Midtown Center Final Bid Tops $24 Million

Vehicles line up for COVID-19 testing at Midtown Center in May 2020. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

The Midtown Center shopping complex drew a final bid of $24.3 million in its online auction that closed Thursday.

The winning bidder was not disclosed, but the entity offered a substantial premium from the $7 million opening bid.

Bordered by W. Capitol Dr., W. Fond du Lac Ave. and N. 60th St., the shopping center was listed for sale by New York-based DLC Management with brokerage firm Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) and online auction service Ten-X.

DLC paid $47.2 million for the center in 2014, but has since sold off the shuttered Lowe’s and Walmart stores. A Pick ‘n Save grocery store and Planet Fitness gym are the anchor tenants in the complex.

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

“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,” said JLL’s listing.

The four-day auction was announced in January.

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 parcels offered in the auction include 26.2 acres of land and 1,194 surface parking spaces. Additional tenants include Foot Locker, T-Mobile, dialysis provider Davita, Pizza Hut, Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, Firestone, U.S. Cellular, Laughing Crab restaurant and several others.

The parcels 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 representative of JLL did not respond to a request for comment Thursday. The winning bidder must still close on the purchase.

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.

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.

The 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.

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.

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