Grand Avenue food hall plans gaining momentum
Co-owner registers LLC, but details under wraps
Plans to create a food hall at downtown Milwaukee’s Grand Avenue — a key part of the half-empty mall’s redevelopment — appear to be gaining momentum.
Tony Janowiec, a Grand Avenue coowner, in April registered a new company, MKE Food Hall LLC, according to documents filed with the state Department of Financial Institutions.
Omar Shaikh, president of Surg Restaurant Group LLC, is leading the effort, sources have told the Journal Sentinel.
Both Janowiec and Shaikh declined to discuss the project.
Shaikh is among the Milwaukee area’s most prominent restaurateurs.
He is board chair of Visit Milwaukee Inc., a nonprofit group that promotes the city to convention planners, vacationers and other visitors.
Surg’s operations include restaurants Carnevor, Hom, Distil, Mikey’s and Gouda’s Italian Deli; taverns Bugsy’s and Lucid Light Lounge; and private event rooms Surg on the Water and The Garden.
That lineup features a variety of cuisines and concepts, ranging from highend, contemporary steakhouse
(Carnevor) to artisanal lounge (Distil) to meals centered on a wood-fired grill (Hom).
Food halls are known for their variety.
Like shopping mall food courts (including one that operates at the Grand Avenue), they use counter service.
But, instead of fast food chains, food halls feature local operators with made-from-scratch meals.
Food halls also sometimes include shops that sell items such as artisanal cheeses and handmade chocolates.
They are a growing trend.
There are more than 100 food halls throughout the nation — including more than a dozen in New York City. They typically range from 5,000 square feet to more than 40,000 square feet.
Locally, the Milwaukee Public Market, 400 N. Water St., could be considered a food hall. It has 17 vendors, which lease about 13,000 square feet. That includes a non-food vendor: Brew City Brand Apparel.
Also, a 7,000-square-foot food hall, Crossroads Collective, is being developed at 2238 N. Farwell Ave., at space last used by Rosati’s Pizza Sports Pub.
Crossroads Collective will feature about a half-dozen mini-restaurants, as well as a speakeasy-type tavern, when it opens this fall. It is being developed by New Land Enterprises LLP, which operates the building.
Meanwhile, the Sherman Phoenix development that’s under construction, at 3536 W. Fond du Lac Ave., will include Juice Kitchen, Funky Fresh Spring Rolls and other food and beverage providers.
Sherman Phoenix, featuring minority-owned businesses, also will have several non-food vendors.
Farther north, the 11,000-square-foot Mequon Public Market is scheduled to open this fall at 6300 W. Mequon Road. It will have around 10 vendors, including new locations for Anodyne Coffee Roasting Co., Purple Door Ice Cream and Beans & Barley restaurant, according to Shaffer Development LLC.
Details about Shaikh’s plans for the Grand Avenue are still under wraps.
But food and beverage businesses have long been a big part of the Grand Avenue’s larger redevelopment effort.
Redevelopment plans for the Grand Avenue, announced in April 2016, included a cluster of stores, restaurants, food stands and other new retail uses, which Janowiec and his partners initially called “an urban marketplace.”
Those businesses were planned for the first floor space of the Grand Avenue’s West Arcade, the building between North 2nd Street and the Boston Store (which is closing this summer).
More recently, Janowiec’s firm, Interstate Development Partners LLC, has been promoting the concept as the Milwaukee Food Hall — where local veteran restaurateurs “collide with emerging talented chefs.”
“The ultra-flexible Food Hall is the natural spot for highly inventive benefits, private events, and the best collection of Milwaukee’s food and beer culture,” according to Interstate Development’s website.
“A bustling array of carts, stalls, counters and popup kitchens course throughout the first floor of the Milwaukee Food Hall providing authentic, local, artisanal, ethnic and neighborhood foods and experiences.
“The food and beverage options will reflect the very best of the city’s singular diversity and reputation for quality,” it says.
Along with attracting the growing number of downtown residents, and increased visits from downtown workers and visitors, the food hall vendors also would cater to businesses and events throughout the Grand Avenue, according to Interstate Development.
That’s a reference to efforts to attract new businesses for the upper floors of the Grand Avenue’s New Arcade, which Janowiec and his partners are planning to convert to office space.
Meanwhile, renovations at the Grand Avenue’s Plankinton Arcade, the historic building between North 2nd Street and North Plankinton Avenue, are in full swing.
The arcade’s former second-floor retail space is being converted into 50 high-end apartments, known as Plankinton Clover.
The units, ranging from studios to three bedrooms, will include floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking West Wisconsin Avenue and other streets.
The project will include several units for short-term visitors of the Grand Avenue’s office space, according to Interstate Development Partners.