Brookfield trustees on Oct. 11 voted 5 to 1 to shell out a consulting organization $20,000 to see no matter if it is feasible for the village to entice a grocery retailer and in which this sort of a business may well be located.
Trustee Brian Conroy solid the lone vote in opposition to the arrangement with Mallon and Associates, a Wheaton-centered organization that specializes in retail actual estate development, with distinct abilities in establishing grocery shops and pharmacies.
Brookfield Village Supervisor Timothy Wiberg advised trustees prior to the vote that conducting the feasibility research aligned with the village board’s strategic goal of attracting financial development.
Nevertheless it was not listed as a unique purpose of the Brookfield Extensive Program adopted by the village board in 2016, a prior extensive strategy — the Brookfield 2020 Master System — particularly pointed out a grocery keep as fascinating for the Ogden Avenue corridor.
That grasp prepare, adopted by the village board in 2004, envisioned this kind of a retail outlet remaining positioned north of Ogden Avenue in an space that involves what is now village-owned property adjacent to the Congress Park Metra station.
“Since I’ve been in Brookfield 1 of the things I have listened to is desirous for redevelopment in Brookfield is a grocery retail outlet,” reported Wiberg, who mentioned the village by now experienced a person grocery retail store, Tischler Finer Food items at 8 Corners. “The sentiment is there’s room and the capability for this local community to help one more grocery store.”
Achieved by cellphone, Dennis Tischler, the operator of Tischler Finer Foodstuff, mentioned he was conscious of the impending feasibility examine but declined to comment on it, saying he hadn’t nevertheless study the proposal.
The man who will conduct the feasibility analyze and provide a report to Brookfield officers next February is Mike Mallon, who just lately served as the land-use planner and principal spokesman for a multifamily improvement soon to be created in the 8800 block of Burlington Avenue.
In addition to serving as a specialist for household true estate builders, Mallon has extra than 20 decades of retail enhancement practical experience. According to info furnished as part of his consulting proposal for Brookfield, Mallon has been included in analyzing and establishing far more than 180 food/drug shops, together with Jewel/Osco, Complete Meals, Aldi, Food4Much less, Kroger, Clean Sector, Meijer, Tony’s Finer Meals and more.
Mallon’s proposal implies he will be particularly evaluating the space known as out in the 2020 Grasp Plan – the place in the vicinity of the Congress Park train station – for “market possible and internet site assortment.”
The study will evaluate the Brookfield sector to figure out what variety of a grocery retail store would be suitable and successful presented demographics and level of competition determine sales projections centered on the store format, sizing and operator review the effect on present grocers and determine who a new retailer might appeal to.
“I think Brookfield would gain from a research like this,” Wiberg said.
Conroy was the lone trustee to voice opposition to the consulting arrangement and questioned if Mallon’s get the job done in promoting what turned out to be a profitable progress software for yet another developer posed some kind of conflict of fascination.
The village’s lawyer at the Oct. 11 village board conference, Michael R. Durkin, stated that the arrangement did not pose a conflict considering that Mallon was performing with the village in a “limited ability.”
“It appears like we’re putting a lot of cash into consultants and preparing,” Conroy claimed, referencing the ongoing Ogden Avenue Corridor Research, which is costing the village $75,000, and the village’s modern employ of a section-time financial development coordinator, who is being paid $84 for each hour. “It’s just a feasibility research for a grocery store.”
Wiberg responded that the analyze was the 1st step, and that if it was determined the marketplace can aid these kinds of a retail outlet, “the hope would be [Mallon] would faucet into individuals interactions and maybe deliver grocers to discuss to us.”
