» A boost for Bronzeville:
Store delayed after building bought in ’11
A neighborhood grocery is coming to Milwaukee’s north side after a five-year wait and failed plans for a supermarket.
A neighborhood grocery is coming to Milwaukee’s north side after a five-year wait that included the store’s original prospective operator reneging on his promise to open a supermarket.
Pete’s Fruit Market, which operates a supermarket on Milwaukee’s near south side, announced Sunday it will be opening a new store in the Bronzeville neighborhood.
Pete’s will open at a remodeled former Walgreens drugstore at the northwest corner of N. King Drive and W. North Ave. The 13,700-square-foot store is to open in late 2016.
Despite the “fruit market” name, the Pete’s store at 1400 S. Union St. includes other items, such as fresh vegetables, fresh meat, dairy products, nonperishable foods and a deli. The King Drive store will be a similar full-service grocery.
The plans were announced by Pete’s operator Theodore Tsitiridis, Mayor Tom Barrett and Ald. Milele Coggs, whose district includes Bronzeville.
The announcement comes after years of delays in bringing a supermarket to the space left vacant when Walgreens moved to a new store at 2826 N. King Drive.
An investment group, formed by Anup “Andy” Khullar, in 2011 bought the 34,500-square-foot strip shopping center at 2349 N. King Drive that includes the former Walgreens space. Khullar owns Priya Corp., which operates Andy’s gas station and convenience stores.
Khullar bought that property for $1.1 million and planned to use 8,000 to 12,000 square feet for a supermarket.
Dollar Tree plan denied
His group, 2349 LLC, received approval for a $325,000 loan from Milwaukee Economic Development Corp. to help finance the $1.7 million project. MEDC is a nonprofit business lender, affiliated with the city, which operates a revolving loan fund without city tax dollars.
However, Khullar dropped that effort and in 2013 tried to lease the space to Dollar Tree, a discount chain that sells both food and general merchandise. That was opposed by Coggs and Development Commissioner Rocky Marcoux, who said Khullar was breaking a promise to open a full-service grocery.
The Common Council refused to issue a food license for Dollar Tree, and that space remained vacant.
2349 LLC spent around $218,000 of the MEDC loan to make renovations to the space to accommodate Dollar Tree. As of February 2015, the group owed $197,319 on that loan.
Khullar and the MEDC have been negotiating over repaying those funds and finding other uses for the building. An update on the loan status wasn’t immediately available.
MEDC is helping arrange the sale of the building to Milwaukee development firm Vangard Group, said Jeff Fleming, Department of City Development spokesman. MEDC will help finance the new King Drive store through a loan to Vangard, he said.
JCP Construction is serving as general contractor on the project.