Volume 2 - Issue 2 - Circulation 3,500 Week of 1.8.09 to 1.15.09
Madison Friday, January 9, 2009 A Chicago development group has closed on the purchase of the former Bancroft Dairy site at the intersection of Fish Hatchery Road and South Park Street with aspirations for a hotel at the high-profile site. Wingra Point LLC, an affiliate of Clark Street Development of Chicago, said Friday it acquired the 3.3-acre former dairy. The purchase includes a parking lot on the other side of Fish Hatchery Road and a small grassy area along Park Street. The property was acquired from WhiteWave Foods, owner and operator of the dairy processing facility thatclosed in 2004. It operated most recently as a Dean Foods facility...
Ken Notes: This will be an important part of the downtown convention center footprint.
Madison 01.05.09 Having trouble finding a job in, say, New York City or South Florida? You might give Madison, Wis., a try. It's got an unusually healthy outlook for job growth and a strikingly low unemployment rate--3.5% in October, when the national rate was 6.5%. That's why Madison tops Ajilon Professional Staffing's list of top 10 cities to find a job. To compile the list, Ajilon's researchers started by examining the Bureau of Labor Statistics...
Ken Notes: Now we need new businesses to handle the people who will discover our community for the first time!
Middleton FRI., DEC 12, 2008 Cardinal Health NeuroCare, a longtime Fitchburg medical device company, will move to Middleton. The new company headquarters and manufacturing facility will be at Esser Place, 1800 and 1850 Deming Way. Production is expected to begin there by September 2009. "After an extensive search of the Madison area, we chose the Esser Place facility because it best met our needs for both today and into the future," said K. "Bala" Balachandran, vice president and general manager, in an e-mail interview. "The move will allow us to consolidate into one facility, greatly improving our operational efficiencies."...
Madison - Friday, January 9, 2009 - Interest in a pair of competing, yet equally dramatic proposals to build a new Central Library in Downtown Madison was high Thursday, as about 100 people turned out to hear from their backers and comment on their work. In presentations before the city's Library Board and a separate city committee that will evaluate the two plans, Terrence Wall of T. Wall Properties framed his $46.5 million project as way to capitalize on the trend in libraries toward mixed-use facilities, while William Kunkler of The Fiore Cos. said his team's $80 million plan would remake an entire Downtown block and provide millions more in tax revenue to the city over the long run...
Ken Notes: This will be good for the economy and Madison...
Madison 1/09/2009 One of Madison's oldest biotech research operations will be closing at the end of the year, affecting about 70 employees at the former Novagen. EMD Chemicals Inc., a subsidiary of Merck KGaA of Darmstadt, Germany, announced Friday it will close the company's facility in University Research Park and consolidate all bioscience operations at the company's San Diego facility....
Madison Region - January 11, 2009 The U.S. Census reported that in 2006 more than 100,000 of the approximately 300,000 jobs in Dane County were filled by people living outside the county. However, only 36,000 jobs outside Dane County were filled by Dane County residents. The result was a net outflow of wages and salaries of $1.3 billion out of the county...
Ken Notes: I see a real opportunity here, lets create a program to build low cost, yet market rate housing in our communities for first time Dane county buyers...
Madison / Middleton - 1/14/2009 - The former Lunar Corp., now known as GE Healthcare Lunar, will be closing operations at 726 Heartland Trail in Madison in June and consolidating functions at the GE Healthcare facility located at 3030 Ohmeda Drive in Madison. Manufacturing of Lunar products that had taken place on Heartland Trail will be moved to GE's Tower Avenue facility in Milwaukee, spokesman Brian McKaig said Wednesday...
Ken Notes: These are great office spaces and would be a find for a new company.
Wisconsin - 1/14/2009 Of all the ideas that have come out of the Great Recession, the one I'm liking best is more cooperation between Wisconsin and Minnesota. With both states facing huge budget deficits and struggling economies, Gov. Jim Doyle and Tim Pawlenty announced Tuesday they hope to save money by jointly purchasing products and services. Wisconsin faces a deficit of $5.4 billion by June 2011...
Ken Notes: I agree that this is a good idea, but why not partner with local business as well. It is an obvious win win and in the end business will have to pick up the tab for the deficit...
Fitchburg - January 14, 2009 More stores, including an Aldi grocery, may open later this year in the Orchard Pointe development in Fitchburg. A developer for part of the 109-acre development, near the intersection of Verona Road and Highway PD, is also proposing a Famous Footwear shoe store and a Maurices clothing store. Developer Tim Neitzel said Tuesday the 16,000-square-foot Aldi store would be adjacent to a Gold's Gym that is under construction on Hardrock Road, just north of Nesbitt Road. The shoe store and clothing store would share a 17,000-square-foot building at the corner of Fitchrona Road and Highway PD, which is also one of the main access points to the SuperTarget....
National - Friday, January 9, 2009 - The number of laid-off workers who are continuing to draw unemployment checks jumped more than expected to 4.6 million at the end of December and is likely to keep climbing this year - fresh evidence that people are finding it increasingly difficult to get a new job amid a deepening recession. The Labor Department's report Thursday also said first-time applications...
Ken Notes: Madison did rank best place to find a job though...
Madison - Friday, January 9, 2009 In early December about 100 local business owners attending an economic forum sponsored by the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce were asked how their businesses were faring. "We asked the audience for an informal show of hands first if their business was doing worse, then if their business was doing about the same as it had been and then if they were doing better," said chamber President Jennifer Alexander. "It was about evenly split, a third in each group. I didn't expect people to say they were doing better."...
Wisconsin - Thursday, January 8, 2009 Community-based organizations, local governments and tribes seeking to promote business growth and development can apply for project funding through the Community Based Economic Development Program through Jan. 30, the state Department of Commerce announced. Commerce said in a news release that it encourages projects that represent collaborations among several economic development organizations or among economic development organizations and local governments....
Ken Notes: Call your friends at commerce and mention you read Wisconsin Development News. Thanks...
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...
January 01, 2009 - Last month I mentioned the paradox of
major companies laying off employees to
bolster their bottom lines, while at the same time asking for federal assistance. To be overly graphic, this is a little like throwing bodies off a sinking ship to lighten the load. Let's look at the impact of millions of Laidoff workers on the economy. First, the lack of income for an extended
period makes it hard to pay the bills, so the...
Ken Notes: My take on a difficult problem. Thanks for looking..
Madison - Thursday, January 8, 2009 College students and other renters in Madison might better be able to discriminate between good landlords and slumlords if an idea from Ald. Eli Judge, 8th District, gains momentum. Judge said he hopes to create the Web site ratemypropertyowner.com, where tenants would be able to gather information on prospective property owners from the people who would know best: other tenants...
Ken Notes: This landlord sucks, no keggers on weekdays and the I thought the no smoking policy was only for tobacco...
Madison - January 12, 2009 The arts boosters who own and run the $205 million Overture Center want the city to help pay off $28 million in construction debt. But as lenders press for a solution, city leaders say they will have no part of it. The problem? A proposal offered last week by the owner, Overture Development Corp...
Ken Notes: I'm with the mayor here but we do need a solution. I have suggested a freeze on assets and liabilities in my Business Watch column out in February...
Madison - January 13, 2009 As snow fell around her Monday, Melissa Orr set off on the five-block walk from her home on Madison's Allied Drive to the Cub Foods store where she shops two or three times a week. She does not own a car, so the store, 4716 Verona Road, is her only option for grocery shopping unless she takes a bus. At the store, Orr learned it will close by mid-March, leaving her and many other residents of one of the city's poorest neighborhoods without a supermarket within walking distance....
Ken Notes: This will hurt but again demonstrates we have to integrate not separate or neighborhoods. Have I ever talked about public private partnerships...
Tech 1/13/2009 - The economy might be mired in the deepest recession in decades, but that didn't stop companies from introducing a wide range of new gadgets at the 42nd annual Consumer Electronics Show last weekend in Las Vegas...
Ken Notes: Some interesting gadgets at the show but I am an iPhone fan. I do want the wrist cell phone...
Tech 1/13/2009 - The economy might be mired in the deepest recession in decades, but that didn't stop companies from introducing a wide range of new gadgets at the 42nd annual Consumer Electronics Show last weekend in Las Vegas...
Ken Notes: Some interesting gadgets at the show but I am an iPhone fan. I do want the wrist cell phone...
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
Madison - Thursday, January 8, 2009 The following property transfers were recorded in Madison in November. Listing includes seller, buyer, dollar amount based on transfer tax and address...
Madison - Thursday, January 8, 2009 The following property transfers were recorded in Madison in November. Listing includes seller, buyer, dollar amount based on transfer tax and address...
Dane County - January 13, 2009 - Dane County's 103 new foreclosure filings last month were up 41 percent from 73 in December 2007, according to DaneCountyMarket.com, a Web site that tracks the local real estate market. The December filings were down about 19 percent from 127 the previous month. A record 152 Dane County filings were reported in October....
Madison - January 11, 2009 Darren Kittleson's early career path seemed to be headed for the dairy industry. He grew up milking cows on a farm near Mount Horeb, studied agriculture at UW-Madison and served as state president of the Future Farmers of America. That career path veered elsewhere when he dropped out of college, moved to Chicago and worked as a bartender and waiter while pursuing a dream of becoming an actor. "I met a guy who was in real estate. He explained what it was about and I had some interest," Kittleson said. After working three years as an agent in Chicago's northern suburbs, he returned to Madison in 1993 and worked nine years as a Remax agent before helping to bring Keller Williams to Madison...
Wisconsin - Friday, January 9, 2009 - Anchor BanCorp said late Friday that it has received preliminary approval of its application to participate in the federal government's bailout for lenders. Under the bailout program, Anchor BanCorp will issue preferred shares to the U.S. Treasury Department for approximately $110 million, the company said. Anchor BanCorp is the parent company of Anchor Ban...
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...
Madison 1/13/2009 - Shares of Madison-based Great Wolf Resorts Inc. sank on Monday after the company announced another short-term extension for its Mason, Ohio-based resort's mortgage loan, but at slightly less favorable terms for the company.
Great Wolf shares dropped 62 cents, or 25.1 percent, to close at $1.85. The stock has lost more than three-fourths of its value in the past year...
Ken Notes: I ran this just to beg one more time for a resort conference center in the Madison area. Build in and they will come...
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!...
Madison - Friday, January 9, 2009 A Madison man's ingenuity has helped enhance his fondness for wintering birds. Winter is not only a great time to feed birds and build birdhouses, it's also a good time to watch downy woodpeckers create nesting cavities for chickadees and other birds to use in spring and summer. All you have to do is provide a Styrofoam-filled birdhouse, such as those invented by Gary Gaard of Madison. Next, put it up in your backyard, poke a hole in the plastic foam to encourage the woodpeckers and then watch for them to peck out a dwelling...
Ken Notes: I cover the housing market regardless of scale...
Wisconsin - 1/15/09 - With more than three thousand commercial listing from PropertyDrive and 15 other sources, many business professionals are making Future Wisconsin their first stop in locating commercial space for their business...
Madison - January 11, 2009 Builders who violate Madison's erosion laws on commercial construction sites will be facing tougher enforcement, including the possibility of more citations and fines, according to engineering officials who are rewriting the city's ordinances on the issue. "We've educated enough," said Larry Nelson, the city's chief engineer. "But it's time to move into enforcement like we do with anything else." The issue of erosion from construction sites is important because...
Ken Notes: The problem is that there is a difference in complying with the ordinances and actually controlling erosion on a work site. We all need to focus on the problem not the policy...
Mt. Horeb - Thursday, January 8, 2009 - Beyond teahouses, coffee shops, beer bars and wine bistros, there's yet another kind of beverage destination - in Mount Horeb. Chocolate houses were historically a kind of public living room where patrons met their friends, sipped hot chocolate and munched on pastries, and they were all the rage in 17th and 18th century Vienna and London. Pastry chef Tracy Thompson saw no reason why such a place wouldn't be just as popular today as it was hundreds of years ago. "I loved the idea of a community gathering place where people could get together to talk, and where children would be welcome," she said....
Ken Notes: YES a new reason to head down the road. Mustard will be missed but chocolate mmmmm I love this city...
Madison - Saturday, January 10, 2009 A 20-year-old Madison biotechnology company will close by Dec. 31. EMD Chemicals - formerly Novagen - 441 Charmany Drive, told its 70 employees Thursday their jobs will end and their work will be consolidated into the company's San Diego site, part of a major restructuring that will eliminate 300 jobs nationwide. Three Madison employees lost their jobs Thursday in the first phase of the restructuring...
Ken Notes: We need to create a delegation to head to California and encourage firms to create Midwest entities. Berkly is Madison west after all...
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...
Madison - January 13, 2009 - The 550 layoffs at Quad/Graphics show how deep the economic recession is and its reach on even the healthiest of companies, Gov. Jim Doyle said Monday. "Companies that were talking about growing and expanding as late as August and even early September are - now as you see with Quad/Graphics - having to contract and lay people off," Doyle said. The nation's third-largest commercial printer said Monday that 400 jobs would be lost in Wisconsin alone....
Ten years after it began, a cooperative project to bring a casino to Beloit has been denied by the federal government, but the tribes said they still have hope the project will move forward. Brad Chaimson reports...
Ken Notes: Why not allow low stakes poker, cribbage, and blackjack tournaments at all Wisconsin bars. Tax the winners take a little and split the revenues like the lottery credits. We create a new market and there are far more winners than tribal gaming...
Verona - 1/5/2009 It doesn't take a genius to figure out what will be on everyone's minds in 2009. To put a twist on a famous presidential campaign phrase, it's the stupid economy. While it's not exactly a local phenomenon, the state of the national and global economy is going to have its fingerprints all over the biggest stories in Verona this year. From the housing market - including the value of your homes - to the continued rise of big box stores and developments like the West End and the Farm and Fleet-anchored Hometown Circle, we'll all be waiting to see how and when it all turns around...
Stoughton - 1/14/2009 If you ask John Reiners about the big piece of machinery outside his home at 808 W. Main, he might stop, smile, and say, "I'm drilling for oil." He's not, obviously, but after months of a project that seems to have no end in sight, the Reiners have turned to humor as a way to handle curiosity-seekers. Last summer, after extensive research, Stoughton residents John and Jean Reiners...
Ken Notes: A good read on geothermal.
Madison - Monday, January 12, 2009 Dane County plans to substantially increase the amount of electrical power generated by methane created at its landfill. A 10-year contract signed Monday by county and Madison Gas & Electric officials will provide more non-fossil-fuel energy for the power grid while removing the pollutant methane produced by the dump...
Ken Notes: I want to comment here but I won't...
Madison - 1/14/2009 - A 22-year-old Madison man was arrested last week for a burglary committed in December, thanks to a fingerprint the suspect left on a can of beer. Pedro Tamayo-Zelhua was arrested Jan. 9 at his apartment on Cypress Way and tentatively charged with burglary. Investigators were able to match a fingerprint found on a discarded Tecate beer can..."The victim said it wasn't his brand," said police spokesman Joel DeSpain...
Ken Notes: Sorry I just love a stupid crime story now and then...
Madison - 1/14/2009 - Charter Communications, which has been in discussions with its bondholders about restructuring its mountain of debt, on Wednesday announced changes to its executive compensation that it said were in relation to those discussions....
Ken Notes: You know it's bad when...
Oconomowoc - January 15, 2009 The cold didn't freeze out more than 200 people who came to a public informational meeting Tuesday night about the Pabst Farms Town Center..
Milwaukee - January 14, 2009 Dallas-based Gatehouse Capital's decision to drop its Milwaukee Hotel Palomar and Residences development proposal that was planned for the Park East corridor in downtown Milwaukee, is a major blow to efforts to attract development to the corridor. The $150 million, 22-story development planned for the northwest corner of West ...
Milwaukee - January 14, 2009 Dallas-based Gatehouse Capital's decision to drop its Milwaukee Hotel Palomar and Residences development proposal that was planned for the Park East corridor in downtown Milwaukee, is a major blow to efforts to attract development to the corridor. The $150 million, 22-story development planned for the northwest corner of West ...
Milwaukee - January 14, 2009 - Lisbon Terrace LLC, a joint venture of Vangard Group LLC and Commonwealth Development Partners LLC, plans to build a three-story building on a vacant 32,555-square-foot site at the northwest corner of North 27th Street and West Lisbon Avenue with 14 two-bedroom apartments, 10 three-bedroom townhouses and a third floor common area with a media room, an exercise facility and meeting space.
The site is consists of several vacant lots and a city-owned ...
Wauwatosa - January 15, 2009 City panels, business group like plans for cafe. But deal needs approval for right-of-way first. Plans to open a café with outdoor seating in the village were met with enthusiasm by the Wauwatosa Plan Commission and Community Development Committee this week as members from both groups saw an opportunity...
Delafield - January 15, 2009 Developers not ready for February hearing. A partner in the proposed RedPrairie Technology Park development at I-94 and Highway C said a decision to postpone the building and zoning approval process does not mean the project is "in trouble" or that the developers are losing interest..
Oconomowoc - January 13, 2009 Six buildings housing 36 condominium units, two levels of parking and a "niche" retail space will be what downtown merchant Laurel Whelan calls a "good shot in the arm for downtown Oconomowoc.". Six buildings housing 36 condominium units, two enclosed...
Wisconsin - January 14, 2009 - Several major retail real estate developments in southeastern Wisconsin are having success attracting tenants to fill small retail spaces, according to Dan Rosenfeld, principal of Mid-America Real Estate, a retail real estate brokerage. The Shoppes at Wyndham Village project, located at Highway 100 and Drexel Avenue in Franklin and anchored by Target and Sendik's Fine Foods stores...
Muskego - January 15, 2009 Neighbors, city officials say plan too dense for rural site. City officials and residents oppose proposed plans for a subdivision on 88 acres of the Harold DeBack farm on Racine Avenue...
Germantown - January 15, 2009 More flexibility for developers in business park. A new zoning classification in the village could help boost sales in the Germantown Business Park......
Milwaukee - January 14, 2009 - Best Choice Mechanical LLC, a heating, ventilation and air conditioning company plans to purchase a vacant two-story, 3719-square-foot building at 4703 N. Hopkins St. from the city of Milwaukee for $4,400. The company plans to spend $147,000 to rehabilitate the 109-year-old building into a business office...
Ken Notes: 3700 sq ft for $151,400. Yea team.
St. Francis - January 15, 2009 St. Francis School Board members say a $150-million Cardinal Stritch University at the Cousins Center and adjacent We Energies property would be an asset to the community...
Brookfield - January 15, 2009 Developer wants to add buildings, parking. The city of Brookfield’s Plan Commission this week took a look at the future of Stonewood Village, a nine-building commercial development on Capitol Drive west of Calhoun Road...
Muskego - January 15, 2009 Planning, updates top year’s priority list. After a big year in 2008, Muskego Mayor John Johnson foresees dealing with more routine matters at City Hall in 2009...
Mequon - January 15, 2009 Developer seeks rezoning for strip shopping center. The rezoning of two pieces of land along Port Washington Road in Mequon would make them easier to develop, a Concord Development official said...
Greendale - January 15, 2009 Preservation, traffic among concerns. Greendale’s canvas might not be blank as it begins its comprehensive planning process, but it has plenty of room for residents’ visions of the future...
Muskego - January 10, 2009 An alderman has filed a complaint asking the district attorney to review whether two local officials improperly voted on a development project with ties to a church rebuilding project the officials helped lead...
Plover - January 10, 2009 Basic American Foods plans to close its Plover operations, with layoffs to start in March and affect about 106 workers. The state Department of Workforce Development said Friday the company had filed a notice that the plant will close Sept. 1, but layoffs will begin March 13.
Basic American Foods is based in Walnut Creek, Calif., and produces various potato products and other foods....
A single source for all economic development news for Greater Madison and beyond. Wisconsin Development News, (WDN) is published weekly by Ken Harwood.
Available to commercial brokers, developers, financial professionals, community planners, public officials, the press and others who have expressed an interest in Wisconsin development. All stories should link to their original source in the original context. These pages may contain advertising, and I encourage patronage of both our sponsors and the related advertisers and publications I link too.
We link to Editorial and Opinion articles each week, this does not suggest we agree with the stance of the author. The "Ken Notes" items are the opinion of our editor. We will include any comments or feedback sent to WDN. Ken also writes a monthly column for Capitol Region Business Journal and other state publications.
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Ken
Kenneth Harwood
WisconsinDevelopment.com LLC
P.O. Box 930234
Verona, WI 53593-0234
608.334.2174
ken@wisconsindevelopment.com