Volume 2 - Issue 42 - Circulation 3,500 - Week of 10.15.09 to 10.22.09
About This Publication - Always Online at WisconsinDevelopment.com

Madison - October 19, 2009 - Planners of a proposed Target store to be built next to the Hilldale Shopping Center on the West Side got an earful Monday night at a neighborhood meeting that drew a crowd of 300 concerned residents to the Covenant Presbyterian Church. Developers want to build the store at University and Hilldale avenues, where currently a large hole languishes - the remnants of a scrapped Whole Foods store project....

Ken Notes: We could then tie Hilldale to downtown via the campus and UW Hospital using Bus Rapid Transit. Students abandon their cars and trips to the westside. New hotels have access to the convention center and downtown. Seniors move downtown or to Hilldale. We use a small model to prove a larger BRT system would work. Too many positives to toss this out from the start.

Madison - October 21, 2009 - The thing that surprised Alds. Michael Schumacher and Judy Compton the most about their call for a binding referendum on the proposal to build a new, $37 million Central Library was how many e-mails they received from people all over the city in support. "It's one of those moments where you feel there's something in the air," Schumacher says. "I've had enough contact by people who were opposed to (the library). They're not being heard."...

Ken Notes: This is a project that can and should be openly discussed. It will define Madison and demonstrate the value of public private ventures and the taxpayer has real skin in the game. I believe the project will survive on it's merits.

Madison - October 19, 2009 - The good news is that Madison's Board of Estimates has decided to keep Mayor Dave Cieslewicz's proposal to put $982,000 in the city's capital budget to build central park - roughly bounded by East Wilson, Dickinson, Main and Paterson streets - on the near east side. The bad news is that some members of the City Council may try to remove the funds once the budget comes to the council floor...

Ken Notes: Still a fan - tough year. We need a huge plan for the entire near east side and I believe the Park is a great centerpiece.

Wisconsin - October 14, 2009 - For more than a decade, customers at Madison Gas & Electric have voted with their pocketbooks for cleaner energy. Under the voluntary "Green Power Tomorrow" program, more than 12,000 MGE customers - nearly 10 percent of its total customer base - pay on average a premium of about $6 per month to get their electricity from such nonpolluting sources as wind. "It's been a very reasonable way to reduce our carbon footprint," says Tom Yager, 37, a stay-at-home father of two who lives in Seminole Forest. ...

Ken Notes: Mandates are the wrong answer here. Federal or state intervention will move manufacturing to the coasts and actually make the problem worse. We need to applaud the efforts of companies seeking cost effective solutions and suggest that mandates forcing less business friendly options are not the best answer.

Madison - October 20, 2009 - A developer is proposing a $30 million to $50 million housing project near the Capitol Square that might involve demolitions and building next to or moving a landmark Frank Lloyd Wright house. But the developer, Apex Enterprises, is also exploring a deal with the city that would save houses on the 200 block of East Mifflin Street and put housing above a city parking garage across the street...

Madison Area - October 18, 2009 - Mortgage defaults, home foreclosures and bank bailouts have dominated the financial headlines over the past two years. And Madison's largest community development lender hasn't escaped the turmoil either. "It's been a very interesting couple of years, to say the least," says Salli Martyniak, president of Forward Community Investments, which is celebrating its 15th anniversary Friday with a breakfast at the Madison Concourse Hotel...

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 - October 18, 2009 - In theory, Madison hates urban sprawl. Officials and residents routinely talk about saving farmland by encouraging urban development to go up instead of out. Yet in practice, when developers propose taller buildings Downtown and elsewhere, neighbors routinely balk - often to the point of killing promising projects...

Ken Notes: So little space so much to say. Watch for an entire article in CIREX and online. In the meantime we all need to weigh in on the new codes...

Madison - October 21, 2009 - Mayor Dave Cieslewicz is not a fan of this direct democracy thing. Putting controversial issues up for a vote by the people of Madison irks the city's chief executive. "As a general rule, I don't believe in referenda," says Cieslewicz. The mayor makes a credible case for his position. "I believe the council and I got elected to study the issues and apply our best judgment in the long-run, best interests of the city, even when that might not be entirely popular," he argues...

Ken Notes: I too am a fan of public input -- BUT the public simply does not understand TIF, in fact many elected officials do not fully understand TIF. When projects like Edgewater are presented as a loss of tax revenue (which is simply not true) we are allowing misinformation to alter public opinion. The Mayor is looking at a much bigger picture and has far more information on which to make a recommendation here.

Madison - 10/15/2009 - Michael Hierl oozes confidence. The 53-year-old Madison native and Harvard graduate calls himself a "serial entrepreneur" who has generated more than $100 million in sales with his various companies. But Hierl's latest venture has an altruistic component, something he calls "social entrepreneurism."...

Ken Notes: Interesting.

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 - October 20, 2009 - In some ways, Monday's "public listening session" about the Edgewater Hotel felt a bit more like a trip to the principal's office. More than an hour into the scheduled hour-and-a-half of the meeting, developer Bob Dunn was still in the midst of a presentation/lecture that aimed to address the benefits of and concerns about the Edgewater Hotel project. In all fairness, I didn't stay for the whole meeting -- I left at about 6:40 p.m. to head to the meeting about a potential Target store at Hilldale Mall...

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!...

Dane County - 10/20/09 - The economic tide might not be turning just yet, but local business owners in Stoughton, Oregon and Verona are holding steady, with many reporting only slight decreases or increases in business this year over last. Matt Dorn, owner of Dorn True Value in Oregon said business went down "a little bit...

Madison - October 20, 2009 - A sweeping new land use plan for the city's north side will proceed without mentioning a possible redesign of Sherman Avenue into a more pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly thoroughfare. The Madison Plan Commission Monday night approved the Northport-Warner Park-Sherman Neighborhood Plan but did not confront the most controversial piece of it...

Ken Notes: In this case we have a perfect example of a special interest trying to make a good plan far worse. We need to look at ped options - and in this case they did and found the best option was not to include them on the main collector.

Madison - October 21, 2009 - The city has a new planning tool that pulls together hard-to-find information to help officials better direct resources to needy neighborhoods and let residents learn more about where they live. Anyone with an Internet connection can use the data housed by the Neighborhood Indicators Project to sort and compare dozens of factors...

Ken Notes: The Website is HERE.

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 James Park - 10/15/2009 - Ald. Bridget Maniaci is worried about the James Madison Park neighborhood in her district. For years, its old homes have mostly been used for student rentals, which are a bit worse for wear. Now that students are living more in high-rise developments closer to campus, she sees an opportunity. "We can either do something and get people to reinvest in the neighborhood," she says, "or you'll see what we did on Johnson Street, people tearing down 11 houses and building something new."...

Dane County - October 21, 2009 - A new index designed to chart the prevalence of so-called distressed properties in Dane County could help home buyers, sellers and agents get a better handle on how rising rates of foreclosure are affecting the local housing market. For September, the index was 0.24, suggesting that nearly a quarter of total home sales in the county involved distressed properties, or those related to foreclosure or the threat of foreclosure....

Dane County - October 21, 2009 - The creation of a local distressed property index is just the latest of many changes in the Dane County housing market in response to rising foreclosure rates. Others involve: Banks. To cut their losses, some banks are more willing to negotiate short sales with homeowners struggling to pay their mortgages. The bank accepts less than it's owed so a home can be sold quickly, while forgiving the deficiency entirely or in part for the seller, who walks away with nothing but protects his or her credit rating better than a full-out foreclosure would. Real estate agents. Because short sales are complicated and any mistakes can be costly and time-consuming, many agents are getting more training in how to handle distressed properties...

Monona - October 20, 2009 - Developers along with Monona and state officials hosted the grand opening Tuesday of phase one of Heritage Monona Senior Campus, a new senior housing community with apartments offering a range of assisted-living options built on the former site of a crime-ridden apartment complex. The $14 million development at 111-211 Owen Road in Monona includes 88 apartments for independent living, 37 assisted-living units and 38 units of memory-care housing. Developer MPS Real Estate of St. Louis Park, Minn., began construction in October 2008. The project was financed by federal tax credits and bond revenue issued by the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority....

Ken Notes: Monona continues to define infill and adaptive reuse...

FITCHBURG - 10/20/09 - Residents will have a chance to way in on the draft Comprehensive Park, Open Space and Recreation Plan 2010-2015 at an open house on Tuesday, Oct. 27 at the Fitchburg Community Center. The open house will take place from 6 - 8 p.m. on Oct. 27 in the Oak Hill Room of the community center, with a short presentation starting at 6:30 p.m. followed by a question/comments session. ...

Town of Erin - 10/21/09 Town of Erin - Delafield developer Bob Lang is apparently selling at least some of his interest in the Erin Hills Golf Course in Washington County to Andrew Ziegler of Macon, chief executive officer of Artisan Partners, one of Milwaukee's largest mutual fund management companies. Town officials said an emergency meeting of the Plan Commission has been scheduled tommorrow evening to amend town permits for the golf course to reflect Lang's sale of his interest in the property. Lang purchased the 652 acres in 1999 and opened the golf course in 2006....

Wisconsin - Oct. 20, 2009 - Yes, the downtown condo market is slow, developer Boris Gokhman said at Monday's city Plan Commission meeting. But that doesn't mean high-end luxury apartments, like the ones Gokhman is trying to develop with city financing assistance, won't find renters, he said....

Milwaukee - Oct. 19, 2009 - New Land Enterprises' proposed downtown apartment high-rise took a step forward today, with the city Plan Commission unanimously recommending approval for the project's detailed design. The next stop for design approval is the Oct. 27 meeting of the Common Council's Zoning, Neighborhoods and Development Committee. But the real show at that meeting will be the scheduled discussion of possible city financing assistance for New Land's project, and for another proposed apartment high-rise: developer Rick Barrett's Moderne project...

Milwaukee - 10/21/09 - The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is guaranteeing a $700,000 loan from the Wisconsin Business Development Finance Corp. for a planned Melting Pot restaurant that would be located in the Historic Third Ward in Milwaukee. The Melting Pot is a Tampa, Fla.-based chain of fondue restaurants. There are more than 140 Melting Pot locations in the U.S., but the only other Melting Pot location in Wisconsin is in Brookfield at 19850 W. Bluemound Road....

Ken Notes: Wow. An error - there are Melting Pots in Madison and The Fox Valley at least.

Milwaukee - 10/21/09 - Marquette University has selected Rosemont, Ill.-based Opus North Corp. as the design-builder for the construction of the university's new $100 million College of Engineering facility. Hammel Green & Abrahamson (HGA) collaborated with Opus on the conceptual design phases of the 100,000 square-foot building, which is the first phase of the College of Engineering project...

Milwaukee - 10/22/09 - When it opened in the late 1960s, the apartment building at 1601 N. Farwell Ave. was a place where Austin Powers might have felt at home. The building had an indoor swimming pool, a rarity for Milwaukee apartments at that time, and attracted a lot of what we now call the young professionials. Flash forward four decades, and the place was a dump: the pool closed; building code violations galore, and homeless folks living illegally in some of the apartments....

Milwaukee - Oct. 21, 2009 - An apartment building with up to 88 units is planned for Milwaukee's east side, another indication of demand for new rentals in that area. Wangard Partners Inc. plans to develop the apartments on land east of HighBridge condominiums, 1888 N. Water St., said Wayne Wiertzema, executive vice president...

Milwaukee - Oct. 21, 2009 - Here's a sneak preview of what developers Boris Gokhman and Rick Barrett will likely say to Milwaukee aldermen next week in their bids for city financing help. Gokhman and Barrett each want to build apartment high-rises: the 19-story Bookends North, with 224 units at the northeast corner of E. Kilbourn Ave. and N. Van Buren St., and 30-story Moderne, with 203 apartments and 14 condominiums at the southwest corner of N. Old World Third St. and W. Juneau Ave...

Milwaukee Area - Oct. 19, 2009- The Commercial Association of Realtors Wisconsin has announced its 2009 awards: Lifetime Achievement Award--Deborah A. Sobczak, Eastmore Real Estate. Realtor of the Year--Scott M. Welsh, Inland Cos....

Cudahy - 10/21/09 - The 81-year-old former Majestic Theater building, located at 3620 E. Layton Ave. in Cudahy, is getting a makeover. It is the first building to get a facelift with assistance from the city's new façade improvement program....

Milwaukee - 10/20/09 - I first reported Monday that Brynwood Country Club is losing its name, and might be sold to Wisconsin Club, through the impending merger of Brynwood and Wisconsin Club--an arrangement that gives members of both clubs access to each location's facilities....

Shorewood - Oct. 21, 2009 - Construction will begin within the next month on a 25-unit apartment building at 4514 N. Oakland Ave. in Shorewood, at the site of a former Mobil gas station, developer Blair Williams, of Wired Properties said today. The $7.5 million project will also include 11,000 square feet of first floor retail space,...

Menomonee Falls - Oct. 14, 2009 - Because of a downturn in the housing market, the developer of a senior condominium development is hoping to build apartments instead. The Plan Commission on Tuesday recommended the Village Board allow Menomonee Falls Land Investment to build 57 apartments instead of 48 condos south of the Alta Mira senior apartments and west of the Buena Vista senior condos on Northfield Drive...

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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