A two-story public market is proposed for the former Boston Store site at Brookfield Square
A two-story public market is in the works for Brookfield's former Boston Store site on the north end of Brookfield Square mall.
Irgens development firm is working with Visit Brookfield and the city to create the Brookfield Public Market as a major tenant of its current development plan for the 16-acre site it owns at 15875 W. Bluemound Road.
Irgens purchased the property in 2021 and has since razed the site. The Boston Store closed in 2018 after nearly 60 years.
The plan would rely on approval and creation of a new tax incremental financing district, as well as the expansion of an existing TIF district, according to Dan Ertl, director of community development for the City of Brookfield.
The Milwaukee Business Journal first reported the concept, which was shared at a city meeting June 11.
The market would include at least 12 food and retail vendors, a bar, space for private events and public seating. An "independent, iconic grocer and a Milwaukee-area cultural group" are in talks to become a major tenant of the space, Tom Irgens, executive vice president of Irgens, said in a news release from the developer.
Visit Brookfield would purchase about 2 acres of the property from Irgens to become owner and operator of the public market and gathering space, according to the release.
Feedback from a feasibility study and tours of public markets around the country over the past year cemented that a public market is exactly the venue needed for the space, Nancy Justman, CEO of Visit Brookfield, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
"We heard loud and clear that (residents) are looking for a community gathering space," Justman said. Residents had also voiced in surveys that they're looking for more locally-owned options, she said.
The public market could serve as an incubator for smaller operators, like those with food trucks, to have a home base, according to Justman.
The public market will need to go through a number of public meetings to gain city approval and secure tax incremental financing.
First the plans must be submitted to the city for review and approval by various city committees and the Brookfield Common Council, and a Joint Review Board. Irgens also must make a formal request for tax incremental financing.
A TIF district would create a revenue stream to help pay for the market and improvements to aging water utilities, according to Dan Ertl, Brookfield's director of community development.
The public market could give Brookfield Square the economic jolt needed, he said.
"For our taxpayer, it means it will maintain, and over time increase, the commercial tax base to help offset the tax burden for residents, Ertl told the Journal Sentinel.
"It's really prime land that deserves some really interesting businesses," City of Brookfield Mayor Steve Ponto said.
"We're trying to come up with a proposal that doesn't encounter significant opposition from the mall itself, yet offers the kinds of things that will be attractive to residents of not just Brookfield but the surrounding area," Ponto said.
After purchasing the site in 2021, Irgens shared plans for a hotel, apartment building and office buildings. But the initial concept was met with resistance and challenges, including the aging watermain utilities.
The new plans, announced in early 2025, include a two-story medical office building called Bluemound Medical Commons.
Bridget Fogarty covers Brookfield, Wauwatosa and Elm Grove for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. She can be contacted at bfogarty@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Public market with food, retail and a bar eyed for Brookfield Square
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Chicago Tribune
9 hours ago
- Chicago Tribune
Custom-building and repairing guitars leads to the start of a new South Elgin business
Ed Snoble has been custom-building guitars and repairing guitars, banjos and other stringed instruments for the last 30 years. Oh, and he also loves a good cup of coffee. Combine the three and you'll come up with the Penguin Guitar Co., a new South Elgin business through which you can get all of the above. 'Ed lives on coffee,' said Kenny Potilechio, who's responsible for the company's marketing, outreach and social media. When he and Snoble were putting together merchandise to promote the new business, they found that small batch coffee roaster Rock Creek Coffee would provide them with beans they could sell under their own label. You can buy 12 ounces of ground medium roast for $19.54 along with an assortment of T-shirts, ball caps, hoodies and other items on their website. But building guitars from scratch, improving/enhancing existing instruments and repairing/restoring them for customers is their bread and butter. The launch of business began with a ghost story, of sorts, Potilechio said. Snoble, a financial planner at BMO, has been a member of the Elgin Youth Symphony Orchestra board since 2019. For its 2021 fundraising gala, he donated an auction item: a custom-built guitar he named 'Ghost' for its pale color. The winning bidder gave the guitar to Potilechio as a gift. Potilechio has been playing guitar with bands and as an acoustic performer for more than 20 years. Impressed with the instrument, he sought out Snoble to repair guitars he already owned and two make two new ones. That connection led to a friendship that led to the creation of the Penguin Guitar Co., which can be found online at Snoble's own music history began when he first picked up a guitar about 40 years ago. By the late 1990s/early 2000s he was playing with Chicago-area cover bands and learning firsthand just how expensive it can be to maintain stage-ready gear. 'My desire to learn and to save a few dollars is what sparked a desire to modify my own guitars,' Snoble said. He started by tinkering with his Fender Stratocaster, changing its bridge pickup to give the guitar a different sound, he said. 'I was hooked. I then started modifying instruments for my friends. They loved to play them but hated to do the maintenance to keep them stage-ready,' he said. Snoble started making his own guitars, and his work became more elaborate as he refined his skills over the years. He now prides himself on the custom work he can produce, he said. 'We help artists materialize the guitar that is in their head, the one they are dreaming of,' Snoble said He's assisted by his 14-year-old son. 'Eddie has been helping out since he was 5 years old. His favorite part is soldering the electronics inside of the guitar,' Snoble said. The teen also contributed providing business' name, which comes from Eddie's favorite animal. Ordering a custom-made instrument from Penguin Guitar Co. means the buyer gets to choose everything — type of wood, fret height, bridge type, body style, hardware and finish color — owner Ed Snoble says. (Penguin Guitar Co.)Commissioned guitars start at about $1,000 and typically take six to eight weeks. Buyers get to choose everything from the type of wood used to body style, hardware type, bridge height, finish color and other features. In addition to repairs, Snoble also does electrical upgrades and fret dressing. It's all done by appointment only by emailing Snoble at ed@ While a labor of love, for now Snoble and Potilechio, who sells wireless microphones for Nady Systems, will be keeping their day jobs. 'Making guitars and repairing stringed instruments is therapeutic for me,' Snoble said. 'Ninety-nine percent of the work is done by hand. It is slow and tedious work that requires a lot of focus and attention. It's very calming work in a world that moves so fast.'
Business Journals
9 hours ago
- Business Journals
Boeing, machinists union to begin contract talks in St. Louis
Boeing's defense division and its St. Louis-area machinists are gearing up for contract talks, with union leaders eyeing gains similar to those won by their West Coast counterparts.
Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Yahoo
Libby officials make progress with International Paper on water deal
Jun. 13—The City of Libby is making progress in its negotiations with International Paper for a new water agreement. At the June 2 meeting, attorney Allan Payne said there are still negotiations occurring about some of the details. "The monetary side has been agreed upon, but there are a few other details to be worked out," Payne said. The previous agreement ended in June 2020. The new deal would ensure that IP would continue compensating residents for the cost of being unable to use wells due to creosote and other chemicals that leached into an aquifer beneath the city during past wood treatment operations. According to previous reporting in The Western News, compensation from companies for groundwater contamination in Libby dates back to 1985 when Champion International Corporation instituted a "Buy Water Plan." That year, Champion purchased St. Regis Co., which — along with J. Neils Lumber Co. — was responsible for wood treatment fluids leaching into the aquifers beneath the city from 1946 to 1969, according to court documents. After detecting the chemicals in the water Libby-area homeowners were drawing from their wells, Champion offered to provide an alternative supply to affected residents. In a June 2, 2025, letter from Mayor Peggy Williams to city councilors, she explained the new agreement would be in line with the previous 2010 Water Agreement. "IP has offered to continue the annual payments at the same level as they would have been under the 2010 agreement for a period of 10 years, plus an additional 10 years, on the condition that the Environmental Protection Agency continues to require that the city keep Well Ban Ordinance 1353 in place," Williams wrote in the letter. Williams believes the well ban ordinance is almost a certainty. After the 20-year period, the deal could be cancelled by IP or the city. The preliminary terms of the deal, the first annual payment, due July 1, would be $381,892. Each future payment would be increased by the Consumer Price Index rate of inflation. International Paper's offer also includes a lump sum payment of $1.3 million as a way to catch up on the four missed annual payments from 2021 to 2024. Payne, who is still working on other details, said when he gets the best deal he'd bring it to council. City officials believe IP should pay interest on the four missed payments so the city doesn't lose purchasing power. According to Williams, IP is also seeking a requirement that the city doesn't object to restrictions other agencies may seek to place on groundwater in the Libby area and to expand the Well Ban Ordinance's effective area if the EPA requests it. "There are some serious concerns about those new requirements and our legal counsel is negotiating with IP to remove them from the final proposed agreement, which hopefully will be presented to council very soon for approval," Williams wrote in the June 2 letter. Beginning in October 1986, Champion began paying the city $30,000 annually for 10 years. In 2008, a few years after IP acquired Champion, the city entered into a new agreement requiring a payment of $400,000 for fiscal years 2008-2009 and 2009-2010. Under the terms of the city's latest agreement with IP, executed in 2010, IP was responsible for making annual payments to the city until at least June of 2020. The payments started at $250,000 and were adjusted each year based on inflation. The contract also required IP to pay a lump sum of $1.15 million to cover years when the city had not received compensation payments. Talks over the new agreement began in June 2019 when an executive with IP told city officials the company would not renew the 10-year contract. In an initial correspondence, Payne suggested slightly increasing IP's contribution. Payne noted in an August 2019 letter that the two prior contracts IP held with the city were based on a compromise that the company would cover 23 percent of the city's anticipated water system operational costs. After the city undertook an expensive repair of the Upper Flower Creek Dam, which Payne said approached $15 million, he proposed increasing IP's contribution to 25 percent.
