Volume 2 - Issue 24 - Circulation 3,500 Week of 06.11.09 to 06.18.09

Madison - 6/17/2009 - A proposal to redevelop the Badger Bus terminal site at the corner of West Washington Avenue and Bedford Street has moved forward, despite pleas from mass transit backers. The Madison Plan Commission Monday night approved plans for 82 luxury apartments units and 12,000 square feet of retail space in three buildings in the Bassett neighborhood....

Ken Notes: The terminal is not the answer for mass transit but if we really want to move forward we need a comprehensive long range plan the addresses a downtown hub, the airport, alternate fuel and size vehicles, better routes, and getting more riders...

Madison - June 16, 2009 - A University Square grocery store could open in October, said Jeff Maurer, former president of Pierce's Supermarkets of Baraboo. The 18,000-square-foot store would have all retail space on the first floor, with the second floor allocated to back-room operations and storage. Maurer said he's working to finalize negotiations with the developer, Executive Management of Madison, and some city approvals are needed, including a license to sell alcohol....

Ken Notes: Smart move. I hope this will also provide for retired individuals moving downtown. I would still like to see the co-op or TJ2 - but not having to drive out of the city to shop is a good thing.

Madison - 6/15/2009 - Steinhafel's, a Waukesha-based furniture retailer, announced that it will open a store on the east side. Steinhafel's already has a store at 2164 W. Beltline Highway. The company said it will open a temporary location in...

Ken Notes: We still need an Ikea!

Madison - June 14, 2009 - A grand opening for Arbor Gate a $52 million office development with twin towers, was held June 3. The buildings are on the south side of the Beltline near Todd Drive. At 215,000 square feet, Arbor Gate is one of the largest Dane County office developments in recent years. Tenants started moving in late last year....

National - 6/18/2009 - Employers who offer health insurance coverage could see a 9 percent cost increase next year, and their workers may face an even bigger hit, according to a report from consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers. Costs will rise in part because workers worried about losing their jobs are using their health care more while they still have it, the firm said in the report released to The Associated Press. The report also said rising unemployment is driving up medical costs...

Ken Notes: This will ave a large impact on government budgets.

National - 6/17/2009 - Through fee waivers and special loan programs, the federal Small Business Administration is helping to shore up Wisconsin small businesses so they can survive the recession. The latest temporary program, which began Monday, is called America's Recovery Capital (ARC) and provides loans of up to $35,000 to businesses facing immediate financial hardship. SBA loans are made through commercial lenders...

Ken Notes: Finally some of the Federal funds get to the small business person. I believe this is where the real recovery will begin. Lets hope this is a sign of things to come.

Janesville - 6/12/2009 - Tennessee guv says GM demands may be too steep. Gov. Phil Bredesen on Thursday expressed doubt about whether Tennessee can afford the financial demands from General Motors Corp. to select its Spring Hill plant to build a new small car. The Democratic governor said it became clear in meetings with GM officials this week that the bankrupt automaker wants a large cash payment from Tennessee to pick Spring Hill over Orion, Mich., or Janesville...

Ken Notes: Let's hope that we make smart decisions on this issue. I want to know how the Tennessee gov figured this out.

Janesville - 6/17/2009 - Wisconsin's proposal for building a new car model in Janesville is in the hands of General Motors, and an answer could come within two weeks. The state Department of Commerce e-mailed the latest plan to GM on Tuesday, said former state Sen. Tim Cullen, co-chairman of the GM task force of local and state community and business leaders...

Oregon - June 15, 2009- For the first time, Habitat for Humanity of Dane County is partnering with a school district to build an entire home. The home construction class taught by Justin Zander at Oregon High School will build the home next school year in the Oregon Parks neighborhood. During construction they will meet the future homeowners, who are expected to put in sweat equity by working on the project....

Ken Notes: A great idea! Hope others follow...

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...

DETROIT - 6/18/2009 - Chrysler Group LLC plans to restart seven assembly plants at the end of June after silencing all of its factories during its six-week stay in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The company on Wednesday confirmed that factories in Sterling Heights and Warren, Mich.; St. Louis; Toledo, Ohio; Brampton and Windsor, Ontario; and Toluca, Mexico, would restart operations June 29. A plant in Detroit that makes the Dodge Viper sports car restarted Monday...

Dane County - JUN 17, 2009 - Dane County home sales in May continued to trail last year's figures for total sold and sales price, although the latter gap began to close a bit. The South Central Wisconsin MLS on Wednesday reported 543 home and condominium sales in Dane County in May, compared to 653 in May 2008, for a decline of 17 percent...

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 - June 17, 2009 - Ian's Pizza will be opening a new bakery and kitchen commissary at 1511 Williamson St. in September. The location has been the site of Pavlov's Pizza, which is now closed, according to a recorded phone message at the restaurant....

Madison - June 17, 2009 - Madison stands to benefit soon from about $4 million in federal stimulus money through several city housing programs. The programs will provide residents a range of services to reduce the impact of foreclosure and a diminished economy. "One thing that is clear is that the stimulus ... will really have a dollar impact on the city of Madison," said Bill Clingan, Madison's community development director...

Madison - Jun. 16, 2009 - A Madison maker of chips that help researchers test for proteins said Tuesday it has been invited to join a research consortium using novel technologies to gain insight into major diseases of pregnancy. Gentel Biosciences Inc. will participate in the development of a protein test with the SCOPE (Screening for Pregnancy Endpoints) Study centers that operate in New Zealand, Australia, the UK and the United States, Gentel said. The SCOPE researchers will use the test to predict late-stage pregnancy complications such as preeclampsia....

CHICAGO - 6/18/2009 - High-speed rail plans in California and the Midwest appear to be front runners in the race for $8 billion in stimulus cash based on federal criteria released Wednesday that favor projects with established revenue sources and multistate cooperation. California voters last November approved nearly $10 billion in state bonds that could be combined with federal money to build 800 miles of high-speed track. Eight Midwest states have cooperated closely to promote a network, with Chicago as its hub, that would join 12 metropolitan areas within 400 miles....

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!...

SPRING GREEN - June 14, 2009 - On Saturday night at American Players Theatre in Spring Green, the audience needed no Clark Kent-without-his-glasses gag to "buy" that the four main characters are two sets of twins. In this latest of production of William Shakespeare's popular "Comedy of Errors," two brothers and two strikingly similar actors carry the play with impeccable comic timing and a healthy dose of natural resemblance...

Ken Notes: I got to see this one and it was a special evening. Great cast great location perfect evening. APT is something Madison should be proud of.

Madison - June 17, 2009 - Nick Topitzes was gazing out at Lake Mendota Tuesday morning, smiling and remembering a few past indiscretions. "Do you know who the Hot Nuts are?" Topitzes said. "Who?" "Doug Clark and the Hot Nuts," Topitzes said. He grinned, and explained that they were the inspiration for the fraternity party band in the movie "Animal House."...

Ken Notes: Toga Toga Toga...

Dane County - June 14, 2009 - In 2007, the 3,331 farms in Dane County produced $470 million in agricultural products. That is more than any other county in Wisconsin, and puts Dane County in the top 2 percent of all counties in the U.S. Grant County ranked a distant second in total agricultural production in Wisconsin with $330 million in sales, more than $100 million less than Dane County...

Dane County - JUN 18, 2009 - Dane County union employees, including public safety workers, are voting this week on a proposal to cut their salaries 5 percent for the rest of the year. Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk is asking for the same concession from her staff, nonunion employees and managers, and all county-paid elected officials, including herself...

Ken Notes: If they do vote yes we need to say thanks. We may need to conserve across the board.

Madison - June 17, 2009 - Spectrum Brands, parent of Madison-based Rayovac and Remington, has received a commitment for up to $242 million in exit financing from General Electric Capital Corp., to be used when the company ends its Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization. And part of the money will come from an affiliate of a hedge fund that once owned a large chunk of Spectrum Brands' common stock...

Madison - June 17, 2009 - A guerilla skateboard park that blossomed with makeshift ramps this spring on the Yahara River bank near the East Johnson Street bridge is now a patch of weedy concrete - the city came and dismantled it June 2. Caleb Pourchot can see the site from his house on North Thorton Avenue...

Ken Notes: Free bad - $ 750,000 good. And while they wait it will be our parking lots.

Madison - June 17, 2009 - Considering the view from the 13th floor's sun-splashed party deck, you can see why developers of a new apartment tower at North Mills and West Johnson streets had the nerve to dub it "Grand Central." "We're in the dead center of campus," says John Leja, pointing out landmarks during a tour of the more than $20 million apartment project last week. "There's the chemistry building and the education building, and there's where the new Union South will go." Scheduled to open in August and with all but a handful of the 155 units rented...

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...

Wisconsin - JUN 17, 2009 - The state would raise the capital gains tax by nearly a half billion dollars and ditch a tax on oil companies that could have been passed on to consumers under the budget bill passed by Senate Democrats Wednesday. In a 17-16 vote, Senate Democrats barely approved wide-ranging changes to the $62 billion state spending plan, adding an automatic increase to the state minimum wage but dropping provisions that would have aided illegal immigrants and expanded defendants liability in negligence lawsuits....

Ken Notes: I'm confused capitol gains tax to pay for roads? Oil at least has some logic.

Madison Area - June 14, 2009 - The pillars of Mortenson Investment Group are ownership of commercial real estate, equity investments in other businesses and philanthropy. Besides the new Arbor Gate twin office towers along the Beltline at Todd Drive, Madison-based MIG has developed other nearby commercial properties, as well as buildings along Parmenter Street in Middleton. It also owns the former American Family Insurance headquarters on Madison's East Side. That building is leased to the state Department of Corrections....

Viola - Jun. 18, 2009 - S&S Cycle, a Viola company that makes performance-upgrade equipment for Harley-Davidson motorcycles and other bikes, has received $14 million in tax credits to help it weather the recession and retain 180 jobs. The tax credits will help the company execute a business plan that includes a joint marketing agreement with ExxonMobil Corp. and the development of products for Harley-Davidson motorcycles. The company, in business since 1958, also plans to purchase manufacturing equipment to bring production of outsourced products to Viola....

Ken Notes: Bring outsourced jobs back to Wisconsin. I like this company!

Milwaukee - Jun. 17, 2009 - Wisconsin Supreme Court upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit brought by a developer that claimed political considerations played a role in awarding the contract for University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's Kenilworth Building....

Milwaukee - Jun. 17, 2009 - The 160-room Aloft hotel, which is being built overlooking the Milwaukee River in downtown Milwaukee, would receive a $200,000 city loan to help pay for environmental cleanup work under a proposal to be considered Thursday by the Redevelopment Authority. The money would come a revolving loan fund that was created with grants from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The money would be lent to Milwaukee River Hotels LLC, which owns the Aloft, which is just north of W. Juneau Ave...

Ken Notes: Great project and there is one on paper in Madison. I hope it can move forward as well...

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. - June 17, 2009 - Mayo officials announced plans Wednesday to open an outpost at the megamall to help reach new patients from across the region, the country and the world, and to serve existing patients better. The Mayo Clinic Gateway at the Mall of America is little more than a set of concepts at this point. While most details remain to be decided over the next 12 months, the officials said it likely won’t provide primary care and it will complement rather than replicate the services offered by the Rochester-based clinic....

Milwaukee - Jun. 15, 2009 - Perhaps taking a cue from the musical acts they hire, managers of Summerfest have been taking on side gigs around the country to generate extra cash for Milwaukee World Festival Inc. Designing a stage and hospitality buildings for a large-scale park development in Aurora, Ill., is the latest project awarded to a for-profit company spawned from the corporation that has run the Big Gig for 42 years....

Milwaukee - Jun. 16, 2009 - The YMCA of Metropolitan Milwaukee and Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare this week opened the first YMCA Healthy Lifestyle Village in the Milwaukee area on the site of the Rite-Hite Family YMCA at 9250 N. Green Bay Road in Brown Deer...

Sharon - Jun. 16, 2009 - Exacto Inc., a small Illinois company that makes additives that boost the performance of crop-protection chemicals, is moving to Sharon in Walworth County. Now located a couple of miles south of the state line in Richmond, Ill., Exacto has purchased a 50,000-square-foot building in Sharon that will more than double the firm's existing space....

Ken Notes: Illinois company moves to Wisconsin!

Milwaukee - Jun. 18, 2009 - Real estate investor Michael Grall told me he's looking for tenants for the 5,900-square-foot building on Milwaukee's north side that until recently housed General Rubber Co. General Rubber recently moved from 514 W. Walnut St. to just over 8,000 square feet at 16988 W. Victor Road, New Berlin....

Grafton - Jun. 17, 2009 - Waukesha Tool & Stamping LLC has leased a 42,900-square-foot industrial facility at 2076 First Ave., Grafton, to house a newly purchased business, it was announced Wednesday. The building, leased from from Grafton Investments LLC, will house Parkview Metal Products, which now operates in Lake Zurich, Ill. Waukesha Tool, based in Sussex, announced in May its acquisition of Parkview....

Milwaukee - Jun. 17, 2009 - Rafael Cetina and his family won't lose their land just yet. Milwaukee's Common Council decided Tuesday to give Cetina another chance to submit redevelopment plans before they take his land using eminent domain. Last week the city's Zoning, Neighborhoods and Development Committee voted to take the land since it sat vacant for years. A nearby grocer...

Milwaukee - Jun. 16, 2009 - An upscale pizzeria and lounge may soon be opening at the long-vacant building that once housed a downtown Heinemann's Restaurant. Dick's Pizza and Lounge plans to open at 730 N. Milwaukee St. after it obtains a tavern license and remodeling work is finished on the building. The construction work is to be done by July, according to a tavern license application submitted recently to the City Clerk's office....

Milwaukee - Jun. 16, 2009 - The owners of the Sydney Hih building are being given one more month to present to the Historic Preservation Commision their plan to convert the vacant property on Milwaukee's Park East strip into offices, shops and apartments....

Milwaukee - Jun. 15, 2009 - Plans to build moderate-income apartments in Milwaukee's Bay View neighborhood hit a roadblock Monday when a city panel designated the existing property as having historical value. The Historic Preservation Commission's unanimous ruling means developer General Capital Group will need commission approval to demolish part of the former Greenebaum tannery...

Milwaukee - Jun. 17, 2009 - Construction workers at the Pabst brewery redevelopment project, which is being done by Zilber Ltd. founder Joseph Zilber, held a topping off ceremony this week for the 8-level, 880-space parking structure. The $16.5 million parking structure was assembled in less than 16 weeks with 700 pieces of precast concrete, weighing as much as 20 tons each....

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
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