Chipotle vs Qdoba - Milton Ave Rivals

Forget McDonald's and Burger King or Taco Bell and Taco Johns - there's a new rivalry in town! With the increasing popularity of the FAST CASUAL restaurant, Milton Avenue is adding yet another to the line up. The grand opening for Chipotle Mexican Grill (Chipotle), located at 3515 Milton Ave next to the NEW Diamond Center, is slated for a June 18, 2015 OPENING.  

You may know that Chipotle is a chain of restaurants specializing in

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burritos and tacos. Its name drives from chipotle, the Nahuatl name for a smoked and dried jalapeno chili pepper. The company mission statement, Food with Integrity, highlights its efforts in using organic ingredients, and their restaurants serve more naturally raised meat than any other restaurant chain. Chipotle is said to be one of the first chains of fast casual dining establishments. 

Construction at new Culver's site!

Why all the FUSS over Festival Foods?

Courtesy of Isthmus.com

Since the rumors started circulating about Festival Foods coming to the former Kmart site, all I've heard is, “ANOTHER grocery store?” I know, I know. I've done the rundown of all the grocers in Janesville so let’s review them together: we have Woodman's, Walmart, Sam's Club, Target, Schnuck's, Sentry, Piggly Wiggly, Pick N Save, Basics, and Aldi. Am I forgetting anyone???

LEASED: 2747 Milwaukee Rd

Beloit wings fans, rejoice! Our sales associate Mandy Witt, representing the landlord, has brokered a 10-year lease with Buffalo Wild Wings in Beloit. Adam Dreier of Mid-America Real Estate represented the tenant.

REBLOG: What is Fast Casual Food?

"Fast casual is THE THING, but it’s surprisingly hard to define what it is exactly. What makes fast casual food fast casual—and not simply fast food? And at what point do we draw the line between fast casual places and the likes of Applebee’s, which have table service, but also takeout? The answer might simply depend on whom you ask."

Read the rest here!

#FeaturedListingFriday - 1810 Sutler Ave

Retail/Office Space for Lease - 1810 Sutler Ave, Beloit, WI

Space available from 980 SF to 4,500 SF in Beloit's Morgan Square shopping center located on the Milwaukee Rd corridor. Visible from both Milwaukee Rd and Cranston Rd with a traffic count of 17,100 VPD on Cranston. Co-tenants include Dollar Tree, GNC, Sherwin Williams, Concordia University, Allstate, and Rogan Shoes. Great setting with lots of retailers and restaurants close by!

Click here for more information.

#FeaturedListingFriday - 2085 Morse St

Retail Space for Lease - 2085 Morse St, Janesville, WI

1,500 sf inline space available in new 5,100 sf strip center just off a controlled intersection with Milton Ave, Janesville's main commercial corridor, and extremely close to an I-90/39 interchange.
Lease rate is $24.00 psf, NNN (est. $6.90 psf) for gray shell finish. 

Merry Christmas From the Family

Courtesy of www.stockvault.net

The boxes are back underneath the basement stairway. Decorations tucked away for another year and the credit card bill is due. As I reflect over the years of my youth distant holiday seasons seemed so simple. As family scatters, expands, and unfortunately contracts, it gets a bit more complicated – or so it seems to me.

The Shoe Store’s Closed!

It is July and time for our annual escape/vacation to the north woods in my home state of Michigan. As penance for spending most of that time in the middle of trout streams I accompany my wife on a shopping trip to Gaylord, a large town about thirty minutes away. It is near the I-75 freeway and a commercial hub similar to the Janesville/Beloit market. All the big boxes are there along with a quaint downtown with small shops.

Years ago, when it was the trendy thing to do, Gaylord themed its downtown architecture to become an Alpine village. Seems a bit hokey these days, but in the scheme of things they actually pulled if off pretty well. They have a very successful festival, Alpenfest, and even convinced some of the national retailers to adopt the Alpine theme within their new store’s façade. It has been the Alpine Village for as long as I can remember.

Beauty is as Beauty Does

Curb appeal. Most of us have sold a house in our life time and know full well the importance of appearance from street level. After all, a home purchase is largely an emotional one. So what about commercial real estate? How important is appearance in a decision process driven largely by bottom line considerations?

We’ve got good news and not so good news. Which do you want first?

Author Randyl Drummer at Costar in his article “Déjà vu All Over Again? CRE Whipsaws Up and Down in Face of Economic Uncertainty” delivers the good news first followed by disappointing outlooks from the private sector.

Our own experience kind of echoes the whipsaw reference you will see in Drummer’s story. We saw a strong first quarter with big announcements about future medical projects, the opening of the new St. Mary’s hospital at the tail end of 2011 and strong absorption of vacant industrial space. Then things went kind of quiet and now at the end of the 3^rd quarter we are seeing retail beginning to pick up a bit. One national chain has committed to Beloit and several are giving Janesville a hard look.

On the housing front, a check in with my colleague Randy Borman at Century 21 delivered some surprising good news to those of us who dwell in the commercial real estate orbit. Home sales are up along with values. Now that is good news!

Please click here for the full article.

A Taco Truck & a Tale of Two Eras

First, a confession - my wife and I are avid viewers of The Food Network. And, drool when we see shows featuring entrepreneurs serving some of the most decadent dishes that I have ever seen out of food trucks. Embarrassingly, we refer to it as food porn.