Wheel & Sprocket seeking to redevelop Brookfield location into mixed

Last updated on July 13th, 2022 at 02:23 pm

Milwaukee-based Wheel & Sprocket wants to transform its Brookfield store location and surrounding two-acre property with a mixed-use development featuring retail space, 64 apartments and 10 single-family townhomes.

The bicycle retailer has teamed up with Glendale-based developer Heimat Group on the project, proposed for the southeast corner of Lilly Road and West Capitol Drive, where Wheel & Sprocket has operated a store since 1994.

The plan is to demolish the nearly 60-year-old storefront as well as the adjacent Aamco Transmission building and develop three new structures: one for the apartments and Wheel & Sprocket's new retail space and two for the townhomes, according to site plans. The project and request to rezone the property will be reviewed by the city's Plan Commission Monday evening.

Wheel & Sprocket would occupy the largest portion of the 23,200-square-foot ground-floor retail space in the five-story mixed-use building, which would have four floors of one-bedroom and two-bedroom market-rate apartment units, according to the site plans.

"Wheel & Sprocket wishes to remain at this location by redeveloping the site to provide not only a modern structure for its business operations but also to take advantage of this opportunity to maximize the utility and economic feasibility of the site by developing a mixed-use project," The Heimat Group wrote in its proposal.

The row of 10 two-to-three bedroom townhomes would be situated along the southern property line. The mixed-use building and the townhomes would be separated by a driveway with 43 public parking spots. The lower level of the mixed-use building would have 93 parking spots for apartment residents. Each townhome would include a garage with two parking spaces.

The proposal includes consideration of tax incremental financing through an environmental remediation tax incremental district. Heimat said redeveloping the site is an opportunity to "substantially improve the aesthetic and economic value of the Lilly/Capitol Node for the City of Brookfield and the neighboring community" but without the city's support, the project is "financially unfeasible."

"Given the existing environmental conditions, there will be extraordinary costs associated with remediation and redevelopment," it wrote.

The TID request will be vetted by the Community Development Authority and subject to a separate public hearing, according to city documents.

In addition to its Brookfield location, Wheel & Sprocket has stores in Milwaukee, Delafield, Fox Point, Franklin, Oshkosh, Middleton, Fitchburg and Appleton as well as three stores in Illinois.

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