Mayfair Collection’s shops, will be high-end, too. And the apartments are designed to turn the Mayfair Collection into a walkable, pedesrian-friendly development, with residents able to walk to the development’s Corner Bakery Cafe or browse stores such as Nordstrom Rack. They’ll also be able to dine at one of the Bartolotta restaurants at the development without having to first hop into a car.
Craig Raddatz, partner with Fiduciary Real Estate Development, said that the residences will range from studio units starting at 500 square feet to corner penthouse units as large as 1,300 square feet.
The average unit rent of apartments here will be about $1,275 a month. Raddatz said that this figure will attract young professionals who are still living under tighter budgets, something that he said will make The District “very attractive compared to other new communities that have been recently completed.”
Plans for the second phase of the Mayfair Collection — a phase that is under construction now — include about 50,000 square feet of junior anchor retail space, a mix of bars and restaurants and a 140-room Hilton Homewood Suites hotel.
