MILWAUKEE – Construction is underway at the Shops of Grand Avenue to transform the second floor of mall’s Plankinton Arcade from former storefronts into new apartments.
The construction began about a month ago to the long-struggling downtown mall. It’s part of plans to revamp the property for redevelopment when it was bought by its new owners in 2016.
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Grand Avenue's general manager Courtney Morris tells TODAY’S TMJ4 business partner The Milwaukee Business Journal, "construction is in its very early stages and that workers are opening up the walls and ceilings of these spaces to evaluate their condition. The objective is to then convert that part of the mall into apartments."
The Milwaukee Business Journal reports several tenants previously located on the second floor's Plankinton Arcade have been reshuffled and moved to the west end of the mall.
Morris declined to go into specifics with the Milwaukee Business Journalabout the number or type of apartments that will be built in the Plankinton Arcade but did say "adding a residential component to the mall was a complementary use since the Plankinton Loft Apartments are already housed on the floors above Grand Avenue."
Many other conceptual ideas, including office space, had been tossed around for the redevelopment of Plankinton Arcade's second floor.
The Milwaukee Business Journal reached out to Grand Avenue co-owner Tony Janowiec for comment, but their inquiries were not returned by the time their article was published.
