Want to live next to Whole Foods and Nordstrom Rack? Mayfair Collection adding 1,000 apartments

One of the Milwaukee area's largest retail and dining developments is getting a big addition: Hundreds of upscale apartments are opening over the next year within a short walk of The Mayfair Collection's stores and restaurants.

Known as Synergy at Mayfair Collection, it could eventually total more than 1,000 housing units north of W. Burleigh St., between Highway 45/I-41 and N. Mayfair Road, in Wauwatosa.

Meanwhile, Mayfair Collection's main developer also may add office buildings as the project's store, restaurant and hotel construction winds down.

"It's really kind of a watershed moment in the project's timeline," said Tim Blum, executive vice president at HSA Commercial Real Estate Inc.

Shopping, dining destination

HSA Commercial began developing Mayfair Collection in 2011, when the Chicago-based firm created a master plan for the 67-acre site, which later won city approval. Then known as the Burleigh Triangle, the site once housed several large warehouses — with two such buildings still there. 

Synergy, which is being developed by Milwaukee-based Fiduciary Real Estate Development Inc., combined with Mayfair Collection will eventually amount to Wauwatosa's largest community development, said Jim Archambo, city administrator.

Mayfair Collection and Synergy have a combined value north of $100 million, with that figure growing as more buildings are developed. 

Those new buildings will add more residents to Wauwatosa, while also creating a shopping and dining destination, Archambo said. 

Synergy's first mixed-use building opens in November, with the second building to be completed by April 2019, said Craig Raddatz, Fiduciary's director of development.

Those two six-story buildings will total 269 apartments and 50,000 square feet of retail space.

Synergy's amenities will include a business center, clubhouse, fitness center, third-story courtyards, a dog run and underground parking.

The units will range from studios to two-bedroom apartments. The apartments will feature stainless steel appliances, granite or quartz kitchen counter tops, and washers and dryers within the units.

Monthly rents will range from around $1,100 to $2,200, Raddatz said.

The apartments are expected to attract younger professionals, including those working at Froedtert Hospital, Medical College of Wisconsin, Children's Hospital of Wisconsin and other employers at Wauwatosa's Milwaukee Regional Medical Complex, he said.

Housing is coming to Mayfair Collection over four years after the development's first shops and restaurants opened.

In Mayfair Collection's first phase, HSA Commercial created retail space split between a renovated warehouse and new buildings

That phase opened in 2014. Its stores include Dick's Sporting Goods, Nordstrom Rack, Sak's Off Fifth and T.J. Maxx.

Construction of the second phase started that same year. Most of that work was completed in 2016 and 2017.

Those developments include a building anchored by a Whole Foods Market, with space for additional stores.

There also are several restaurants, including Pizza Man, AJ Bombers, Smoke Shack, Taqueria El Jefe, Cafe Grace and Osgood's. 

A Homewood Suites is in the center of the development. That extended-stay hotel opened in October near an outdoor public plaza, which this summer will feature live music and other events.

Finally, there are two more commercial buildings: one housing ATI Physical Therapy and AT&T, which opened earlier this year, and another that is just finishing construction.

The first tenant for that newest building, Anthony Vince Nail Spa, is opening this summer, said Brenton Schrader, HSA Commercial's vice president of retail leasing and marketing. There's additional space for a restaurant and other retail businesses.

Meanwhile, there are long-term plans for  about 750 additional apartments and other housing units, as well as possibly 550,000 square feet of offices, said Blum, of HSA Commercial.

Those buildings would be developed north of the first two Synergy buildings. That area is now being used by the site's two remaining warehouses.

HSA Commercial might buy and demolish those warehouses, Blum said.

But there's no specific time frame for those additional developments, which would be driven by market demand, he said.

HSA Commercial also would seek a city agreement to cover spending for demolition, an environmental cleanup, and new roads and other public improvements, Blum said.

Wauwatosa is already paying for items such as Mayfair Collection's parking structure, demolition and environmental cleanup costs, and new streets, sewers and water mains.

So far, the city has spent $17.1 million on the overall project, said John Ruggini, Wauwatosa finance director.

$102 million value

The total assessed value of Mayfair Collection and Synergy so far totals $102 million, with that figure increasing as new buildings are developed, Ruggini said.

Property tax revenue from the commercial buildings and apartments are paying back the city's funds.

City officials expect to spend up to $53.9 million, including funds for future development phases.

The combined property values at Mayfair Collection and Synergy are expected to eventually surpass the values of buildings at Wauwatosa's Milwaukee County Research Park, which totaled $199 million, said Archambo, the city administrator.

Mayfair Collection is bringing new property tax revenue, he said, while "also creating some vitality in our commercial district beyond what would otherwise happen."

Mayfair Collection and Synergy also are part of a growing number of similar mixed-use developments in the Milwaukee area, including The Corners of Brookfield; Whitestone Station, in Menomonee Falls, and 84 South, in Greenfield. 

Whitestone Station and 84 South both feature apartments developed by Fiduciary.

Tom Daykin can be emailed at tdaykin@jrn.com and followed on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.