A new Target Store is coming to Brown Deer − anchoring a mixed-use development that's replacing an underused shopping center.
Minneapolis-based Target Corp. has purchased a 9.6-acre site, at 9020, 9070, 9074 and 9080 N. Green Bay Road, for $7 million, according to a deed posted online by the Wisconsin Department of Revenue on May 12.
That site is part of The Marketplace of Brown Deer, a 23-acre site north of West Brown Deer Road and east of North Green Bay Road.
The parcel was sold to Target by an affiliate of Woodsonia Real Estate, a development firm based in the Omaha, Nebraska, area.
Woodsonia just bought The Marketplace of Brown Deer for $11 million from investment groups affiliated with Namdar Realty Group, based in Great Neck, New York, according to a deed posted on May 9.
The Target Store will be approximately 128,000 square feet, said Loni Monroe, Target senior public relations manager.
"As we get closer to opening the store, we’ll have more specific details to share – including how the shopping experience will be tailored to serve local guests and the grand opening date," Monroe told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Brown Deer Community Development Director Nate Piotrowski has said the goal is to open a big box retailer at that site by the end of 2026.
The Marketplace shopping center has struggled with high tenant vacancy rates in recent years.
Woodsonia's plans to redevelop the shopping center were approved in December by the Village Board.
The preliminary plans included a 128,000 square-foot building for an unnamed retailer − with some residents speculating it could be a Target.
Woodsonia also plans to develop a three-story building with around 100 market-rate apartments on the upper floors and more than 21,000 square feet of first-floor commercial space.
In addition, the firm would create three new commercial outlots along Green Bay Road to complement the existing 10,000-square-foot outlot.
Meanwhile, Woodsonia also has acquired a nearby 16,430-square-foot parcel, at 4200 W. Brown Deer Road, from U.S. Bank for $1.4 million. That's according to a deed posted on May 12.
The Milwaukee area's last new Target opened in 2021 in Glendale, at the Bayshore development. That two-level store is roughly the same size as the planned Brown Deer store, and includes a supermarket.
Target in 2016 closed its store at 8501 W. Brown Deer Road. That 118,500-square-foot building, west of Milwaukee's former Northridge Mall, was converted into a warehouse and offices by Midwest Refrigerated Services Inc.