MenomoneeFalls_web

VILLAGE OF MENOMONEE FALLS, WISCONSIN redevelopment standpoint, Menomonee Falls has a multi-family mixed-used development in the heart of the downtown that will bring 114 units on line, and a mixed-use, 315-unit apart- ment complex just outside the downtown is in its final phases. Gabe Gilbertson, Village of Menomonee Falls Planner, says commercial redevelopment has taken off in the last three years. “We have the mixed-use development on Highway 41/45, which is called White Stone Station. It has Costco Wholesale as an anchor, 300 apartment units, a 90,000-square-foot mid-box, multi- tenant building, and a 10,000-square-foot multi-tenant commercial building being fin- ished now. It also has a Hilton Home2 Suites Hotel, and a few remaining spots for more commercial and restaurants.” That ambitious redevelopment project was spurred by the creation of Tax Incremental Dis- trict (TID) #8. Formerly a brownfield with factory and warehousing soil contamination, the TID paid for remediation of the area, in conjunction with the property owner who is now developing the land after the village cleaned it up. Gilbertson adds, “TID is the biggest incentive tool we have for redevelopment.We have 12 TIDs altogether; nine are still active. TID #9, which is our downtown, is where we have River Walk on the Falls – a 114-unit apartment build- ing.” Formerly an Associated Bank, that building was torn down and a developer-funded incen- tive was utilized to assist with the redevel- opment of the parcel. Once done, it will be a downtown star overlooking Mill Pond Park. Downtown Menomonee Falls is also home to Colonial Plaza – a typical 1960s multi-tenant strip center, built in phases that “didn’t all go together, so it had kind of a funky theme.” Two years ago, Planet Fitness be- came an anchor bookend tenant on the north side of the build- ing. Then, last year, the southern end was razed to construct a Fresh Time Farmers’ Market grocery store. There will be four tenant spaces between the two anchors. Gilbertson says, “You don’t often see redevelopment of those old strip centers to this extent. Usually they sit there and decay, but this is a very cool reuse of that type of building. And once Fresh Time is done, this place will be packed all the time.” The historic Village Hall was vacated in the 1960s and repur- posed as the Fire Station, which was also recently vacated when two new stations were built. Currently, the Village is working with a prospective restaurant group on a historical preserva- tion, adaptive reuse of the build-