Dallas-based Corrigan Properties hopes to complete another phase in each of the succeeding three summers, says vice president Mike Mesenbourg. Those phases would include 100,000 sf of new retail space to replace 90,000 sf taken down, followed retail and multifamily develop to the southwest and east of the property, visible from I-43.

The components on land beyond Bay Shore's borders, which the city is considering acquiring by eminent domain, would include up to 80,000 sf of retail and office space, along with 50 townhouse condominium units and 125 apartments.

The retail and residential components would be built with an urban streetscape design, Mesenbourg says, with new streets built. Given that neighbors in the adjacent suburb of Whitefish Bay already are asking about the availability of the townhomes, a private developer should have a relatively easy sell.

"It's a pretty exciting project," Mesenbourg says. "It's a reinvention on our part, again."

For Glendale, it's a major step, yet one that doesn't surprise Mesenbourg. If Bay Shore is serving as a catalyst, Mesenbourg gives much of the credit to City Administrator Richard E. Maslowski for lighting the match. "The city is extremely aggressive," Mesenbourg says. "We're working together to change the whole commercial area, which already is doing well right now."

Anchored by local retailers Kohl's and Boston Store, Bay Shore sales are at $380 per sf, Mesenbourg notes. Meanwhile, other malls such as Northridge outside neighboring Brown Deer is losing Sears as an anchor tenant this week, notes Chicago retail consultant John Melaniphy III, who has consulted with Bay Shore.

"Glendale didn't want Bay Shore to become the next Northridge," Melaniphy says. "The retailers really want to be (at Bay Shore)."

However, Mesenbourg concedes the mall's location in suburban Milwaukee's upscale North Shore only helps. "For retail dynamics, the North and East Side is where everything converges," he says.