WAUWATOSA, Wis. – A former landfill dubbed Mount Tosa might get new life as an industrial building or perhaps as a two-story driving range by an Elm Grove developer who has long had eyes on the 18-acre site.
Wauwatosa officials have been negotiating an offer to purchase a lot by Luther Group Acquisition, LLC since late May. Members of Wauwatosa’s Community Development Authority discussed the offer in closed session Sept. 19 before ending the hour-long meeting without making any official decisions. The group will reconvene Oct. 24 to discuss the offer.
A second proposal is on the table for the site. Tosa Golf would be a two-story driving range with dining, a bar, event space and a pro shop.
Chris Trudeau, who owns Walters’ on North, proposed the golf business at the CDA’s June 20 meeting. That was the same meeting the CDA first discussed the Luther Group’s offer to purchase the parcel.
Tosa Golf would have more than 50 golf bays, each heated for use in all seasons.
Trudeau said he’s moving forward with plans for the project despite the current negotiations between the city and Luther Group and having not yet made his own offer to purchase. He wants to explore bringing pickleball into the plans and will meet with a landfill expert.
“I’m going to keep working on it, keep refining it, as long as there’s a chance of me being able to do it,” Trudeau told the Journal Sentinel. “I’d like to be ready in case the other thing falls through.”
This is the second proposal in over five years the Luther Group has submitted for the vacant land.
The CDA made a request for proposals in 2019, at which time the development firm proposed plans for a warehouse.
But after closed-session discussions, the CDA ultimately rejected both the Luther Group’s proposal and the proposed warehousing industrial project of Wangard Partners Inc. Members at the time said they would continue to consider proposals for the parcel, which is zoned M1, or “Light Industrial.”
Luther Group’s latest proposal for a speculative industrial building is similar to the proposal the group submitted in 2019.
Jason Luther, founder of Luther Group, told members of the CDA in a meeting May 30 that vacancy rates for industrial space in the metro area are very low. With speculative buildings, he added, tenants are often identified for the space by the time construction is complete.
Luther Group proposal at Mount Tosa stirs up reminders of approved apartment development at Wauwatosa and North avenues that’s stalled
Before the CDA went into closed session Sept. 19, Ald. Joseph Makhlouf voiced his opposition to the proposal during public comment, referring to a separate Luther Group housing project at Wauwatosa and North avenues that has stalled.
Luther Group was approved in 2022 to build the Cornerstone Village Wauwatosa, a five-story apartment development that would serve people with disabilities. That project was approved for a Planned Unit Development approval extension in a Community Affairs Meeting in May.
At that meeting, Jason Luther attributed the delays to the economy and the firm’s Brookfield-based partner Ablelight dropping from the project.
In the CDA meeting, Luther responded to Makhlouf’s concerns, saying the firm will have updates on the project soon.
“We’re all frustrated with the progress there,” Luther said.