Furniture store finds a buyer

By Jennifer Eisenbart

Editor

An iconic downtown Burlington building will likely have a new owner next week.

The Schuette-Daniels Furniture building, which has sat empty since April when a fire devastated the business, is expected to be sold to Shad and Kristine Branen.

The scheduled sale closing is Monday.

The Daniels family made the decision not to re-open the furniture store in early September, roughly five months after the fire caused well over $1 million in damages when considering the buildings and inventory.

Matt Daniels, the store’s owner, said Tuesday the pending sale is a relief.

“All I can say is that we’re very happy with what has taken place,” Daniels said. “My folks are relieved that we were able to sell the building.

“I think we’re very happy that it’s being used.”

The building has had a long history in Burlington, opening in 1929. Matt Daniels’s parents – owned the furniture store and the funeral home until 2007, when Matt Daniels bought both businesses. Matt had been involved in the businesses since 1977.

The City of Burlington has been involved in discussions regarding the future of the building, said Mayor Bob Miller, because of its location in the Historic Preservation District.

“Without the HPC approval, you can’t just tear it down,” Miller explained Tuesday. “I’m glad to see that someone’s come forward and will try to restore it to what it was.”

Shad Branen, who also owns and operates the Plaza Theater in Burlington, wouldn’t comment on the purchase price on Tuesday, but confirmed the planned sale and the closing date.

“There’s a lot of potential for a building that’s truly in the heart of Burlington,” Branen said.

The building, with the exception of a small portion where the fire originated, is structurally sound, Branen said. The only portion that will be demolished is half of the smaller of the two buildings.

That area will be converted to a green space, and Branen said the rest of the space will be repaired and reworked.

“Obviously, it will require extensive remodeling,” said Branen, who expected that the demolition of the back half of the smaller building would happen very quickly.

Branen said the insides will be gutted, with some demolition taking place inside. The rest of the project is in a conceptual phase.

He envisioned a multiple-use building, with offices, retail, services and apartments.

Plaza Theater will use none of that space.

“It’s pretty close,” said Shad, adding that he was taking pictures of the fire that night from the top of the theater.

For the retail, “we’re going to make every effort to make a mix of retail.” WIN Media – Branen’s primary business – will relocate its office and video production studio there as well.

He is also considering an incubator concept – office space designed for very small businesses that are looking to launch or have very limited staff.

The incubator spaces would share common facilities like a conference room, bathrooms, and a kitchen.

Branen admitted that he is concerned about the open retail space currently in Burlington, and the fact that a planned retail development at Chestnut and Dodge streets has yet to come to fruition.

“The advantage here is that we’ll have the flexibility of developing the space to a tenant’s needs,” Branen said.

He was reluctant to put a timeline on the project.

“We’ll start development as soon as possible … but it’s hard to say when construction would actually start,” Branen explained.

There is about 20,000 square feet of office space, and Branen said he and his wife are working with the Racine County Economic Development Corporation as well as city staff.

“We want to keep the look and feel of the building as historical as possible,” Branen said.