Bon-Ton to shrink Boston Store

Retail space to be halved as part of Grand Avenue location is converted into offices

Downtown Milwaukee’s Boston Store will shrink to less than half its size, with much of that retail space converted to offices for its corporate parent.

That’s according to a newly released Department of City Development report on the conversion project, which is being partly financed with city funds.

The store covers around 123,000 square feet on the first two floors of the Grand Avenue’s Boston Store building, 331 W. Wisconsin Ave.

That will be cut to 50,000 square feet when the renovations are completed in July, according to city officials.

The Boston Store’s children’s, home and furniture departments will be eliminated. That will affect five or fewer employees, said Christine Hojnacki, Bon-Ton’s vice president of public relations & special events.

Those employees could fill hours for holiday staffing, and also be considered for permanent positions in the Grand Avenue store or other Milwaukee-area Boston Store locations, Hojnacki said.

The reconfigured downtown Boston Store will feature expanded men’s and women’s apparel, a strong seasonal gift assortment and an FAO Schwarz toy department, which will be launched at the end of October, Hojnacki said.

The store also will keep its Close to Home department, which features locally made or themed items.

Meanwhile, Bon-Ton Stores Inc., which operates Boston Store and other department store chains, will add 73,400 square feet of corporate offices on the first two floors of that building, the city report said.

Bon-Ton also will continue to use 62,300 square feet of the building’s third and fourth floors. Boston Lofts Apartments are on the building’s top floors.

The renovations will consolidate Bon-Ton’s corporate offices, which are now split between the Boston Store building and The Blue office building,

310 W. Wisconsin Ave. The remodeling work will start in November, BonTon announced last week.

Bon-Ton earlier agreed to keep operating its corporate offices and the Grand Avenue Boston Store, totaling around 750 jobs, for at least another 10 years. Those leases were set to expire in January.

The lease extensions are tied to the city providing $1.9 million to help finance $4 million in renovations. The Common

Council and Mayor Tom Barrett approved that financing proposal in February.

Bon-Ton has around 650 employees in its corporate offices, and about 100 jobs in the department store. The city’s annual payments to Bon-Ton would be reduced if the overall job count drops.

The department store’s smaller size will be a change to the city’s financing agreement with Bon-Ton and the Boston Store building’s owner, Chicago-based North Wells Capital. That change is to undergo review Thursday by the city Redevelopment Authority’s board.

The Boston Store building is owned separately from the Grand Avenue, which is undergoing renovations that include new apartments in the mall’s Plankinton Arcade.