Restaurant chain will open on former Neenah Shopko site; other tenants in the works

NEENAH - Noodles & Company will open a restaurant on a new lot in front of the former Neenah Shopko at 699 S. Green Bay Road.

It's the first tenant announced for the redevelopment of the Shopko property, to which the city committed $950,000 in redevelopment assistance.

"It's certainly a restaurant that is complementary to what we currently have out there," said Brad Schmidt, Neenah's deputy director of community development and assessment. "It's not necessarily similar to any of the surrounding restaurants, so I think it's a good thing for the area."

The development will be the franchise's third restaurant in the Fox Cities. The other two are at 4333 Wisconsin Ave. in Grand Chute and at 3719 E. Calumet St. in Appleton. Oshkosh has a Noodles & Company at 1560 S. Koeller St.

The Neenah Noodles & Company will be located at the northeast corner of the property, according to the site plan submitted to the city. The 2,250-square-foot restaurant will include a drive-through service lane on the north side of the building, a patio on the east side and off-street parking on the south side.

Phil Langohr, developer of the property, said construction is scheduled to begin this year. The work will improve access to the McDonald's restaurant located at the southeast corner of the site.

Langohr said a tenant has been signed for the north section of the former Shopko building, but he declined to identify the tenant Monday morning.

"It'll be made known pretty quickly," he told The Post-Crescent.

A Planet Fitness sign was placed on the building later in the day.

Shopko went bankrupt in 2019 and closed all of its stores.

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Another development is planned farther south on Green Bay Road.

Russ Darrow Direct Sales and Service intends to relocate to the former Mighty Auto Sales property at 988 S. Green Bay Road. The lease for the dealership's current location at 4400 W. College Ave. in Grand Chute wasn't renewed.

Chad Kemnitz, owner of Professional Consultants Inc., said Russ Darrow Direct hopes to complete the move by Aug. 1.

"They definitely wanted to stay in the Fox Valley," Kemnitz said. "With the tight timeline, they found this building, and they're excited to move."

The 4.2-acre property is zoned for commercial use, but a special-use permit is required because Mighty Auto Sales vacated the site more than a year ago.

Russ Darrow Direct sells about 55 vehicles and handles about 340 service customers per month, according to a plan of operation presented to the city Plan Commission. It employs 42 people.

"We will run this operation the same as our other 14 franchised dealerships, and our expectations of the organization and cleanliness of the facility are always a priority," the plan said.

Used Treads tire store, 988 S. Green Bay Road, will continue to operate from the site, but as a condition of the special-use permit, semitrailers used for storage must be removed, and no outdoor storage of tires or auto parts will be permitted.

Contact Duke Behnke at 920-993-7176 or dbehnke@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @DukeBehnke.