The joint real estate fund formed by Innovative Capital Advisors (ICA) and Chicago-based HSA Commercial Real Estate held a groundbreaking ceremony last Friday, August 14th, 2015 to mark the start of construction at Plaza 173 in Brookfield, Wis. Tim Blum, executive vice president with HSA Commercial, was joined by Brookfield Mayor Steven Ponto, Waukesha County Executive Paul Farrell, and ICA principal Tom Reedy in remarking on the transformative redevelopment plans for Plaza 173 and the development boom occurring throughout the broader Bluemound Road retail corridor.

“I have a lot of confidence in HSA Commercial Real Estate—and especially Tim Blum—in transforming this [shopping] center into the vibrant center that it can become,” said Mayor Steven Ponto in his prepared remarks. “I have a lot of confidence that this will really be a first-rate project, and I appreciate the cooperative attitude that has been shown by Tim and by HSA as we worked through the City’s process.”

The existing shopping center, located at the northwest corner of Bluemound Road and Calhoun Road, will be completely gut renovated, and ownership plans to add all new entry porticos to enhance the street presence and visibility of tenant storefronts and signage. The ambitious development plans also include a new 11,000-square-foot outlot building that will be occupied by Men’s Wearhouse, Kesslers Diamond Center, and a third small shop tenant. When the shopping center re-opens next fall, it will be rebranded as Calhoun Crossing and will be anchored by Fresh Thyme Farmers Market, a new neighborhood grocer featuring an extensive selection of fresh produce; natural, hormone-free meats; seafood flown in daily; baked goods from local artisans; and other nutritious prepared meals and packaged goods.

“I grew up two-and-a-half miles from here in Elm Grove, so I’ve watched Brookfield and Bluemound Road expand constantly as I got older. We talk about the Magnificent Mile in Chicago, but we’ve got two-and-a-half miles that is going to be blowing it out of the water,” declared Paul Farrell, Waukesha County Executive. “It’s great to see entities like HSA that have a vision for a building that has been here—it’s been used and utilized—now it’s going to be revitalized.”

In total, Calhoun Crossing will feature 107,000 square feet of inline junior anchor retail space as well as 11,000 square feet in the outlot building.

“In addition to these [announced] tenants, we will bring several other best-in-class retailers, some of which will be new to the Milwaukee area,” Blum said. “We hope to make announcements in the next couple of months on who those merchants might be.”

“We’re thrilled to have Tim and HSA as our partner, and I can tell you, Mayor and County Executive, [they’re] going to do a great job in building a first-rate center that everyone’s going to be proud of,” stated Tom Reedy, principal with ICA.

Capitol Bank is the lender for the Calhoun Crossing property. Chris Thomas of TOA Architecture and Urban Design is serving as the project architect, and Premier Design + Build is the development’s general contractor.