JOURNAL SENTINEL, WI
Menomonee Falls approves Walmart
Retailer will anchor redevelopment of shopping center
By Tom Daykin
August 16, 2011
A $10 million retail project anchored by a Walmart Neighborhood Market has won final approval in Menomonee Falls, including $820,000 in village funds to help pay for cleaning up a former gas station at the project site.
Gatlin Development Co. is to begin construction this fall on the 40,000-square-foot Walmart supermarket and a separate 5,000-square-foot building for other retail tenants, Village Manager Mark Fitzgerald said Tuesday. The buildings are expected to be completed by next fall.
Gatlin will demolish a former Piggly Wiggly supermarket and other vacant space at Pilgrim Village shopping center at Pilgrim Road and Main St. to make way for the Walmart grocery. Portions of the shopping center leased to Friends of Nature pet supply store and Otto's Wine and Spirits will remain.
The Village Board unanimously approved a development agreement with Gatlin on Monday. That agreement includes paying $406,000 to Gatlin for strips of land at the corner of Pilgrim Road and Main St. now occupied by a vacant gas station. The village will use that land for a future street widening, Fitzgerald said.
Also, the village is providing $414,000 to Gatlin to pay for demolishing the gas station and doing an environmental cleanup at that site. The gas station will be replaced by the smaller retail building.
The $820,000 will be repaid to the village through property taxes from the new development and other new projects within the village's tax incremental financing district on Main St., which includes the new Radisson Hotel. The payback will take an estimated eight years, Fitzgerald said.
Once the tax district's entire debt is repaid, property taxes from the Walmart, Radisson and other new projects along Main St. will go to the village, its school district and other local governments.
No village funds are being spent on the Walmart store, Fitzgerald said. He said the financing for the gas station demolition and cleanup was needed because those costs amounted to an unusual burden for Gatlin.
Gatlin is buying Pilgrim Village from developer Richard Conley.
Along with buying the gas station from a separate owner, Gatlin is buying a neighboring former movie cinema from Menomonee Falls Festivals Corp., a nonprofit community group that had planned a performing arts center for that building.
Those plans failed to materialize, and the former cinema will be demolished to create more parking for the Walmart supermarket and other retailers, Fitzgerald said.
About Gatlin Development Co.
Gatlin Development Co., Inc. is a real estate investment corporation specializing in retail shopping center development, management and renovation. The ever-expanding vision of CEO Frank Gatlin continues to widen the company’s investment focus while consistently providing maximized returns to investors, financial opportunities to retailers both large and small, and growth and revitalization to communities and local businesses facing challenging economic times. With headquarters in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and branch offices in San Diego, Calif. and Nashville, Tenn., Gatlin is well positioned and eager to pursue investment opportunities nationwide. For more information, please visit www.gatlindc.com or call (954) 302-5900.
Media Contacts:
Marina Buckalew
Gatlin Development Company
(954) 302-5900
mbuckalew@gatlindc.com