Midtown Center Being Auctioned Off

A large shopping center in the middle of Milwaukee is headed for the auction block.

Midtown Center, the shopping center bordered by W. Capitol Dr., W. Fond du Lac Ave. and N. 60th St., is for sale.

New York-based DLC Management, which paid $47.2 million for the center in 2014, is selling the property at auction with an opening bid of $7 million.

The 10 buildings included in the auction are 80% occupied according to the listing. They include a total of 241,283 square feet of leasable space.

The properties DLC is selling are anchored by a Pick ‘n Save grocery store and Planet Fitness gym.

“This location of Pick ‘n Save has increased its sales revenue by 25% from pre-pandemic volumes. In the neighborhood, there are over 400,000 residents within a five-mile radius who expend more than four billion [dollars] in the community annually,” says the listing from brokerage firm Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL). The online auction will take place from Feb. 27 to March 1 on Ten-X.

A November 2022 listing from JLL says the grocery store’s lease was extended through 2027. That report says there are 11 vacant spaces, totaling 50,943 square feet, in the complex.

The four properties being sold include 26.2 acres of land and 1,194 surface parking spaces. Tenants in the properties include Foot Locker, T-Mobile, dialysis provider Davita, Pizza Hut, Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, Firestone, U.S. Cellular, Laughing Crab restaurant and several other tenants.

Other properties are visibly part of the shopping center, but not included in DLC’s holdings. Generally described, DLC’s properties are located at the southwest corner of the site and entirely west of N. 55th St.

It will be the second time DLC has auctioned a portion of the shopping center in the past year.

An affiliate of Affordable Family Storage (AFS) paid $3.28 million for the 15.24-acre former Walmart property in July. The storage company is now pursuing a proposal to add a self-storage facility hidden by new outlot buildings, new retailers and a food truck park. But AFS needs a zoning change from the city to enable the plan.

A former Lowe’s store, just north of the Walmart property, was sold by DLC in 2016 for $1.5 million and redeveloped into a warehouse in 2018.

The shopping center is a redevelopment of the former Capitol Court mall. Originally constructed as an outdoor shopping center in the 1950s, it was enclosed in the 1970s and then largely demolished at the turn of the century. In 2002, the latest iteration opened as an open-air shopping center. Additional buildings included in DLC’s sale were constructed in 2007.

“Midtown Center is primed as an advantageous value-add acquisition in a resurging market. A new investor can acquire a renowned tenancy while driving further profitability through vacancy lease-ups,” says the listing.

The properties are currently assessed for $22,812,000. They are addressed as 4100-4190 N. 56th St., 4101-4191 N. 56th St., 4076 N. 60th St. and 5704-5712 W. Capitol Dr.

A 31,884-square-foot, grass lot, 4350 N. 60th St., is listed as owned by DLC in city property records, but is not included with the auction and is not contiguous to the properties.

DLC owns the properties through Mid Milk Improvements LLC.

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