Brookfield Square reinvention shifts to Sears site

BROOKFIELD - For a brief period this year, it seemed the latest phase in Brookfield Square’s ongoing reinvention was finally proceeding around the mall’s Boston Store anchor.

A half-dozen new store and restaurant buildings would line the department store’s outside walls facing both Moorland and Blue Mound roads. And a threelevel parking structure would be built on a parking lot just west of Boston Store.

“It’s neat that this is coming to that end of the mall, finally,” said Ald. Gary Mahkorn at a Brookfield Plan Commission meeting in January. “We’re all excited about that.”

The commission and Common Council approved the proposal.

However, a follow-up approval was delayed at a February council meeting — and remains on hold eight months later.

That change in plans is tied to the Jan. 30 announcement that mall operator CBL & Associates Properties Inc. had bought five Sears department stores and two Sears Automotive Centers, including one of each at Brookfield Square.

The auto center largely closed in May, with the Sears department store likely closing in early 2018. Both buildings will be demolished, with a hotel, conference center and cinema/restaurant complex among the new

uses to be developed at the mall’s south end.

That work is to start next year. But that could mean a continued delay on the developments planned at Brookfield Square’s north end, where Boston Store operates.

Chattanooga, Tenn. based CBL is studying the mall’s various redevelopment scenarios, said Stacey Keating, director of public relations and corporate communications.

“Our goal is to create a cohesive redevelopment project that dramatically transforms the entire property and positions it for long-term success,” Keating said, in a statement.

Keating declined to say when the Boston Store projects might proceed.

A spokeswoman for Bon-Ton Stores Inc., which operates Boston Store and other department store chains, declined to comment.

Bon-Ton, like Sears, is facing huge challenges from Amazon.com Inc. and other online retailers.

Bon-Ton, which splits its corporate offices between Milwaukee and York, Pa., lost $90.5 million during the first half of fiscal 2017. The company lost $63.4 million in 2016, the sixth consecutive year it failed to make a profit.

Meanwhile, Brookfield officials might shift a $6.55 million grant, approved in 2014 to finance the parking structure, to instead help pay for the Sears site redevelopment.

That funding proposal for the Sears site was discussed during a closed session of an August Common Council meeting, according to city records. State law allows closed sessions to discuss real estate negotiations, but any action must occur in open session.

The funds would likely pay for an environmental cleanup, as well as new roads and other public improvements, said Dan Ertl, Brookfield community development director. The money would be paid through property taxes on newer buildings at the mall, which is within a tax incremental financing district.

That funding shift would be part of a future development agreement between the city and CBL, Ertl said. It would require council approval.

Ertl declined to discuss the Boston Store project’s status, referring questions to CBL.

The Sears redevelopment would include a fivestory, 170-room hotel — possibly a Hilton Garden Inn — which would connect to a city-owned conference center.

The hotel would be owned by Middletonbased North Central Group, which also would manage the one-story, 44,000-square-foot conference center. The hotel and conference center would replace the Sears Automotive Center.

North Central hopes to begin construction by mid-2018, with the hotel and conference center open by mid-2019, said Andy Inman, vice president of development.

The Common Council discussed the hotel/conference center project in closed session at its Tuesday meeting but took no action on a possible city purchase of the site from CBL.

“Some more details need to be worked out,” said Ertl, who declined to elaborate.

Also, CBL and Marcus Theatres Corp. in August announced plans to develop a Marcus BistroPlex, a cinema complex that offers dining in all of its auditoriums.

That proposed 40,000square-foot building, with the number of auditoriums not yet disclosed, would need council approval.

The BistroPlex construction is expected to begin in 2018 after Sears closes and the building is demolished, according to CBL. The Sears department store site would likely include other new uses.

The six buildings planned for next to Boston Store, totaling around 53,400 square feet, were initially to be built in 2015.

Those plans were announced a year earlier, along with plans to build five similar store and restaurant buildings in front of Sears along Moorland Road.

The buildings in front of Sears began opening with new tenants in November 2015, with the last business — Naf Naf Grill — opening this past January.

The other businesses are University Book Store, BlackFinn AmeriPub and Jason’s Deli. Another restaurant, Mooyah Burgers, closed recently after less than two years at Brookfield Square.

CBL said earlier it was delaying the Boston Store buildings and parking structure until there was strong enough demand from prospective tenants.

Mahkorn said the new developments would help Brookfield Square thrive, as well as help the city’s overall commercial district.

“What happens at that mall affects every last establishment heading west on Blue Mound Road,” Mahkorn said.

Brookfield Square is facing increased competition from new nearby retail developments. Its archrival is The Corners in the neighboring Town of Brookfield, where Marcus is threatening a lawsuit to stop plans for a Silverspot Cinema.