UPDATE: If the $1 price seemed to good to be true, that’s because it is. Coldwell Banker, the Milwaukee Mall’s realtor, contacted us to clarify the claims made on the listing we linked. A broker told us $1 is the starting price per square foot to lease space in the mall. The property can be purchased for $2,000,000. Milwaukee Record regrets this error. The original article can be read in all its embarrassing inaccuracy below.
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If you’re still kicking yourself for missing out on the auction where the Johnson’s Park dinosaur sold for just $11 (not including transport costs) last year, we’ve found another deal that might be up your alley. Got a buck? If so, you could own your very own shopping mall.
That’s right, the Milwaukee Mall is currently for sale, and its asking price is only $1. The 216,000-square foot shopping center at 2100 W. North Avenue originally opened as a Sears department store in 1927, which stood at the corner property until 1981. The space was revived in the mid-1990s as the Milwaukee Mall. Since it opened, the indoor marketplace has been home to a variety of small retailers in its 37 first-floor stalls. WUWM visited the struggling mall in January and got to know some of the tenants, including a clothing retailer, a shirt-presser, and the manager of a U-Haul satellite.
Though all reports indicate the commercial space isn’t thriving at the moment, some businesses remain in the building that’s been called “Milwaukee’s biggest discount mall.” The listing admits the property is in need of “some TLC,” but the mall’s three above-ground floors, basement, and usable roof offer prospective buyers limitless potential…as long as they can handle the asking price (and $15,000 estimated annual property tax).
It isn’t every day that a 216,000-square foot mall can be yours for the price of a double cheeseburger, so if you have a dollar and a dream, here’s your chance.