Loehmann’s Plaza Owner Buys Mall In Milwaukee For $16.5 Million

The owner of Loehmann’s Seaport Plaza, who is currently trying to expand the Emmons Avenue property to overcome what he says are financial hardships created by Superstorm Sandy, just doled out $16.5 million for a struggling mall in Milwaukee.

Alex Levin, the owner of Loehmann’s at 2027 Emmons Avenue, was identified last week as the top bidder on Shops of Grand Avenue, a 298,109-square-foot mall in the city’s downtown area  – shutting out a local nonprofit that hoped to turn it into a community space for higher educational institutions to collaborate and offer programming.

The mall had gone to auction following a foreclosure, as its previous owner struggled, like many malls, to retain national retail tenants. Levin confirmed to the Milwaukee Business Journal that he was the top bidder, using an anonymous LLC called Grand Avenue Mall LLC, which shares its address with Loehmann’s Seaport Plaza.

“We do want to bring new life to this mall,” he told the outlet, but declined to elaborate.

Levin made the steal after a bidding war in the auction’s final moments, climbing by $100,000 increments from $15 million to a final total of $16.5 million.

The group that had hoped to revitalize the mall for community purposes, WAM DC LCC, had won approval from the city’s economic development corporation to receive up to $20 million in city-backed bonding before it was out-bid. The idea for a collaborative space, spurred on by a similar successful project in Phoenix, was regarded as a key component to the downtown area’s renewal efforts. WAM’s proposal was called the “most vocal hometown interest in the property” by the Milwaukee Business Journal.