Whitefish Bay-based Sendik’s Food Markets plans to open a Sendik’s grocery store at 3600 S. Moorland Road in New Berlin.
The Sendik’s store will occupy the 30,000-square-foot space in the New Berlin Plaza shopping center that had been occupied by the Lang The Factory Store, which closed on Jan 24. and will be reopening at the former V Richards Plaza at 17115 W. Bluemound Road, Brookfield, on Feb. 8.
Prior to the Lang store, the space at New Berlin Plaza was occupied by a Kohls Food Store.
Sendik’s Food Markets is the group that owns Sendik’s stores in Whitefish Bay, Germantown, Franklin, Elm Grove, Greenfield, Grafton, Mequon and Wauwatosa.
The other Sendik’s stores in the region are owned by different ownership groups.
Sendik’s Food Markets plans to hire 70 full time employees and 80 part time employees to work at the New Berlin store.
The developer for the New Berlin project is Mequon-based Devo Management Company LLC. The project includes a planned 17,000-square-foot addition to the shopping center. Three homes along Coffee Road will be demolished to make way for the expansion.

Milwaukee-based Alliance Federated Energy (AFE) announced plans Tuesday to build a 25-megawatt renewable energy project on the north side of Milwaukee. The exact location of the facility was not named.
The $225 million project will create a facility to process municipal and industrial wastes into renewable energy using a process called plasma gasification. The gasification process exposes waste material to temperatures between 3,000 and 7,000 degrees Centigrade in an enclosed space, which captures all gases and vapors within the material.
The gases generated are cooled, scrubbed and refined – and are ultimately turned into a product called syngas that is burned to generate electricity.
“It takes the feed stock and breaks it down to its elemental form,” said Joshua Morby, a company spokesman. “What is now a waste stream will now be a fuel stream.”
AFE hopes to have its new facility open by 2013. Morby said the company now has an option on a 25-acre parcel on Milwaukee’s north side, but he would not disclose the exact location. The first phase of the project will be able to process about 1,200 tons of waste per day and generate enough energy to power as many as 20,000 homes.
The project, when operational, will have about 45 full time employees. AFE says it will generate about 250 jobs during the construction process.
The company is now in final negotiations with several Wisconsin-based institutional investors to fund construction of the project. It is also in discussions with city, state and federal officials about accessing public financing, Morby said.
AFE’s renewable energy plant will process municipal and industrial wastes that are not suitable for recycling, including industrial wastes including paint and fly ash. The plant will also be able to use household waste that is currently being placed into landfills.
“This commercially proven technology is the ultimate in recycling,” said Christopher Maloney, CEO of Alliance Federated Energy, “We are pleased to be building our first project right here in Wisconsin, a state committed to promoting environmental stewardship and technological innovation.”
Pleasant Prairie to provide $10 million in tax exempt bonds for EMCO
Pleasant Prairie village officials have agreed to authorize a tax-exempt $10 million bond for North Chicago, Ill.-based EMCO Chemical Distributors Inc.’s plans to redevelop the former Hexion Specialty Chemicals facility at 8601 95th St., Pleasant Prairie. The village will authorize the bonds but the company will be responsible to repay them.
EMCO plans to purchase the facility ad will use it to distribute and blend specialty chemicals. The company will have 100 employees at the facility, including 90 that will move there from the company’s North Chicago facility.
“Welcoming EMCO as a new corporate citizen in our business park is a plus all the way around,” said Pleasant Prairie village president John Steinbrink Sr. “We are able to increase the level of employment for families in the community while offering EMCO a first class location with access to all of the amenities that can help contribute to the continued success of their business.”

Houston-based mattress store chain Mattress Firm, which has about 530 locations, is entering the Wisconsin marketplace.
The chain’s franchisee, Chuck Dawson, a former senior executive at Sealy, opened a store this week in Pleasant Prairie and plans to open seven more stores in southeastern Wisconsin and two in Madison this year.
The Pleasant Prairie store is located at 9901 77th St., Suite 870, in the Shoppes at Pleasant Prairie.
The chain will open a store in the former Krispy Krème donut shop location at 19165 Bluemound Road, Brookfield, in March and at 3020 S. 108th St., West Allis, in May. Dawson declined to disclose any other planned locations in southeastern Wisconsin.
Most of the chain’s stores (including the Pleasant Prairie, Brookfield and West Allis locations) are about 4,000 square feet in size. The chain also has clearance center stores of 6,000 to 10,000 square feet. One clearance center store will be opened in Madison and one in Milwaukee this year.
Mattress Firm wants to expand into Wisconsin because the Milwaukee and Madison areas have a small number of specialty mattress stores, Dawson said. Most mattresses in the area are sold at furniture stores, he said.
Mattress Firm sells brand name bedding products including Sealy, Simmons and Tempur-Pedic. The company also offers its own Mattress Firm Direct products, which will be manufactured at Symbol Mattress Company in Watertown.

After 11 consecutive quarters of decline, the Fourth Quarter 2009 SIOR Commercial Real Estate Index, gained 0.2 percent to 35.5 points.
100 points signifies a balanced market. The U.S. commercial real estate market has not been balanced since the third quarter of 2007, according to the SIOR Index, which is compiled by the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors (SIOR) in association with the National Association of Realtors (NAR).
The Midwest SIOR fourth quarter index was 36.3 point, unchanged from the third quarter. The west index was the lowest at 27.1 points, the south index was at 37.8 points and the northeast index was 43.7 points.
“The Milwaukee market has remained much more stable largely because of its lack of speculative development compared to other cities in the Midwest,” a SIOR press release said.
Optimism is rising among SIOR members as 55 percent expect the commercial real estate market to improve during the first quarter of 2010.
Commercial real estate development across the country is extremely low, SIOR members report as 98 percent of them say development was “down,” and 87 percent said it is virtually nonexistent in their markets.
The commercial real estate market remains a tenant’s market across the country as 97 percent of SIOR members report either deep discounts to asking rents or moderate levels of tenant concessions. Only 3 percent of SIOR members say they are experiencing a “normal” negotiating balance.

Dickman Company

• North Shore Professional Finishes leased 3,240 square feet of industrial space at 6683-85 N. Sidney Place, Glendale, from Glendale Business Center LLC.

Dickman Company

• Galactic Inc. purchased the 36,881 square feet of industrial space at 2700-30 W. Silver Spring Dr. and 5623 N. 27th St. in Milwaukee, from Silver Spring Property II LLC.

Wauwatosa-based Selzer-Ornst Construction Company been selected to complete a remodeling and renovation project at the Congregational Home 3150 Lilly Road, Brookfield. The project scope includes work to many areas within the facility including remodeling the administrative offices, a new family entrance, a new physical and occupational therapy area, a new beauty salon, and updating finishes and flooring in several areas of the home.

West Allis-based Triad Construction recently completed renovations to Hart Park in Wauwatosa. The project included construction of a state-of-the art athletic field to accommodate football, soccer, field hockey, and lacrosse games. Additionally, the field’s running track was reconstructed, with several new track and field amenities installed around it. The tennis courts were also renovated and expanded. Triad Construction outfitted the entire park with synthetic track and turf.

Brookfield-based Shorewest Realtors recently added Colleen Hine as a sales associate in its Lake Geneva office.

Aurora to open Pabst Farms hospital on March 1
Milwaukee-based Aurora Health Care said the 110-bed hospital that it is building in the Pabst Farms development, southeast of I-94 and Highway 67 in the Town of Summit, will welcome its first patients on March 1. Aurora’s Wilkinson Medical Clinic opened in the new facility in October. When the hospital opens, the entire medical campus will become fully operational. A community open house for the new regional medical center will be held from 12-4 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 27.

High Pointe Office Center earns Energy Star certification
High Point Office Center, located at 1200 N. Mayfair Road, Wauwatosa, recently received the Energy Star certification. The building, owned by Wauwatosa-based Wangard Partners, received a energy performance rating of 93 (out of a possible 100). A rating of 50 indicates average energy performance and a rating of 75 or better indicates top performance.

Feb 11: NAIOP Webinar: Repositioning your Existing Asset with Adaptive Re-Use. 11:45 a.m. -1:15 p.m., Wipfli LLP, 10000 Innovation Dr., Wauwatosa. Register online at www.naiop-wi.org.

48th annual Milwaukee/NARI Home Improvement Show, Feb. 11-14, Wisconsin Exposition Center at State Fair Park, West Allis.

Feb 24: Commercial Real Estate Government Day in Madison, 8 a.m. – 3 p.m., Madison.  Contact Jim Villa of CARW at (414) 271-2021 or Chris Korjenek of NAIOP at (262) 522-6375 for more information.

Feb 25: NAIOP Webinar:  New Market Tax Credits to Finance Development. 11:45-1:15, GRAEF USA, 125 S. 84th St., Milwaukee. Register online at www.naiop-wi.org.

REACH (Real Estate Alliance for Charity) Winter Gala, Saturday, Feb. 27, 7:30-10:30 p.m., Milwaukee Public Market, 400 N. Water St., Milwaukee. For more information, call (414) 271-2021.

Mar 10: NAIOP Tour of the Aloft Hotel, 4:30-6:30 p.m., Aloft Hotel, 1230 N. Old World Third St., Milwaukee. Register online at www.naiop-wi.org.

Mar 11: NAIOP Webinar: Risk Management Strategies for Successful Real Estate Development Projects. 11:45 a.m.-1:15 p.m., Wipfli LLP, 10000 Innovation Dr., Wauwatosa. Register online at www.naiop-wi.org.

Mar 25: NAIOP Webinar: ROI Analysis on LEED Building Components, 11:45-1:15, Wipfli LLP, 10000 Innovation Dr., Wauwatosa. Register online at www.naiop-wi.org.

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