17-02-2025
Three former Milwaukee Walmarts to be redeveloped, including a future Latin grocery. What to know
Three former Milwaukee Walmart stores are targeted for redevelopment− including one to become a Latin American-oriented grocery.
Here's what to know about those projects.
Two of the three Walmarts were superstores, which combine supermarkets with discount stores. One of the Walmart superstores, at Midtown Center shopping center, closed in 2016.
That 161,000-square-foot building and its 15-acre lot, 5825 W. Hope Ave., were sold for $3.28 million in 2022 to an affiliate of Council Bluffs, Iowa-based Affordable Family Storage.
The firm in 2023 proposed converting 107,000 square feet into 850 self-storage units, with the remaining space used as four small- and mid-sized retail and commercial storefronts.
Self-storage centers are barred at Midtown Center, and Affordable Family Storage's plans don't meet the city's criteria for providing an exception, City Planning Manager Sam Leichtling said in 2023.
The Plan Commission voted to deny the company's zoning exception request. That decision was supported by Ald. Mark Chambers, whose district includes the site.
Affordable Family Storage executives have declined to answer the Journal Sentinel's questions about their plans for the property.
Meanwhile, a separate plan to develop 100 affordable apartments on a vacant lot next to the store surfaced in February.
A 157,000-square-foot former Walmart superstore and its 17-acre lot, 10330 W. Silver Spring Drive, were sold in January for $3.5 million to 10330 Exceeding LLC, led by gas station and convenience store operator Anup Khullar. Walmart closed that store in 2023.
Khullar has filed conceptual plans with the city Department of Neighborhood Services which call for a grocery store, liquor store, convenience store, child care center and other unspecified commercial tenants.
Those plans also say two apartment buildings, each with just under 50 parking stalls, could be built in part of the parking lot.
Khullar hasn't responded to questions about those plans. They likely would be subject to review by the Board of Zoning Appeals, Plan Commission and Common Council.
Khullar operates several Andy's gas stations and convenience stores in the Milwaukee area. He also owns other commercial properties.
A Walmart Neighborhood Market, at 7025 W. Main St., was sold in January to Seismontes LLC, led by Robert Montemayor. He operates Monterrey Market groceries at 3014 S. 13th St. and 3920 S. 27th St.
Montemayor's group paid $4.35 million for the 39,900-square-foot, which closed in May, and its 5-acre lot.
Montemayor plans to convert the former Walmart into a third Monterrey Market, according to a building permit application filed in December with the Department of Neighborhood Services.
Monterrey Market sells American and Latin American foods. The store bills itself as "more than just a grocery store; we are a place where traditions are honored, and connections are strengthened."
The switch from Walmart to Monterrey Market will need Plan Commission and Common Council approval to change its freestanding sign along North 70th Street, according to a new council resolution. That review could happen in March.
Montemayor told the Journal Sentinel he expects to open the market in the middle of June.
Tom Daykin can be emailed at tdaykin@ and followed on Instagram,Bluesky, X and article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: What to know about redeveloping three former Milwaukee Walmarts
