Plans to Fill Vacant Blockbuster Will Move Forward Soon

The DVDs and shelves of rentals are gone from the Blockbuster Video on Appleton Avenue, and in their place is an empty 7,400-square-foot vacancy at a prominent location in the Falls Crossing Shopping Center.

But after a brief hiatus in the approval process with the village, O’Reilly Auto Supply could be ready to continue moving forward with plans to set up shop at N84W15700 Appleton Ave. within the next few weeks.

Mark Brickman, a landlord with Falls Crossing, said the real estate committee with O’Reilly has yet to approve the terms of the deal negotiated between the shopping center and the company. Brickman said approval of the deal by the O’Reilly real estate committee delayed the plans from moving further.

“We’re in the approval process with O’Reilly. They’ve told us that they’d like to move forward with the village, but they aren’t going to until they’ve approved (the deal) in their home office,” Brickman said. “We’ve negotiated the basic terms of deal and are waiting for their real estate committee to approve the terms of the deal negotiated.”

Brickman said the final deal will likely be inked within the next few weeks and they will resume the approval process with the village.

Representatives with O’Reilly were going through all the approval processes with the village to fill Blockbuster’s vacancy — even before Blockbuster had vacated. They were set to appear before the Plan Commission earlier this month for approval of their exterior signage, which was essentially the only change to the location.

However, the approval process stalled in March.

About week before the signage meeting was set occur, Sandy Golden, a broker representing O’Reilly sent the village a letter stating that plans would need to be placed on the back burner.

“Unfortunately, O’Reilly would like for us to put the public hearing and all approvals for this location on hold,” Golden stated in the letter. “We are hopeful that this tenant will move forward soon, but for the moment they need us to step back.”

A real estate representative with O’Reilly could not comment on any updates regarding the Menomonee Falls location. However, Brickman is optimistic they will know more about the deal in the next few weeks.

According to a letter received by the village in March from S&H Company, which owns Falls Crossing, potential tenants for Blockbuster’s vacancy was limited. S&H was anxious to secure a stable tenant like O’Reilly’s because there are a limited number of businesses that can fill a 7,400-square-foot space, and they didn’t want a vacancy of that size in such a prominent position in the village.