New Midtown Center development planned

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“Large-scale urban retail development has proven to be a great investment in densely populated, often underserved markets.”

Alderman Joe Davis

After three years as a real
estate acquisition and management firm, Oak Brook, Ill.-based Inland Western Retail
Real Estate Trust Inc. will break ground on its first development project Tuesday
in Milwaukee.

The groundbreaking will commence the firm’s two-phase
development project that will bring new retailers to Midtown Center on Capitol
Drive in Milwaukee, and also restructure the boulevard that outlines the area
to make it more pedestrian- and vehicle-friendly.

These new developments
will add nearly 100,000 square feet of retail space to the existing 319,072-square-foot
retail site. The first phase of the new development is expected to open in fall;
the project’s cost is $11 million.

But city officials are equally excited
about the number of jobs the development will add to the community. About 1,140
to 1,775 new jobs are expected to result upon the project’s completion, which
Alderman Joe Davis said is a nice one-two punch for the area.

“Large-scale
urban retail development has proven to be a great investment in densely populated,
often underserved markets,” he said in a statement. “This is an excellent
example of the right type of mutually beneficial project, at the right time, in
the right community. Midtown Center will help to provide our neighborhoods and
residents with a great sense of pride and momentum going forward.”

Midtown
Center arose after the demolition of the Capitol Court Mall in 2001, when Boulder
Venture Inc., a Milwaukee-based real estate firm, purchased the site. The firm
secured two anchor retailers to the site, Wal-Mart and Pick ‘n’ Save,
which both opened in 2002, and have watched 25 more national retailers set up
shop since.

Revitalized area

Inland Western purchased Midtown Center
from Boulder Venture in January 2005 for more than $50 million with the vision
of adding development to the existing property.

Darryl Cater, spokesman
for Inland Western, said the company is hoping to pick up right where Boulder
Venture left off.

“We are excited about creating jobs for the area
as well as attracting retailers to the Milwaukee market,” he said. “To
us, it’s a matter of sustaining what Midtown has meant to the community already
— and that is a positive revitalizing presence. We just want to further that
trend.”

Former Wisconsin Commerce Secretary Cory Nettles, Inland Western
Vice President Niall Byrne, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and Davis are all expected
to be on hand at Tuesday’s ceremony.

Inland Western is part of The
Inland Real Estate Group of Companies Inc., which is comprised of independent
real estate investment and financial companies across the country. The company
was recently dubbed as the No. 1 fastest-growing acquirer of retail property in
the United States by Chain Store Age magazine.