Shoppes at Wyndham Village: Handing the keys to Minneapolis, Minnesota

Think I exaggerate?

Well, you won't after taking a little stroll through a document entitled "Operation and Easement Agreement Between Target Corporation and Wyndham Village Retail, LLC for Shoppes of Wyndham Village Shopping Center, Franklin, Wisconsin."

This is a document on file with the Milwaukee County Register'€™s Office. You can't get it at Franklin City Hall, and you can't make an Open Records request for it unless you know it exists (thank you to the tipster).

Also, the cost to procure records from the Milwaukee County Register's Office is $2 for the first page and a dollar for every page after that. This is an eighty-two page document - - not exactly chump change. In other words, the information is "freely available," but it's far from free.

Selling out the city center

As a reminder, the map below (which is from the "Operation Easement Agreement") shows how the Shoppes site is divided between Target and Carstensen (click any image to enlarge):

And below is my now Nostradamus-like map from last June, when I predicted the "Target sell-out":

To read this "Operation and Easement Agreement" is to understand that, in the end, it all comes down to The Deal. All that talk about "doing what's best for the community"€ and "looking to Franklin's future"€ can be bought off for ... well, just over $2.5 million, it turns out.

When Mark Carstensen sold the land and building on the "Target Tract"€ to Target Corporation Property Development, he did more than redefine the relationship of Target to the City of Franklin's nominal City Civic Center ("Our downtown," said mayor Tom Taylor); he gave Target Corporation nominal control of the entire Shoppes at Wyndham Village property.

The "Operation and Easement Agreement" spells out in no uncertain terms that we answer to Target Corporation when it comes to what we want to accomplish with this central "incubator" for future commercial growth. Make all the noise you want about the details of the City Civic Center District as "mandated" by the City of Franklin; this is Target's strip mall now.

Pie in the Sky

While petitioning to change the property from R-8 Multifamily to Commercial, Mark Carstensen appealed to a combination of elitist fears ("You could have -shudder -€“ multi-family apartments in that field!") and pretty pictures of city center commercial developments with multi-story buildings (and no big-box in sight). He asked to be rezoned as a City Civic Center District. "You can count on me to deliver quality and what's best for Franklin."€

There were people who doubted his vision, and they were poo-pooed and called "ungrateful."€ When Target was brought on board, there were additional objections and warnings. The dissenting voices were called "anti-Target" and shouted down as "elitist."

Welcome to the consequences of blind faith.

The Target-Carstensen agreement contains some sensible prohibitations that any retailer would ask for, of course: No establishments selling obscene materials; no "smelly" businesses; no gambling facilities; no head shops.

But that's not all. Under "ARTICLE V  - OPERATION OF THE SHOPPING CENTER," the following uses are prohibited by Target in the entire Shoppes center:

• Bowling alleys
• Skating rinks
• Movie theaters
• Live performance theater
• Bars or taverns
• Any restaurant or other establishment "whose reasonably projected annual gross revenues from the sale of alcoholic beverages for on-premises consumption exceeds thrity-five percent (35%) of the gross revenues of such business."
• Any training or educational facility including but not limited to: beauty schools, barber colleges, reading rooms, places of instruction or other operations catering primarily to students or trainees rather than to customers; provided, however, this prohibition shall not be applicable to (I) on-site employee training by an occupant incidental to the conduct of Its business at the Shopping Center or (II) up to two nationally recognized learning centers that are commonly located within first-class shopping centers such as a Sylvan Learning Center, Kaplan Learning Center not to exceed 4,000 square feet of Floor Area In the aggregate.
• Any "€œsecond hand"€ or "€œsurplus"€ store

In other words, we are prohibited by our "extended government" in Minneapolis from opening a neighborhood pub, or a restaurant with a lounge (which would be any high-end restaurant), or a live-music venue with an open-mic night, or a locally-owned used-book store (or a Half-Price Books, for that matter), or another martini bar.

We are prohibited from doing this in OUR OWN CITY CIVIC CENTER.

Community-type businesses, and the kind that can be locally owned, are "targeted" for exclusion, see?

Want to open an independent, locally owned coffee shop? Forget it - Target has a Starbucks inside its store; Starbucks will have a (Lover's Lane-clogging) drive-thru outside. And you won't be allowed to offer local live music in your cozy cafe, anyway. Comic and collectibles shop? Nope - that's virtually a "second-hand" store.

Neighborhood pub that you can walk to and from? No, all bars should be out where you have to drive home.

There’s more.

Target decrees that, except for "Building 3," you cannot build a two-story structure in Shoppes at Wyndham Village, contrary to Carstensen'€™s assurances that his buildings were designed for another floor if and when demand dictated. On page 22 of the document, Target slaps that notion down, hard:

No building shall exceed one (1) story (except within Building Area 3 as shown on the Site Plan, within which the building may be two (2) stories, nor the following height restrictions:

(A) On the Target Tract       -45 feet
(B) On the Developer Tract (exclusive of Building Area 3)    -25 feet
(C) Building Area 3   

    (I) Two (2) Story Building    -30 feet
    (II) Any Other Building    -26 feet

So forget the idea of efficient use of space and additional utility by putting offices above commercial. And no living quarters or apartments, either, to create eyes on the street for increased security. And the subdivision across the street's wonderful view of the Target strip mall will never, ever, be relieved by classy storefronts, nor will parking lot noise be abated by the height of handsome two-story buildings facing Drexel. Sprawl enforced.

Got a problem with that? Take it over the border to Minnesota, because we answer to them now.

What about Sendik's?

And what about Sendik's?

Well, plainly the deck is stacked against this particular store in a market that is suddenly flooded with grocery stores. It was bad enough when they were the second Sendik's in Franklin; now they're the third Sendik's in a pretty tight radius, and I have it on good authority that another Sendik's(!) will be announced just to the west of Shoppes.  I haven't even mentioned Woodman's in Oak Creek, which, as a giant, no frills warehouse-style operation, will be a monster in this market.

Add the fact that the Shoppes Sendik's is farthest from a freeway, has poor east-west access, is in a much less dense part of the region, is not pedestrian friendly, and you have tough sledding. Pile on the Target aggressor next door, and you're Mike Holmgren in Green Bay last Saturday (that is to say, eliminated).

Target will sell a great many of the same things you can get at Sendik's, up to and including refrigerated and frozen foods. On top of all the brand names under the sun, Target has an entire private label aimed at health conscious consumers called Archer Farms.  And, as any specialty grocer will tell you, you make your money on those piles of incidentals that shoppers put in their carts along with the nice cut of meat or deli item. Shoppes customers will get their incidentals at Target while picking up tube socks and sneakers.

Consider this: Target Corporate knows all of the above, and their preferred business model is to construct Target Greatlands and SuperTargets - - the Target stores that offer full-service groceries. But Franklin's retail space restrictions wouldn't allow a structure the size of a Super Target or Target Greatland.

What to do, what to do ...

Be patient, that's what. And wave big bucks in front of the developer so he creates - and clings to -  a site plan and property delineations that facilitate the long term plan (see above).

What if you built next to a grocer whose building is attached(!) to your "standard Target"? And what if the square footage of that grocer almost exactly matches the typical square footage that Target allot to groceries in its Super Target and Target Greatland locations?

So much the better if you get the builder to make the grocer's facade look pretty ... familiar.

ABOVE: Shoppes at Wyndham Village Sendik's

BELOW: Target Greatland (photo by John Reed)

If Sendik's begins to feel pressure and needs out, Carstensen will go to the Common Council and say, "You don't want an empty building there, do you? Target needs an exception to the square footage limit."

An alderman might ask: "What about Toys R Us? They want in."

Nope - "Operation and Easement Agreement," page 38, states "No toy store exceeding five thousand (5,000) square feet of Floor Area shall be permitted." Target rules - not Franklin rules.

One particular alderman might say, "You know what would solve all this, buddy? Just let Target annex the building and make a Target GreatLand."

And, bottom line, if that wasn't the plan all along, they would not have included a line in the "Operation and Easement Agreement" that says this:

Couldn't even muster the respect to spell "Sendik's" correctly, much less acknowledge Franklin UDO restriction on retail square footage that clearly prohibits a Super Target in the City Civic Center District.

Another strip mall; more chain stores; more community decay

Those of us who saw this coming are not pleased with being vindicated. Franklin continues to suffer the ills of sprawled development, now further reinforced by this huge missed opportunity:

• Lack of lively public spaces
• Underfunded local infrastructure
• Lack of connectivity
• Overburdened collector streets
• Lack of logical "city center"
• Diminishing sense of community and local identity

But the citizens of Franklin should be aware of how the Common Council was "gamed," and perhaps derive from this experience the indignation required to hold their aldermen - -all of whom tripped over themselves voting "yes" for the project - -  more closely accountable. Ask candidates for contested seats how they will attend to the details differently. And while you're at it, ask your alderman for the guest list at his last election victory party.

Then connect the dots.

Comments

[Josh Strupp]

Truly a shame, not for what Carstenson or Target has done to this part of our community but for what our comunity has done to itself. After watching this episode play out in front of our very eyes, is it no wonder that the 27th cooridor plans seem laughable to people who know better? Can you imagine how screwed up that part of our community will become as our city fights tooth and nail with Oak Creek for whatever development scraps come along along? Thanks for your hard work John. I really appreciate you're dedication to a subject that I would otherwise not be as well informed about. I know that's of little importance now but hopefully our community will think twice in the future about the developer doing whats "right" for Franklin and holding our elected officials responsible for the blind faith they've shown the developer in this instance.

I won't hold my breath though.

[Bryan Maersch]

It's a good thing some people worked to get the Target store to blend architecturally with Sendiks.

Now it will be easier for Target to turn annex Sendiks.

[John Michlig]

Let's root for Sendik's to succeed.

Hey, if the Giants can beat the Cowboys ...

[Greg Kowalski]

You know what? I have been standing opposed to the Target since Day 1, as were the residents directly across the street from the darn thing. What were we called? Elitists. Enviornmental "wack-jobs." Snobs. Anti-senior citizen. Anti-development. So-on and so-forth. Where were your objections, Bryan? Where were you during this entire process? Oh yes, rooting for the developer and your newfound friends on the Council, like you still are today.

The best we could do in the meetings we attended and held was to get a better facade so our community wouldn't be completely dumped on.

Would I have liked to see our Plan Commission and Common Council demand that Target go elsewhere? Absolutely - heck I'm on record saying that multiple times. But we couldn't get them, or the developer, to budge. Not even an inch.

So we had to settle for the next best thing - even if that's not what we truly wanted.

Is it the community's fault? To a certain degree, yes. We did elect those in City Hall that made the terrible decisions because they were bought and paid for. Hopefully we learned our lesson(s) and can move on.

History repeating itself? Oh boy.

[Bryan Maersch]

Take deep breaths Greg and let them out slowly.

Now admit it, you got fooled too!

[John Michlig]

It really comes down to APATHY. Enough people don't care about this sort of thing - until it affects their own back yard - that we'll see these sorts of projects go up for years to come unless someone at the city administration level takes the bull by the horns.

[Fred Keller]

John, you hit the nail on the head.

[Mull Mott]

Pure visual vomit. Franklin is lost. Another wasted strip mall hell. Extra minus points for using the word "Shoppes".