The Grain in downtown Delafield grows with four new tenants, including two food businesses

DELAFIELD - A long-planned mass timber development that finally took root in 2022 has branched into four new tenants, including two eateries and another with a focus on women's fashions.

Brunch Delafield, Nona Nutrition and Velvet & Tulle Boutique will occupy new spaces at The Grain, 705 N. Genesee St., a two-building commercial development along Main Street planned in 2017 but constructed five years later.

"We’re excited to welcome these businesses to The Grain," said Rob Gerbitz, president and CEO ofBeloit-based Hendricks Commercial Properties, which initially proposed a larger building that was later scaled back. "This is a unique space for these tenants, and we’re eager for the impact they’ll make in downtown Delafield."

Here's what the new tenants offer

In a news release announcing the new tenants, each of which is expected to open sometime in 2024, Hendricks Commercial said each business offers something different than is typically seen locally.

Brunch Delafield is described as a full-service, breakfast and lunch restaurant with a trendy twist. Traditional breakfast items get an "upscale" treatment to go along with classic favorites. Three other locations — in Milwaukee, Brookfield and Cedarburg — already exist. The Delafield location is the second franchised operation.

Nona Nutrition is both a health store, selling specialized groceries and nutritional supplements, and a café, with an organic foods menu that includes acai smoothie bowls, smoothies and coffee drinks.

Velvet & Tulle Boutique, based in Janesville, is a women’s store stocked with clothing, jewelry, shoes and accessories, plus home décor items. According to the boutique's website, the business also welcomes women to trade in old denim items for newer denim clothing.

A fourth tenant, RBC Wealth Management, provides financial planning, investment advice and other services to individuals, families and businesses. According to its website, the firm currently leases space roughly one block away on Wells Street.

They join Synthetaic and Midwest Insurance Group, two businesses that signed leases earlier.

The Grain development plan evolved over time

Built on the site of a former BP gas station, The Grain took some time to grow, in part due to design changes necessitated by city codes and in part to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

The $25 million development, designed by architectural firm Johnson Design Inc., initially was foreseen as a single five-story 107,147-square-foot building. That plan also included apartments in a more broadly mixed-use concept.

Eventually, the plan was reconceived as four-story, two-building site, with 60,000 square feet of office space, 18,000 square feet of retail space and 125 parking spaces. Apartments were dropped from the final proposal.

What was notably retained was the architectural design: mass timber construction. It's a building concept that combines wood panels and beams to create a structure which proponents say results in a more environmentally friendly building. A major Milwaukee project, The Edison, used the same approach, also in 2022.

The Brunch Delafield will operate in the east building. The other three new tenants will open in the west building.

Contact reporter Jim Riccioli at (262) 446-6635 or [email protected]. Follow him on X at @jariccioli.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Restaurant one of four new businesses coming to The Grain in Delafield