Brookfield Scores Big Lease at Milwaukee Mall

SCHEELS has signed a 210,000-square-foot lease at Brookfield Properties’ Mayfair Mall, a 1.2 million-square-foot property in Wauwatosa, Wis. The vacant space will undergo a full renovation and expansion before the opening of the new store, set for the spring of 2027.

SCHEELS leased the space that was previously occupied by Boston Store. The latter closed its doors in 2018, when its parent company The Bon-Ton Stores Inc. went out of business, BizTimes reported.

The Wauwatosa location is slated to become Wisconsin’s largest all-sports store and employ more than 500 people. The company has two more locations in the state, in Appleton and Eau Claire.

It will also be the 36th SCHEELS nationwide. The firm’s 35th location, a 240,000-square-foot property in Cedar Park, Texas, is scheduled to open in the fall of 2026.

Mayfair Mall, up close

Mayfair is an enclosed, two-level mall that was completed in 1957 and renovated in 2001. Its roster includes Macy’s and Nordstrom as anchor tenants, but also Barnes & Noble, Urban Outfitters, Gap, Five Guys and Victoria’s Secret, among others.

The mall occupies an 84-acre site at 2500 N. Mayfair Road near Interstate 41, less than 11 miles west of downtown Milwaukee.

Redevelopment plans in motion

In 2022, the city of Wauwatosa acquired the 15-acre Boston Store property with the intention of bringing it back to life and signed a development agreement with Brookfield in 2024. The agreement involved securing a new retail anchor for the vacant space and redeveloping the adjacent land into a multifamily community. The site is at the south end of Mayfair.

Brookfield initially secured Dick’s Sporting Goods as a tenant, according to Milwaukee Business Journal. However, the company decided to refuse the location in August 2024.

Now, with the SCHEELS contract in place, the city will transfer the store and 7 adjacent acres to Brookfield in exchange for about 4 acres owned by the property company, located to the south of the store, the same source reveals. More than 900 housing units and additional retail space will be developed across four buildings on that parcel.