Aurora deal boosts Pabst retail project

Deal allows for 121-acre center

Waukesha Freeman, August 18, 2006

By ERIK BROOKS
Freeman Staff

OCONOMOWOC A settlement in Aurora Health Cares 5-year-old lawsuit against the city brings a 121-acre retail and entertainment complex proposed for Pabst Farms that much closer to reality.

It also calms fears from potential tenants about the future of the Pabst Farms Town Centre project, said Jim Graham, a spokesman for General Growth Properties Inc., which is partnering with Pabst Farms Development LLC on its construction.

The settlement between the city, town of Summit, Aurora and Pabst Farms, announced Tuesday, was a key factor in how the development will look, he said.

Pabst Farms and General Growth announced details of the retail plan in May.

Their proposal was for a development of more than 120 acres including 43.5 acres of land Aurora had planned for a hospital in Oconomowoc.

All along, developers and city officials have said they wanted the Aurora land for the retail project. The settlement made that possible.

Under the deal, the hospital will now be built in the town of Summit, across the interstate from the city land, as Oconomowoc moves to use the extraterritorial zoning process to rezone the site on behalf of the town.

The end result for Pabst Farms is the project they wanted from the start.

Graham said General Growth did not rule out building a scaled-back version of the retail center to make way for the Aurora hospital, but was happy for the deal.

Freeing up that extra space for our development makes possible the shopping and entertainment center that was initially envisioned, he said.

Oconomowoc Mayor Maury Sullivan said he backed a settlement dismissing Auroras lawsuit against the city because he wanted to ensure taxpayers were off the hook for any potential damages and wanted to find a way to ensure construction of the Pabst Farms Town Centre. He said the project will ultimately be worth $200 million to $250 million.

That means (property) taxes, Sullivan said.

Aurora still has to give up its purchase rights to its 43.5-acre site northeast of Interstate 94 and Highway 67 in the city. It is expected to do so once building permits on its new hospital are approved, and it closes on the purchase of the town property, said Bill Niemann, vice president of Pabst Farms Development.

As the zoning process unfolds, General Growth will continue design work on the retail center and its efforts to secure anchor tenants, Niemann said.

General Growth is then hoping to sign secondary tenants at the International Council of Shopping Centers national convention in May, Niemann said.

Construction on the center could begin in 2007, with the mall opening sometime in 2008.

Graham said the center has had a lot of interest from retailers, and putting this legal issue behind us will only help to increase that interest.

He declined to name potential tenants.

The Pabst Farms project will likely compete for retailers with a similar development planned only a few miles away for I-94 and Highway C in Delafield.

That 87-acre project, which includes residential, retail, entertainment and office components, still requires rezoning from the city, potentially in September or October.