Greentree Centre (Caledonia, Wisconsin)

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Greentree Centre
Map
General information
TypeShopping center
Location5005-5141 Douglas Avenue
Caledonia, Wisconsin
Coordinates42°47′12″N 87°48′30″W / 42.78671°N 87.80845°W / 42.78671; -87.80845Coordinates: 42°47′12″N 87°48′30″W / 42.78671°N 87.80845°W / 42.78671; -87.80845
Construction started1989
OpeningMay 20, 1990
OwnerPhillips Edison & Company
Design and construction
DeveloperMSI General Corporation

Greentree Centre is a shopping center at the northeast corner of Douglas Avenue and 4 Mile Road in Caledonia, Wisconsin. Built between 1989 and 1991, the center's main anchor was Kmart store #3851 from 1991 to 2019. The center is also anchored by Pick 'n Save #378, which opened in 2003, replacing a Kohl's Food Emporium that had opened in 1990, and Walgreens #6243. The shopping center is connected to The Parkview Senior Living Community to the north and Crawford Park to the east.

History[edit | edit source]

The property that is now Greentree Centre was the eastern part of the Buresh family farm, as shown in property maps from 1893 and 1930.[1][2]

After opening its first Racine store on the southwest side of the city in 1976, Kmart Corporation confirmed in April 1979 that it was considering opening a second location in the city.[3] In November of that year, Kmart stated that it was working with Vestcor, a development firm based in Austin, Texas on the potential new store. Vestcor had an option on nine acres of land at the northeast corner of Douglas Avenue and 4 Mile Road in Caledonia, just north of the city of Racine, and it planned to build a shopping center on the site, which would contain a 72,900-square-foot (6,770 m2) Kmart store as well as a 26,000-square-foot (2,400 m2) supermarket. The shopping center was intended to open in fall 1980,[4] but Vestcor's option expired without any further action.

M&I Bank purchased two acres of land on the same corner, and announced in March 1985 that it would build a bank branch at the site.[5] The branch opened in December 1985.[6] In January 1989, it was reported that MSI General Corporation was planning to develop a shopping center around the M&I Bank branch, which was to include a Kohl's Sav-a-Center supermarket.[7] Kohl's ultimately opened Kohl's Food Emporium, a 31,500-square-foot (2,930 m2) supermarket advertised as "the first of its kind in the Kohl's chain", on May 20, 1990.[8] Later in 1990, MSI began construction on several new retail spaces north of the Kohl's building, and the development was given the name Greentree Centre.[9] Kmart, which had previously considered the same site for a north Racine store in 1979, announced in September 1990 that it would become the primary anchor store of Greentree Centre.[10]

Kmart #3851 opened at Greentree Centre on May 20, 1991, with a grand opening ceremony on May 23.[11] Businesses began to open in the eight smaller retail spaces between Kmart and Kohl's, including Walgreens on August 19, 1991, Radio Shack and Cost Cutters around the same time, and National Cleaners and Cousins Subs in September.[12] An outlying building was built in 1993 to house a Blockbuster Video store, Blockbuster #55008.[13] Another outlying building was built for McDonald's #15445, which opened February 13, 1995.

As early as 1998, Walgreens planned to move out of the strip mall and into a new building that would replace the M&I Bank branch at the corner of Douglas Avenue and 4 Mile Road.[14] All Saints Medical Group opened a clinic along 4 Mile Road in the center in May 1999,[15] near the site that M&I planned to move its branch to. By June 2000, MSI was actively negotiating with Walgreens and M&I, with plans to construct a new building for M&I next door to the new Walgreens.[14] M&I's new building, directly east of its former location along 4 Mile Road, held a grand opening beginning on July 2, 2001.[16] Walgreens' last day in the strip mall location was March 22, 2002, and the new corner building opened the following morning at 8 a.m.[17] Kohl's Food Stores closed all three of its Racine locations in August 2003,[18] and the Greentree Centre location was replaced by a Pick 'n Save supermarket, which opened on December 2, 2003. A Racine County assistant district attorney told the Racine Journal Times that she would prefer to shop at the new store, where she would be less likely to encounter people she had previously prosecuted than at the Rapids Plaza Pick 'n Save.[19]

The former Walgreens space in the Greentree strip mall was split into two new retail spaces, one of which was filled by a Papa Murphy's pizza shop that opened in the spring of 2005.[20] Douglas Avenue Diner, a 1950s-themed diner, was opened by Tom and Fran Tohovitis in the other half of the former Walgreens space on March 5, 2007.[21]

The center's Blockbuster Video location, the last in Racine County, abruptly closed in July 2011.[22] The vacant outlying building at 5055 Douglas Avenue, which formerly housed Blockbuster, was used as the site of a temporary seasonal Spirit Halloween store in the fall of 2017.[23] Phillips Edison & Company, the owners of Greentree Centre, split the building into three retail spaces in 2019.[24] U.S. Cellular opened a location in one of these spaces in June 2020.[25]

The Kmart store closed on December 15, 2019, leaving the center's primary anchor space vacant.

Tenants[edit | edit source]

2408 4 Mile Road[edit | edit source]

2440 4 Mile Road[edit | edit source]

5005 Douglas Avenue[edit | edit source]

5055 Douglas Avenue[edit | edit source]

5111 Douglas Avenue[edit | edit source]

5121 Douglas Avenue[edit | edit source]

  • Walgreens, opened August 19, 1991, moved to 5005 Douglas Avenue on March 22, 2002

Space 011[edit | edit source]

  • Papa Murphy's, opened 2005

Space 007[edit | edit source]

  • Douglas Avenue Diner, opened March 5, 2007

5125 Douglas Avenue[edit | edit source]

5131 Douglas Avenue[edit | edit source]

Space 001[edit | edit source]

  • Nail Express

Space 002[edit | edit source]

Space 003[edit | edit source]

  • Greentree Cleaners

Space 004[edit | edit source]

Space 005[edit | edit source]

  • King's Wok

Space 006[edit | edit source]

5133 Douglas Avenue[edit | edit source]

5141 Douglas Avenue[edit | edit source]

  • Kmart #3851, opened May 20, 1991, closed December 15, 2019

References[edit | edit source]

  1. "Map Drawing - East End of Racine County - 1893", racinecounty.net
  2. Racine County Map Book, 1930, racinecounty.net
  3. "Business Briefs: K mart considers 2nd site", Racine Journal Times, April 24, 1979, page 5E.
  4. "Option taken for 2nd K mart site", Racine Journal Times, November 9, 1979, page 1D.
  5. Pfankuchen, David. "Business Bits", Racine Journal Times, March 25, 1985, page 5B.
  6. Pfankuchen, David. "Business Today: M&I Opens Branch", Racine Journal Times, December 18, 1985, page 5B.
  7. "Kohl's plans to build new Caledonia store", Racine Journal Times, January 14, 1989, page 3A.
  8. "New Kohl's, new service", Racine Journal Times, May 18, 1990, page 6B.
  9. "Taking shape", Racine Journal Times, August 7, 1990, page 10A.
  10. Merisalo, Laura J. "K mart under construction", Racine Journal Times, September 20, 1990, page 10A.
  11. Holley, Paul J. "It's the 'blue light special': New and improved Kmart to open Monday in Caledonia", Racine Journal Times, May 18, 1991, page 3A.
  12. Daykin, Tom. "Greentree almost full", Racine Journal Times, August 16, 1991, page 1D.
  13. Holley, Paul J. "WBBM demand may force Chicago station from cable: Busy in Caledonia", Racine Journal Times, August 15, 1993, page 6A.
  14. 14.0 14.1 Burke, Michael. "Business Matters: Planned Walgreens move getting complicated", Racine Journal Times, June 4, 2000.
  15. Advertisement, Racine Journal Times, March 30, 1999, page 18.
  16. Advertisement, Racine Journal Times, June 17, 2001, page 5D.
  17. "In Brief: Walgreens store getting new location", Racine Journal Times, March 13, 2002, page 8A.
  18. Burke, Michael. "Kohl's grocery stores to close", Racine Journal Times, June 14, 2003.
  19. Burke, Mick. "Pick 'n Save opens in Caledonia", Racine Journal Times, December 3, 2003.
  20. Burke, Michael. "Housing cluster aims to bless Gideon area", Racine Journal Times, March 16, 2005.
  21. Burke, Michael. "Diner has retro look and solid-gold menu", Racine Journal Times, March 7, 2007.
  22. Burke, Michael. "Blockbuster closes last Racine store", Racine Journal Times, July 20, 2011.
  23. Lieffring, Christina. "Former Blockbuster site getting into spirit of the season", Racine Journal Times, October 3, 2017.
  24. Rogan, Adam. "Established developer eyes former Blockbuster on Douglas", Racine Journal Times, July 8, 2019.
  25. "Connect Cell/U.S. Cellular Has Relocated To 4 Mile & Douglas Ave!" advertisement, Caledonia Patch, June 4, 2020.
  26. Fiori, Lindsay. "M&I Banks becoming BMO Harris in October", Racine Journal Times, September 28, 2012.

External links[edit | edit source]