Volume 2 - Issue 12 - Circulation 3,500 Week of 3.19.09 to 3.26.09

MADISON - 3/25/2009 - Whether Monona Terrace needs another hotel serving it has been a topic of debate almost from the day its first connected hotel, a 240-room Hilton, opened in 2001. Those talks slowed over the last year as the city commissioned a study to see whether that demand for a hotel was fact or fiction. The final report, which calls for a 400-room hotel within walking distance and preferably connected to Monona Terrace, emerged just weeks ago and was accepted by the City Council at its March 17 meeting...

Ken Notes: I am still strongly in the yes column here. I have been to several conventions in Milwaukee just because Madison was to small. Business may be slow, but now is a great time to plan for a brighter future. Great opportunity to show off the area as a great place for business as well. I still like the DHSF building. Image HERE.

MADISON - 3/24/2009 - Despite the economic crisis and a projected $5.7 billion state budget shortfall over the next biennium, it's looking like the building boom on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus will continue for at least the next couple years. The Higher Education Subcommittee of the state's Building Commission recommended last week that $580.9 million in building projects across campus move forward during the 2009-11 biennium...

Ken Notes: This will help on the job front as well. Lets try to involve as many local trades as possible.

Madison - MAR 25, 2009 - Madison was ranked third behind Provo, Utah, and Boulder, Colo., among 124 midsized metropolitan areas for the best quality of life, according to a new study by Bizjournals, a publisher of metropolitan business newspapers...

Ken Notes: Boulder does a nice job promoting the entrepreneurial spirit image. I think with the UW Park, local incubators, and great success stories we actually have more to offer.

MADISON - 3/24/2009 - The energy saving goals for Madison's first planned green neighborhood are getting a little bit greener. Mayor Dave Cieslewicz has proposed a "sustainable" neighborhood for some 2,500 undeveloped acres northeast of Interstate 94 and Interstate 39/90/94 on the city's far northeast side....

MADISON - MAR 25, 2009 - The Urban League of Greater Madison will hold a groundbreaking ceremony Friday for its Center for Economic Development & Workforce Training. The event will be at 11 a.m. at the Villager Mall in the 2200 block of South Park Street, with a speech by Alfred Babington-Johnson, founder of The Stairstep Initiative Cos...

Madison (Greater Madison) - March 23, 2009 - Non-residential construction apparently is ready to bust out in metropolitan Madison. Construction research firm McGraw-Hill Construction said on Monday that February contracts for non-residential construction in the three-county metro area shot up 642 percent over February of 2008, with contracts totaling $134.9 million this year compared to $21.4 million last year. Residential construction was also up 26 percent, with $26.4...

Ken Notes: There are several special circumstances here but any upswing is good news...

Madison Region - 3/24/2009 - Richard Florida, author of "The Rise of the Creative Class," has always had nice things to say about Madison. In his 2002 book, he ranked Madison No. 1 among small cities with metro populations of 250,000 to 500,000. Florida has long argued that communities which offer a stimulating working environment for creative people will thrive in the 21st century...

Ken Notes: He is right and we need to market this as a unique set of features found ONLY in Greater Madison.

MADISON - MAR 26, 2009 - It’s possible - at least on paper - to renovate the 43-year-old Madison Central Library for millions less than it would cost to undertake either one of two plans to build a new one, a city library committee was told Wednesday. The city’s library disposal committee asked architects to outline what a renovation could look like at the behest of City Council members...

MIDDLETON - 3/22/2009 - Forget the narrow streets, front porches and small lots that typify a "new urbanism" style of housing development. What really makes a traditional neighborhood in Wisconsin is the corner tavern. Now, a dozen years after the first homes went up, Middleton Hills is finally getting a saloon...

Madison Area - March 25, 2009 - Making a long-term success out of any restaurant is a challenge, and with the current economic crisis, it makes it an even riskier business. In the last several weeks, a number of restaurants have closed, including Bab's French Quarter Kitchen on Williamson Street; the Pancake Cafe in Sun Prairie; Tru Tavern and Grill in Cambridge; and Tony Roma's in Fitchburg...

Wisconsin - March 22, 2009 - In perhaps the biggest initiative to protect Wisconsin's farmland in three decades, Gov. Jim Doyle's proposed budget would try to prevent cornfields from being gobbled up by strip malls and subdivisions. The proposal would redirect tens of millions of dollars in existing state incentives to keep farms from being sold for development and would prod local governments and counties to set up their own plans for preserving lands. The measure could have a particularly notable effect in Dane County...

WISCONSIN - This is a comprehensive data base of all business professionals in development, planning, government, commercial real estate, architecture, construction, and service providers to business. Any professional may enter his or her own business card for free. FutureWisconsin is Wisconsin's own social networking data base to promote new business in the state...

Ken Notes: Network with professionals doing business in the state...

Madison - March 23, 2009 - When the federal stimulus money starts flowing, Madison officials want you to know how the money will be spent. Mayor Dave Cieslewicz launched a new city Web site Monday that highlights how the city will spend millions of dollars it expects to get under President Obama's $790 billion American Reinvestment and Recovery Act. "The federal stimulus provides a historic opportunity to continue moving Madison forward, creating jobs, stimulating our economy, building our infrastructure and helping our residents in need," Cieslewicz said....

Ken Notes: The website is HERE.

Madison area - MAR 25, 2009 - A successful Madison debut could be the launching pad for up to 659 MyMenu stores eventually within a 400-mile radius of Chicago. The Canadian company opened five Madison area stores last summer in its first foray into the U.S. market. Despite the recession, Gary Decatur, president and chief operating officer of MyMenu and M&M Meats of Canada, said he’s pleased with the results...

Dane County - 3/25/2009 - Low-income housing in Madison and Wisconsin just got a major shot in the arm. U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., announced Wednesday that 96 Wisconsin housing authorities have received more than $26 million in funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), also known as the economic stimulus...

Ken Notes: Full list of Wisconsin Grants HERE.

MADISON - - West High School students will have a grand new entrance to come through next fall. But to help finance it, organizers are looking down the street and across the country - to alumni. Later this month, about 20,000 West High graduates will find in their mailboxes a donation plea for "The Ash Street Project," a $400,000, front yard reconfiguration of a building that many consider a Near West Side landmark...

Recent commercial property listings from PropertyDrive.

Wisconsin - More than $336 million in federal stimulus money has been allocated to counties, cities, towns and villages in Wisconsin. Of that total, about $124 million has been allocated through the state Department of Transportation for road, bridge and transit projects. And more than $48 million in Housing and Urban Development funds has been allocated...

Ken Notes: Great Resource

VERONA - 3/23/2009 - All the background information, opinions and suggestions the city has compiled over the past year have been refined into a set of 24 goals. Many are typical, but a few are uniquely Verona, and all will be presented March 30 at City Center in an open house designed for one final informal opportunity for public input...

The seller of real estate is required to file a Real Estate Transfer Return (RETR) with the County Register of Deeds when recording deeds of property conveyances. State statutes require those returns to be filed electronically beginning July 1, 2009. Below is a link to the electronically filed Real Estate Transfer data as of July 1st 2009 and forward. The data will be updated on a weekly basis...

Ken Notes: This link is a regular feature of WDN...

Treasury Department Debt to the Penny Link
CNN Money Scorecard
Government Recovery Website
Wisconsin State Budget Google News

Create a vibrant, innovative and prosperous entrepreneurial business climate, nurturing, connecting and celebrating entrepreneurs and their companies...

Ken Notes: A valuable resource worth visiting for all businesses in the state. A special thanks for BizStarts for compiling and sharing the resource!...

Stoughton - 3/25/2009 - Since opening in March 2008, the Yahara River Grocery Cooperative has been on a roller coaster ride of ups and downs - including nearly closing its doors in December. Last weekend's relaunch - and new financial backing - have co-op officials hopeful the rest of their ride will be smooth sailing. The cooperative recently secured a $60,000 Dane County Planning and Development loan...

Wisconsin - Mar. 21, 2009 - Starting July 1, Wisconsin home and commercial building contractors must register with the state Department of Commerce under a new rule designed to help weed out fly-by-night operators. The idea is to ensure contractors - especially home builders and remodelers - are legitimate, said department spokesman Tony Hozeny. "We think it will increase the comfort level," he said. The rule also will help prevent unethical contractors from falsely classifying employees as subcontractors....

Oregon - 3/20/2009 - The owner of Hawthorn's Dining and Celebrations said last week that he has sold his stake in J.T. Whitney's Pub and Brewery in Madison to focus his energies on Oregon's largest restaurant. David Bookstaff, who opened Hawthorn's last June, last week quelled a rumor that J.T. Whitney's had shut down and that Hawthorn's was next. In fact, J.T. Whitney's is closed only temporarily while the new owner, Tom Volke of Milwaukee, renegotiates the lease with the building's landlords, Bookstaff said...

Brooklyn - 3/25/2009 - Brooklyn residents have a new spot to get their caffeine fix, surf the web, order ice cream or simply gather with friends. On March 1, Brooklyn business owner Cheryl Parrish opened Caribbean Coffee and Cream...

Wisconsin - This section allows you to access any of our current space needs and acquire some brief detail regarding each. You'll notice that in addition to posting our current RFPs and RFIS, we are listing other significant needs for which we are seeking space....

Ken Notes: Brokers should check this often...

Oregon - 3/26/2009 - Village of Oregon officials are on the road to acquiring and removing all six homes from the flood-prone Florida Avenue neighborhood. And, they say, there will be no tax increase to help pay for the acquisitions. The purchase of the last two of six homes targeted for removal from the Badfish Creek flood plain comes about 19 months after the most severe flooding that Oregon has ever experienced, in August 2007...

Ken Notes:

Oregon - 3/25/2009 - Most of the key parties involved in a controversy over the Bergamont development's management of stormwater runoff met Monday with village officials to tell their sides of the story. The key players responded to a draft report on the matter prepared by Dane County officials Kamran Mesbah and Jeremy Balousek. The report raised concerns that the 523-acre development may not be in compliance with the management plan approved by Dane County....

Wisconsin - Mar. 20, 2009 - Economic development corporations not involved in community planning and not funded directly by municipalities are less likely to be subject to open meetings and records laws, Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen said in an opinion issued last week. "Great weight should be given to the extent to which the services provided by an economic development corporation play an integral part in any stage of the governmental decision-making processes of local officials," Van Hollen said. Van Hollen issued the opinion in response to a request from the Wisconsin Economic Development Association, League of...

South East Wisconsin - Mar. 24, 2009 - Decades later - and with thousands of small Milwaukee homes built by his company - Albert M. Deshur recalled how he got his start as a developer. "Real estate had always intrigued me, so I began dabbling in the mid-1940s by buying a couple of small commercial buildings with my brothers-in-law, Jack and Alvin Grossman," he said in a brief memoir for family. By 1948, Deshur launched a real estate development business with another brother-in-law, Norman Nadler....

MILWAUKEE - March 24, 2009 - General Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee will receive $2.5 million in federal stimulus money for runway safety construction. That's according to Democratic Rep. Gwen Moore, who represents the Milwaukee area. Moore said the money should help get people to work...

MILWAUKEE - Mar. 26, 2009 - Gov. Jim Doyle has included a provision in the state's proposed capital budget seeking $5 million in state bonding support to upgrade the Bradley Center. The request calls for $500,000 a year in state bonding authority for 10 years, for a total of $5 million. The Bradley Center told state officials it has maintenance needs totaling $23 million. While the $5 million would be state supported, the Bradley Center has agreed to raise the remaining $18 million. The decision to include possible state supported bonding to upgrade the facility...

MILWAUKEE AREA - Mar. 26, 2009 - This is war, says Ald. Robert Bauman. He's referring to comments Carlos Santiago, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee chancellor, made Wednesday before the Common Council. Santiago spoke about UWM's efforts to obtain state funding for various projects, including a new School of Public Health, to be built near the former Pabst brewery, and a new School of Freshwater Sciences, to be built mainly at the current UWM Great Lakes WATER Institute, 600 E. Greenfield Ave. UWM also is pursuing plans to move a portion of its College of Engineering and Applied Science to Wauwatosa, on the County Grounds east of Highway 45 and north of Watertown Plank Road...

Ken Notes: War???

Milwaukee - Mar. 25, 2009 - Some developers getting city financial assistance will be required to pay higher wages to construction workers and hire an increased number of Milwaukee residents under a proposal narrowly approved Wednesday by the Common Council. Supporters said the wage and hiring standards will ensure that Milwaukee taxpayers who help finance commercial developments will get a fair share of the construction...

Milwaukee - Mar. 24, 2009 - The 10th Annual Milwaukee Awards for Neighborhood Development Innovation (known, believe it or not, as the MANDI awards) have been named for 2009. The awards honor non-profit community groups and their partners involved in revitalizing Milwaukee neighborhoods....

South East Wisconsin 3/23/09 Roll out the barrels. The orange construction barrels, that is. Gov. Jim Doyle officially kicked off construction on Interstate 94 from Milwaukee south to the Illinois border on Monday. The seven-year, nearly $2 billion project will expand the interstate to eight lanes and make other improvements. Doyle said it is the largest transportation project the state has ever undertaken. He said the work will create more than 2,300 jobs before it is scheduled to be done in 2016...

Milwaukee - Mar. 25, 2009 - The Milwaukee Common Council erred Wednesday, when it passed an ordinance requiring developers who receive city financial assisstance to pay the “prevailing wage” on their projects. We’re concerned that the likely esult, especially in a recession, is less work for everybody. Another provision of the ordinance requires development companies to fill 40% of their project’s construction jobs with unemployed or low-income Milwaukee residents...

Ken Notes: Very interesting observations. Madison could be next.

Hartford - March 25, 2009 - Manufacturing economy in the tank? That's not a problem for Hartford. This small city, which straddles the border of Washington and Dodge counties, is undertaking a big addition to its industrial base. Hartford Area Development Corp., a nonprofit economic development agency, is buying 65 acres as it courts two hot prospects that might be moving to the future business park...

South East Wisconsin - Mar. 26, 2009 - A&W Restaurants, an iconic name in American food, plans to open 12 restaurants in Milwaukee by the end of 2010. Doug Heinrich, the company's director of development strategy, is expected to announce the expansion plans at the International Council of Shopping Centers' Wisconsin Idea Exchange & Alliance Program, scheduled to be held next week in Milwaukee....

Hartford - - Hartford is undertaking a big addition to its industrial base. Hartford Area Development Corp., a non-profit economic development agency, is buying 65 acres as it woes two prospects that might be moving to the future business park. The Hartford Common Council, at its Tuesday night meeting, gave its general blessing to the project. The council unanimously approved a resolution pledging its continued cooperation with the agency, including the use of city financial assistance for the development....

MILWAUKEE - Mar. 25, 2009 - My colleague Carol Deptolla, food critic extraordinaire, has the scoop about the new downtown seafood restaurant that will replace Kincaid's, which is closing...

Brookfield - Mar. 24, 2009 - V. Richards apparently will close soon in Brookfield to make way for a new CVS store. The CVS proposal is on the agenda for the April 6 meeting of the Brookfield Plan Commission, according to Dan Ertl, director of community development for the city. CVS is proposing a pharmacy with a drive-up window for the space now occupied by the V. Richards grocery store in the shopping center at W. Blue Mound and N. Calhoun roads...

Wisconsin - Mar. 24, 2009 - Word comes that Virginia planners are banning cul-de-sacs, since planners know best. Henceforth, all new subdivisions in that state must allow through traffic. The Washington Post found some cul-de-sackers who pointed out that this means more noise, more cars to run over their kids. Pish, said planners, who say suburbanites will appreciate a quicker route to the grocery store. Suburbanites said they were willing to trade convenience for safety. Oh, shut up, replied authorities...

MILWAUKEE - Mar. 26, 2009 - The Journal Sentinel's Tom Kertscher reports on the snags in Cardinal Stritch University's big expansion plans for St. Francis. Meanwhile, Cardinal Stritch's plans to move its College of Education and Leadership to the former Pabst brewery are still proceeding. College spokeswoman Joanne Williams said Thursday that the operation will move to the 24,000-square-foot building in May, and begin offering classes this fall...

Bayside - March 25, 2009 - Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig is seeking approval to tear down a $371,000 house that he recently purchased next door to his Bayside home so that he can have a bigger lot and plant a garden on the 1.6-acre property...

Oconomowoc - Mar. 24, 2009 - Developers Diversified Realty (DDR) is being replaced in the S&P 500 stock index effective at the close of stock trading Friday, Standard & Poor's said in a statement. Ohio-based DDR is the developer of the Pabst Farms Town Centre retail development in Oconomowoc...

Brookfield - Mar. 24, 2009 - Roundy's Supermarkets Inc. wants to turn its Pick 'n Save store in the Brownstones shopping center on W. Blue Mound Road in Brookfield into a Metro Market, according to a plan submitted to the city. The proposal will be on the agenda for the April 6 Plan Commission meeting, said Dan Ertl, director of development for Brookfield. As part of the plan, the vacant former Hollywood Video store would be torn down to allow more parking....

Mar. 23, 2009 - Some senior housing developments require large entrance fees that the new residents typically generate by selling their homes. The housing market downturn has gummed up that process. So, a firm that does elderly housing loans through Milwaukee-based Marshall & Isley Corp. is creating a home equity line of credit for people needing cash for entrance fees...

MILWAUKEE - 3/25/2009 - The Highbridge Condominium Association is planning an exterior rehabilitation project to eliminate persistent leaking problems in the building at 1888 N. Water St. near downtown Milwaukee...

Bay View - Mar. 22, 2009 - For more than a decade and with little fanfare, Parshotam Singh's cramped little food mart has served mostly down-but-not-out folks in the shadow of Lincoln Court public housing tower on S. Howell Ave. These days, the Bay View store owner is feeling the squeeze as a trendy nightlife district emerges at a major crossroads in the south side neighborhood...

A single source for all economic development news for Greater Madison and beyond. Wisconsin Development News, (WDN) is published weekly by Ken Harwood.

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Kenneth Harwood
WisconsinDevelopment.com LLC
P.O. Box 930234
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ken@wisconsindevelopment.com