Volume 2 - Issue 35 - Circulation 3,500 - Week of 08.27.09 to 09.03.09
About This Publication - Always Online at WisconsinDevelopment.com

Madison Area - Tuesday, September 1, 2009 - WSJ and CT have redesigned Madison.com. The results are a very impressive website, but no good deed goes unpunished - the redesign includes a new data base structure meaning all older links to articles no longer work...

Ken Notes: I will update the links in some of my products including ProjectTracker, but with over 1500 stories, the archives of this newsletter will not find the articles via the links provided. If it helps us feel better, Google or other search engines also fail to find the older data...

Madison - September 2, 2009 - Madison's capital budget is often a little-noticed document each year, with some road projects or buildings like a new fire station garnering some scrutiny by the City Council. For the 2010 budget, however, Mayor Dave Cieslewicz has already stated that will likely not be the case. Over the last week, Cieslewicz has announced two major components of his capital, or long-term, budget - setting aside $16 million for potential city aid for the Edgewater Hotel redevelopment as well as $13 million in direct borrowing for a new Central Library - that for cost alone would prompt any council member to pay close attention....

Ken Notes: These are substantial projects with substantial price tags. We need to think in terms of cost benefit vs. just cost...

Wisconsin - September 2, 2009 - To product designer Michael Hartzell, one of the most difficult things is telling people he's jobless. It's especially true in Madison, a city long viewed as recession-proof. "Being laid off has a real stigma attached to it," he says. "I haven't even posted it on my Facebook page yet."...

Madison - September 2, 2009 - Madison's long-discussed but slow-to-materialize Central Park is getting a major boost in the mayor's proposed 2010 capital budget. Mayor Dave Cieslewicz has included some $2 million in city borrowing to be combined with $3.2 million in federal funds along with additional city parks money and private funding to move the east-side project forward...

Madison - August 28, 2009 - Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz on Thursday endorsed a proposed $109 million redevelopment of The Edgewater hotel and said he'd seek $16 million in public assistance for the project after a consultant's report urged the city to move quickly on the project and delay others, including a hotel for Monona Terrace....

Ken Notes: This could be a landmark project and while 16 Million sounds like a lot it is in line with other TIF projects...

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...

Sun Prairie - August 27, 2009 - Marcus Theatres is considering a different location just up Highway 151 for its new 16-screen theater - potentiality putting the facility in Sun Prairie instead of Madison. The company, based in Milwaukee, has signed an agreement to buy about 16 acres in Sun Prairie's Prairie Lakes development at highways C and 151, according to a Monday news release. If approved, the theater would be the development's second anchor tenant...

Wisconsin - Sept. 3, 2009 - A bright spot in a gloomy economy is the price of natural gas, at a level so low that even before the frigid weather hits, Wisconsin utilities are projecting lower heating costs this winter. The fuel's price fell Wednesday to its lowest point in nearly 7½ years - and has dropped by nearly 80% since its peak more than a year ago, as the decimation of the manufacturing sector has cut energy use at a time when domestic natural gas supplies have surged...

Madison - September 2, 2009 - To product designer Michael Hartzell, one of the most difficult things is telling people he's jobless. It's especially true in Madison, a city long viewed as recession-proof. "Being laid off has a real stigma attached to it," he says. "I haven't even posted it on my Facebook page yet."...

Madison - Sept. 3, 2009 - Hello again. We are giving away cars now. If you think this sounds a little drastic, you are absolutely right. But there is a method to our madness. You may recall that just about a year ago, we took a wrecking ball to a rotten west side Chi Chi's in hopes of giving the site a new look. While the wrecking ball part was quite fun, a giant thorn still remains in the side of my business suit: we are still one lease short of breaking ground on the new development....

Ken Notes: They do have a signed lease with Total Care Dental for 5,000sqft on the second floor. OK here is the deal you find Ryon a client, keep the car for a year and lend it to me for one little west coast road trip. I'll bring it right back. The flier for the project is HERE.

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 - September 2, 2009 - For the past several months, the University of Wisconsin-Madison has been shopping around for someone to move a historic two-story house from its grassy location at 1430 Linden Drive. But with the deadline passing this week and the wrecking ball awaiting, UW officials admit now they knew the house could not have likely been moved even if a buyer had surfaced....

Ken Notes: This is pretty nice brick and mortar but a huge project. There must be a crew somewhere looking for work.

Madison - August 27, 2009 - Supporters and opponents of a proposed $109 million redevelopment of the Edgewater Hotel politely but passionately clashed Tuesday on the potential impact on the surrounding neighborhood. Robert Dunn, president of the Hammes Co., who made a detailed presentation before about 275 people gathered in the calming sanctuary of Bethel Lutheran Church, heard praise for the proposal and concerns about height, massing and setting a dangerous precedent for the Mansion Hill Historic District....

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!...

Middleton - 8/26/2009 - The City of Middleton will apply for roughly $40 million in federal stimulus money as part of an effort to construct a regional transportation hub at the intersection of highways 12 and 14. The Middleton Common Council voted 7-1 on Tuesday, Aug. 18 in favor of a resolution supporting city staff's application for a Transportation Improvements Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant that would pay for the bulk of the project's upfront costs....

Ken Notes: This is a repeat but I wanted to keep it on the radar screen...

Fitchburg - 8/27/2009 - With completion of the third phase of the New Venture Center, the Fitchburg Technology Campus is poised for additional expansion. About 85 percent of the three buildings that comprise the New Venture Center are occupied, said Chris Armstrong, director of brokerage and leasing for Avante Properties. New Venture Center I (completed May 2005) and III (completed July 2006) each have 46,000 square feet. New Venture Center II, which was completed this spring, has 40,000 square feet, of which 15,000 square feet is still available for lease....

Fitchburg - 9/2/2009 - Woodward Communications, Inc. announced today that it will discontinue publishing The Fitchburg Star. The final print edition of the bi-weekly newspaper will be published Thursday, Sept, 3, 2009. The Fitchburg Star, a free, community bi-weekly newspaper established in 1975 was acquired by Woodward Communications, Inc. (WCI) in August 1998 from Henry Schroeder (Schroeder Publications) along with the Verona Press and Oregon Observer. The Schroeder Publications papers were combined with the WCI-owned Stoughton Courier Hub and the Great Dane Shopping News, a free weekly shopper, to create the Unified Newspaper Group (UNG)....

Ken Notes: This is too bad in that the small papers in the area provide the first look at new and emerging projects. I will do my best to keep you in the loop but since I aggregate existing stories when a source dies so does a part of WDN...

Town of Rutland - 8/29/2009 - Homeowners John and Rebecca Scheller will soon have a true, energy-efficient home and be able to continue their desire to be good stewards of the land. The Schellers, through WPPI Energy's GreenMax Home initiative, are constructing a net zero energy home in the Town of Rutland. With a combination of renewable energy systems and energy-efficient construction, the home will generate more power than it uses - creating a net zero impact....

Ken Notes: The list of grant funds that went into this home is impressive...

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...

Hartford , Conn.- September 2, 2009 - Mayor Eddie Perez on Wednesday surrendered to state police for the second time this year to face corruption charges, this time on allegations he and a former state lawmaker tried to extort money from a real estate developer....

Kansas - September 1, 2009 - In Kansas, Carrie Nation battled booze by smashing up saloons, the state school board once approved science guidelines questioning evolution and anti-abortion leaders have made their stiffest stands _ all burnishing the state's conservative credentials. Now, Kansas is poised for an unlikely distinction: It's about to get into the casino business, not merely by blessing gambling and taxing the profits but by becoming the legal owner of the casinos themselves...

Ken Notes: Hmmmmmmm?????

Menomonee Falls - September 2, 2009 - Child-care workers earn notoriously low pay. Yet Latasha Jackson drove a Jaguar and lived in a 7,600-square-foot, million-dollar mansion with an indoor swimming pool and indoor basketball court. She was repeatedly suspected of scamming Wisconsin's child-care subsidy program. Regulators raised multiple flags over a decade and cited Jackson for more than 150 violations at her child-care centers in the Milwaukee area, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel...

Milwaukee - Sept. 3, 2009 - As I reported Sunday, Wisconsin's hotels have taken a hit this summer with the recession cutting both business and leisure trips. But Milwaukee hotels will get a boost when convention activity increases in the summer of 2010, according to Visit Milwaukee. That organization says 65,061 "room nights' are booked for June through August in Milwaukee for conventions. That's an 11% increase over this summer's room night count of 58,389...

Ken Notes: Madison should take note. Conventions are good for business.

Town of Erin - Sept. 2, 2009 - Bob Lang is working on plans to build a second 18 hole golf course at his Erin Hills golf course, located in the Town of Erin in Washington County. The town plan commission recently reviewed the preliminary plans, but took no action. Lang could not be reached for comment The second golf course would be built to the east of the existing Erin Hills golf course, which is located at 6901 County Highway O. The course is located on the south side of Highway O and about a half-mile west of Terry Road....

Ken Notes: Way cool...

Wisconsin - Sept. 2, 2009 - An advocacy group for Wisconsin entrepreneurs and high-growth companies said Wednesday it has formed its first board of directors - a 13-person roster of high-profile start-up founders and economic development experts from around the state...

Ken Notes: The groups website is HERE.

Milwaukee - Sept. 1, 2009 - The Common Council, on a 12-3 vote, this morning approved a $34.6 million redevelopment plan for the former Tower Automotive site--a proposal that carries significant risk for Milwaukee taxpayers, but also the potential to bring hundreds of jobs to the north side...

Milwaukee - Aug. 28, 2009 - Milwaukee-based Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. is among the largest servicers of commercial development and multi-family housing real estate loans in the nation, according to a new survey released by the Mortgage Bankers Association. Northwestern Mutual ranked 16th on the association's list of 79 lenders, servicing loans worth a total of $20.1 billion. The average size of the 632 loans is $31.7 million, according to the association...

Wisconsin - September 3, 2009 - There is a housing market out there that just may be a diamond-in-the-rough. The perfect storm of sub-prime mortgages and rising employment has led to a spate of bank-owned homes on the market. Home loan delinquencies are at a record 9.24% of mortgages, according to the National Delinquency Report from the Mortgage Bankers Association. That represents more than 4 million of the 45 million borrowers covered by the report. Chris Haines, Realtor with Milwaukee Executive Realty, has represented buyers in the bank-owned, homebuying process for five years. This is the most I've ever seen on the market, he said. What is bad news for many may be good news for some....

Muskego - Sept. 2, 2009 - Muskego would get a downtown, a historic district and other improvements under a proposed development plan for the Waukesha County community...

Wauwatosa - Sept. 2, 2009 - The Common Council has created an economic development manager's position, a post that, if filled by the council, could cost up to $150,000 per year. The council on Tuesday also approved Mayor Jill Didier's six appointments to the city's new Economic Development Advisory Committee, which is taking up some of the functions of the now-defunct Wauwatosa Economic Development Corp...

Milwaukee - AUG 26, 2009 - Francesca's Restaurants, an 18-unit Italian restaurant chain based in Chicago, will open a restaurant in Madison by spring 2010, and is considering locations in Milwaukee for another restaurant. That's according to Siegel-Gallagher, whose brokers John Bergh and Cory Sovine recently completed the Madison deal....

Milwaukee - Sept. 2, 2009 - Part of a lawsuit involving disputed condominium sales contracts at the Park Lafayette development was dismissed Wednesday by Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Charles Kahn. Kahn ruled in one of the 11 separate lawsuits filed by people seeking to drop their agreements to buy condominiums at the 292-unit development at N. Prospect Ave. and E. Lafayette Place...

Cudahy - Aug. 28, 2009 - A 150,000-square-foot light industrial building at 5150 International Drive, Cudahy, has been sold for $6.4 million to Oak Brook, Ill.-based CenterPoint Properties Trust, according to documents filed with the Milwaukee County Register of Deeds...

Milwaukee - Sept. 2, 2009 - Milwaukee-based M&I Marshall & Ilsley Bank is suing a Chicago-area developer whose plans to build a condominium project in suburban Oak Park failed to materialize, according to a story at ChicagoRealEstateDaily.com. Developer Alexander Troyanovsky's venture, Oak Park Development II LLC, defaulted on the property's mortgage, with an original amount of $14.2 million...

West Allis - Aug. 31, 2009 - West Allis officials are considering a redevelopment proposal for 7.7 acres near S. 84 St. and W. Greenfield Ave., just south of State Fair Park. The Common Council will consider a tax increment financing plan at its Sept. 15 meeting...

Oak Creek - AUG 28, 2009 - Oak Creek city officials might create two tax incremental financing districts to help pay for a proposed business park, and improvement in an area where several hotels are being developed. Wispark LLC in June announced plans for a 169-acre business park south of W. Oakwood Road and west of S. Howell Avenue. The other area, about 48 acres near S. 13th St. and W. College Ave., is considered a gateway to Oak Creek....

Milwaukee - Aug. 27, 2009 - I've stayed at Days Inn hotels, and I got what was expected: a small, but clean, room for a low price. The new Days Inn and Suites, soon to open just north of Milwaukee's downtown, will have low room rates compared to most downtown hotels. But my recent walk-through shows a hotel that has a lot more amenities than what I've seen at a Days Inn. The bathroom showers include glass doors, not curtains, as well as marble and granite fixtures...

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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Ken

Kenneth Harwood
WisconsinDevelopment.com LLC
P.O. Box 930234
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