Last fall, you may recall the decision by the South Milwaukee City Council to allow the owners of Grant Park Plaza to divide the property into two parcels – making it easier to sell those properties to potential buyers.
Well, the first of those parcels – the one containing the Pick ‘n Save store – is poised to be sold.
The Community Development Authority on Monday approved the owners’ sale of the grocery store lot to Cole Real Estate Investments “or an entity controlled, directly or indirectly by Cole REIT Advisors III LLC.”
Cole is a national name in real estate, as “Cole-related entities own and manage more than 2,050 properties in 47 states with a combined acquisition cost of more than $12.4 billion,” according to its website. That includes a number of commercial properties and properties like this — buildings housing retailers that still have years left on their long-term leases.
The South Milwaukee City Council will take up the issue at its meeting next week. I am inclined to support it because a sale should help relieve pressure on the owners’ finances and make it easier to upgrade the long-vacant center section (and, in turn, lift the entire center).
In fact, the shopping center owners report they are talking to national retailer interested in leasing more than half of the empty space in that center section. We’ll see where that ends up.
In the meantime, the amended development agreement will also allow the plaza owners to spend $200,000 — retained as a “lease-up” incentive from the previous development agreement — to remodel the center section to suit a prospective new tenant. And the CDA is recommending additional funds from the Pick ‘n Save parcel sale be escrowed for parking lot improvements and other tenant space improvements.
So there’s progress at Grant Park Plaza. That’s a good thing. Let’s hope it leads to leases and a more vibrant shopping center. Head a few miles north on Highway 32 to see the alternative.
South Milwaukee Blog 
I’m for progress and seeing something done with the empty spaces in Grant Park Plaza. If that means splitting the property and selling the part where Pick & Save sits then so be it. I just hope the national entity that the owners are in talks with is something that would be a positive addition to South Milwaukee. We don’t need the space filled just to say its no longer empty.
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