West Bend, Wi – The West Bend Plan Commission meeting is Tuesday, October 4, 2022 and one item on the agenda talks about site plans for the construction of 2,400 square-foot restaurant located in front of the building at 1690-1760 S. Main Street, by Corta West Bend LLC.
The restaurant is a Taco John’s, which follows the same plan Corta Development took in Fond du Lac, WI when it leased the former Shopko space on Johnson Street.
A couple notes on the submitted plan:
DINING AREA: 46 occupancy
KITCHEN AREA: 6 occupancy
TOTAL NUMBER OF OCCUPANTS FOR THE BUILDING = 52 OCC.
(TOTAL OCCUPANCY INCLUDING EXTERIOR SEATING = 68 OCC.)
The site plan is located at the northwest corner of W. Paradise Drive and S. Main Street. Corta Development has submitted a “master site plan” proposing improvements to the parking lot areas at 1690-1760 S. Main Street.
The “master site plan” also includes a proposed development of a “future coffee shop with drive-thru only tenant.” That would be located in the parking lot to the east of Hobby Lobby. Plans show a double drive-thru but a bit larger store footprint than when Mountain Mudd was in West Bend on Highway 33. Remember that old Kodak store remodel…
So far, the name of the proposed coffee shop hasn’t been released. The shop making the most noise lately in Washington County is Scooters. It was set to open in Slinger, however word is now a Scooters may open in Hartford on Sumner Street. Stay tuned.
The improvements identified on the site plan include installing two water laterals and a sanitary sewer lateral to serve the development of two commercial lots along S. Main Street.
Landscape islands will be constructed within the large parking lot east of the main building to redefine the end drive aisle and the grades will be adjusted to provide drainage around those islands. Two access driveways will be constructed on the north and south sides of the private main entrance from S. Main Street.
The parking lot will be resurfaced and was previously approved for the development. Pavement markings and signage will need to be installed to define the traffic patterns and be consistent with the traffic impact analysis.
A traffic impact analysis has been submitted for the developments and has been reviewed by the City Engineer. Review comments have been distributed to the Developer and their consultant for revisions. The final findings of the traffic impact analysis may impact the needed improvements to the site and public roads.
If additional improvements are required and impact the public right of way, a developer’s agreement will be necessary for the completion of those required improvements.
Staff would recommend approval with the following conditions:
1. Approval of a traffic impact analysis by the City Engineer.
2. Prior to the installation of the underground utilities, plumbing permits shall be obtained.
3. Parking lot resurfacing, pavement markings and traffic signage shall be completed.
4. Approval of a Developer’s Agreement pertaining to any public improvements required by the traffic impact analysis.
5. Revision to the site plan to incorporate the requirements of the approved traffic impact analysis.
It was December 12, 2021 when WashingtonCountyInsider.com first floated the idea about whether Corta Development out of Orlando, Florida would use the same gameplan with West Bend’s Shopko as it had with other stores in Fond du Lac and Sheboygan Counties.
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The rumor at the time was BigLots! and by January 2022 confirmation came about five Below and HomeGoods also securing a spot on S. Main Street.
Corta Development leased the former Shopko space on Johnson Street in Fond du Lac, WI to a pair of big box retailers.
Jim Cleveland, Vice President of Economic Development with Envision Greater Fond du Lac, said he started working with Corta Development a couple years ago.
“Corta Development has been a great partner to work with,” said Cleveland. “Their development to purchase and repurpose the old Shopko building has really been important because it’s taken one of these vacant big box stores, which are extremely hard to repurpose, and it brought in more retail options for our community.”
Aside from splitting the Shopko space in Fond du Lac, WI with new tenants Big Lots and Hobby Lobby, a new Taco John’s restaurant was constructed in the out lot on W. Johnson Street.
“For Fond du Lac and the City of Fond du Lac it’s another piece to a development barrage that’s been going on in the West Johnson Street corridor,” said Cleveland. “When you look at the Forest Mall redevelopment and look at some of the new restaurants moving in, it’s really been a big, big plus for our community.”
As far as the breakdown of the former Shopko in Fond du Lac, the size of the building, according to Cleveland is about 86,000 square feet. Big Lots will take up a small section on the east endcap while Hobby Lobby will occupy a significantly larger space.
“Yes, there’s a lot of online shopping but at the end of the day having options for citizens to go to locally, still has a lot of relevance,” Cleveland said. “There is a significant amount of people that still like going to physical store locations. The community is extremely excited about both Big Lots and Hobby Lobby coming to town.”
Questioned whether any other big box stores were in the mix with the former Shopko building in Fond du Lac, Cleveland said he “could not speak to that.”
“From conversations I have had with other development firms, other commercial brokers, there’s a lot of retail restaurants looking at, not only Fond du Lac, but I would suspect this whole area from Washington County up through Winnebago County,” he said. “There’s just been a lot of activity with retailers and restaurants looking at this area of the state of Wisconsin right now.”
The West Bend Plan Commission meets at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, October 4 in the council chambers at West Bend City Hall, 1115 S. Main Street. The meeting is open to the public.
This is a working story, and more information will be posted when details become available.