Bayshore Target opens, but vacancies still loom
Makeover continues at mixed-use development in Glendale
The reinvention of Glendale’s Bayshore mixed-use development is taking a big step forward with the opening of a new Target department store and supermarket.
Other improvements are happening at Bayshore, with construction expected to begin this fall on more than 300 higher-end apartments.
Bayshore, however, has over 40 vacant storefronts. That count is similar to what the Journal Sentinel found in February 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic rocked the retail industry.
And, with increased online shopping as well as the lingering effects of the pandemic, there’s still a big question: how does Bayshore operator Cypress Equities LLC fill those empty spaces?
“I’m a little uncertain about what the tenant mix is going to look like,” said Dick Seesel, who operates Mequon-based consulting firm Retailing in Focus LLC.
“I know they are working to fill out the rest of Bayshore,” said Glendale Mayor Bryan Kennedy.
Executives at Dallas-based Cypress Equities declined to answer questions for this story.
A Cypress representative said the firm wanted to instead focus on Target’s opening.
Indeed, Target is a win for Bayshore.
The store, which had its soft opening on Tuesday and has a grand opening on Sunday, occupies a 128,512square-foot, two-story building that was left vacant when Boston Store operator Bon-Ton Stores Inc. was liquidated in 2018.
Cypress initially planned to demolish most of that building. The idea was to shrink it to around 40,000 square feet and fill the smaller building with offices, stores and restaurants.
But that changed by June 2020, when Cypress said the entire building, 5701 N. Lydell Ave., would become a Target store.
The Target will “have a big impact on Bayshore,” Seesel said. “It suddenly gives people a reason to go there,” he said.
A store such as a Target, with a large supermarket component, translates into more frequent shopping trips compared to other Bayshore destinations, such as Kohl’s department store, Seesel said.
Target is the second major retail chain to open at Bayshore since the redevelopment work began ramping up in early 2020.
Total Wine & More opened a 25,000-square-foot store in the renovated former Sports Authority building
in September 2020.
Making room for apartments, Culver’s
Cypress has made other improvements, including public art, additional landscaping, upgraded lighting and new walkways to make Bayshore more attractive and easier to navigate on foot.
The former food court and interior mall were demolished to create room for the apartments, as well as open space and a possible hotel and medical office building.
Those development sites join parcels created by the 2017 demolition of the former Sears store at Bayshore’s north end. Part of that space is being taken by a 4,548square-foot Culver’s restaurant that’s under construction.
Also, Cypress in July 2020 opened The Yard — Bayshore’s renovated town square.
The town square’s sunken fountain was replaced with artificial turf, more seating, public art and a large LED screen for sports events and other broadcasts.
Cypress hopes those improvements will encourage Bayshore patrons to stay longer for shopping and dining.
The Yard added a beer garden this summer and fall.
Known as Tap Yard Bayshore, it uses around 1,500 square feet of bar space at the former Sprecher’s Restaurant & Pub.
Tap Yard Bayshore’s seasonal run will soon be ending.
‘Excited to be part of Bayshore’
Meanwhile, Bayshore this year has landed some smaller businesses.
Four pop-ups — All Goods MKE, PK Collection, Spirit Halloween and Cinnabar Nutrition— are using spaces ranging from 900 to 10,000 square feet, according to Cypress..
Three other tenants announced this year by Cypress are food and beverage vendors FreshFin Poke and SereniTea as well as Goldfish Swim School.
FreshFin Poke’s 1,857-square-foot space opened Oct. 20, with a grand opening set for Nov. 5 and Nov. 6, said Anna Bisch, marketing and social media manager.
SereniTea is planning an Oct. 29 grand opening, said owner Manpreet Singh. The new Target should be “a nice generator” of potential customers for the 1,111-square-foot bubble tea shop, he said.
Goldfish Swim School, which had planned a late 2021 launch, is now set to open its 9,130-square-foot facility in February, said owner Rosanna Casper.
“It’s on track,” said Casper, whose family also operates a Goldfish Swim School in Brookfield. “We’re really excited to be part of Bayshore.”
That still leaves dozens of vacancies.
New residents would create demand
Perhaps Nordstrom Rack or other offprice national retailers might consider Bayshore, Seesel said.
He mentioned another possibility: creating a food hall that features local eateries.
The Milwaukee area has seen several such food halls developed in recent years, including Mequon Public Market, Crossroads Collective on Milwaukee’s east side and the upcoming 3rd Street Market Hall in downtown Milwaukee.
Meanwhile, the pending apartment development would bring hundreds of new residents to Bayshore — which would presumably increase the demand for neighborhood shops, restaurants and other commercial services.
The apartments, approved in March by city officials, would total 311 units in four buildings with four to five stories, according to conceptual plans..
They would range from studios to three-bedroom units, with the development including around 500 parking stalls.
Three of the buildings are to wrap around the parking structure on Bayshore’s east side. The other apartment building would be just north of the parking structure.
The apartment community would include an outdoor pool, club room and an elevated court yard. There also would be a public plaza facing Lydell Avenue.
Cypress hasn’t yet announced the name of the apartment developer or a construction start date. The plan was to begin in September, with completion in early 2023.
Parcels totaling 4 acres were recently sold by Bayshore’s owners to a new group, Cypress Bayshore Residential LP, for $6.98 million, according to state real estate records posted Tuesday.
A Cypress Bayshore Residential representative said more information on that group’s plans is coming.
Bayshore’s new developments are generating more property tax revenue for the city and its school districts, as well as other local governments.
Part of that tax revenue eventually will provide up to $37 million to help pay for Bayshore’s redevelopment.
In return, Glendale’s old Bayshore tax incremental financing debt of $57 million was paid off by Bayshore’s owners.
The city took on that debt when it helped pay for the 2006 creation of what was then named Bayshore Town Center. That project combined the old Bayshore Mall with several new buildings, parking structures and a street grid.
The city wouldn’t have been able to pay off that debt with Bayshore’s existing property tax revenue after its value declined steeply as dozens of stores and restaurants closed in recent years.
Bayshore’s assessed value was $310 million until 2019 — when it was slashed to $65 million. The current assessed value is $87 million.
A revamped Bayshore eventually could have property values totaling more than $200 million, according to the city.
Mayor Kennedy said things are moving quickly behind the scenes to bring additional new developments to Bayshore’s empty parcels.
“I’d be surprised if other parcels are not committed in some fashion by this time next year,” he said.