Burger King Planned for Southwest Side

A new Burger King restaurant is planned for 7501 W. Oklahoma Ave at a location that long featured a bank.

The country’s second-largest fast-food restaurant chain would replace bank deposits with flame-grilled Whoppers near the busy intersection of S. 76th St. and W. Oklahoma Ave.

The current building at the site housed a PNC Bank branch for the past decade. It was constructed in 1997 and contains 3,861 square feet of space according to city assessment records.

Permits filed with the city indicate the structure would be demolished and replaced with a 3,196-square-foot structure with a drive-thru window and dining room. Plans submitted to the city list Minnesota-based KOMA as the architect. Excel Engineering is also working on the project.

The 0.94-acre property sits along Honey Creek in front of a strip mall and AMF West Lanes bowling alley.

Cave Enterprises, a Chicago-based franchisee, would own the restaurant. The company reportedly owns over 100 Burger King restaurants throughout Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Minnesota and South Dakota.

The city, according to Burger King’s website, is already home to 10 locations. With the exception of one in UW-Milwaukee’s student union, according to city permits each is owned and operated by Cave. A number of other Burger King restaurants are located in the suburbs.

Burger King reports owning or franchising more than 18,800 locations across the globe. With its Tim Horton and Popeyes affiliates, the company’s parent, Restaurant Brands International, reports over 27,000 locations.

The property is owned by PNC (originally St. Francis Bank, which joined PNC through a series of mergers), but an application filed with the city says an affiliate of Cave has a purchase option on the site. It is assessed for $709,100, with $295,600 attributed to the land.

The new building would be far from the largest development on the property in recent years. The site plays a key role in a $286 million public works project.

The City of Waukesha bought the western portion of the larger site, a 9,857-square-foot section, in September for $134,000. Currently a surface parking lot, a 1,000-square-foot pumping station will be constructed on the site to link Milwaukee’s water distribution system to the western county seat. In November, officials from both cities gathered to celebrate the project’s construction start.