A look at Milwaukee's first Sears store, which developer plans to turn into offices, brewery, more

Editor's note: This story was first published in 2020. It was tinkered with in August 2023 to reflect changes in the project.

A mixed-use development proposed for Milwaukee's north side is the latest chapter for one of the city's storied retail destinations.

The building targeted by developer Kalan Haywood for redevelopment was built as the home of Milwaukee's first Sears store at 2100 W. North Ave.

Under Haywood's latest proposal, the former Sears site would be turned into a mix of uses, including a craft brewery, an events venue, an art gallery, office space and housing. Under the developer's original 2020 proposal, the property was to be turned into an Ikon hotel with a restaurant and bar in the lobby; a rooftop lounge; co-working and retail space at street level; and a new conference center with banquet and meeting space.

When it was first built, the property, then known as Sears, Roebuck & Co., had just as much going on.

The $1 million Sears store opened its doors on Sept. 10, 1927. The location, at Fond du Lac and North avenues, was "a thriving business corner of the city, and the establishment of the $1 million retail department store there is expected to bring much more business to that part of the city," The Milwaukee Journal wrote in a special advertorial section published the same day as the store's debut.

1930: The Sears Roebuck and Co. story at 2100 W. North Ave., at West Fond du Lac Avenue, dominated its bustling commercial neighborhood after it opened in September 1927. This Milwaukee Journal photo, filed in January 1930, shows the store towering over the intersection, with a streetcar heading east on North Avenue and a police officer directing traffic.

The day the store opened, The Journal reported, "vast crowds surged and milled about the three main entrances of the new store," ahead of a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by Wisconsin Gov. Fred Zimmerman and Sears executives including Chairman Julius Rosenwald.

"Our decision to come to Milwaukee was prompted by the conviction that this city is going to grow very rapidly, and that it possesses splendid opportunities," Rosenwald told The Journal in a Sept. 11, 1927, story.

And for Sears, it did. The Sears at Fond du Lac and North was the go-to department store for generations of Milwaukeeans in the area. (Other Sears stores followed, about 10 in all in the Milwaukee area.)

But with changing retail fortunes, Sears closed its store at Fond du Lac and North in 1981.

1982: Developer and real estate investor Harley Rubin stands at the foot of the escalator in the former Sears store at 2100 W. North Ave. in this January 1982 photo. Rubin purchased the property on a $428,000 land contract from Sears. This photo was published in the Jan. 12, 1982, Milwaukee Sentinel.

Local developer Harley Rubin sought to revive the three-story building by converting it into Fondy Mall, a multi-tenant shopping center. The mall, which opened in March 1982, closed later that year.

Since then, other local owners have tried to keep the building going as a retail concern, even after some city officials endorsed a proposal for a rival project by developer Frank P. Crivello on the property, while others proposed a new children's court center for the site.

1982: A shop inside Fondy Mall, in the former Sears store at Fond du Lac and North avenues, has a sign saying the mall is closing for remodeling. This photo was published in the Jan. 2, 1983, Milwaukee Journal.