Converting Obsolete Warehouses Into Upscale Retail Outlets

MILWAUKEE- The suburban town of Wauwatosa has been burdened for years by a collection of obsolete warehouses that date to the 1960′s. But as GlobeSt.com reported this week, Chicago-based HSA Commercial has broken ground on a project that will preserve the warehouse shells and fill the spaces with high-end retailers like Nordstrom Rack and Ulta Cosmetics, both of whom have already signed leases. Tim Blum, an executive vice president with HSA, says he does not know of another project like it.

“We’ve made a habit repurposing buildings into new retail, but not on this scale or in just this way.” In the first phase of the project, HSA will remake three of the site’s warehouses by connecting them with walkways, redoing the fronts, the roofs and updating all building systems, resulting in 270,000-square-feet of retail called The Mayfair Collection. Preserving and using the warehouse shells, which Blum says remain quite sound, will reduce construction costs by about one-third.