Park Towne : News & Notes, Development and Government News for Madison & Wisconsin

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The city of Madison is poised to add another hoop for developers to jump through when considering new projects: how many car trips will be generated. A resolution working its way through City Hall sets a goal of reducing the total amount of vehicle miles traveled here 25 percent by 2020. That could make it harder to build homes, offices or stores on the urban fringe where cars are the sole means of transportation. But supporters say reducing automobile dependency will bring economic, social and environmental benefits to the city. They also contend it won't tie the hands of the private sector or drive investment out of town.

The prominent corner of East Washington Avenue and First Street is poised for a major makeover that includes new apartments, retail space and an arched facade to shield pedestrians from traffic along the busy thoroughfare. On Monday, the Madison Plan Commission unanimously approved "Emerson East," which offers 26 housing units, 11,000 square feet of commercial space and 43 underground parking spaces.

After years of planning and delays, the city is poised for a $1 million remake of long-troubled Lisa Link Peace Park on State Street. The city now is considering design concepts for a building that will have a visitor center, police office and public bathrooms for the one-third acre park, a haven for the counterculture and a setting for aggressive panhandling, violence and other problems.

Meriter Hospital , which considered closing its pediatric unit last year because of a drop in hospitalized children, is expanding. The hospital hopes to regain patients it has lost, mostly to UW Hospital’s American Family Children’s Hospital. Meriter will move its pediatric unit from an adult floor to near its emergency room, said Dr. Geoff Priest, the hospital’s chief medical officer. Children who enter the ER and need to be observed will occupy the eight-bed unit, to open in February, along with children who have been admitted, Priest said. Meriter will spend $3.7 million to set up the new unit. The hospital will hire about five pediatric hospitalists, or doctors who specialize in inpatient care, to staff it.

Don Miller dealerships took another blow from the struggling big automakers this week, when General Motors said it would not renew Miller's GMC truck franchise after it expires in 2010. The Don Miller Pontiac-GMC dealership, 5802 Odana Road, already was going to lose its Pontiac line because that brand is being discontinued over the next year and a half. General Motors will continue to make GMC trucks, but they won’t be sold in Miller’s showrooms, Don Miller said Thursday.

A casual dining restaurant will be the latest addition to the Arbor Gate Development, and developers of the twin tower office building along the Beltline near Todd Drive say they may announce more tenants soon. Bonfyre Grille, which will offer full lunch and dinner menus, is scheduled to open in October on the ground floor of the west tower at 2601 W. Beltline.

Emergency health care will no longer be a more than 25-minute drive away for Sun Prairie residents when the St. Mary's Sun Prairie Emergency Center opens its doors July 1. The new ER, which will offer full emergency care services, will be open all day every day. The project, five years in the making, is the result of intense planning between the city of Sun Prairie and SSM Health Care of Wisconsin, the parent company of St. Mary's Hospital.

Curiosity about what lurks beneath ratty old siding on historic houses has propelled many homeowners to arm themselves with pry bars in a quest to find out. Some are happily surprised, while others may want to run far, far away. In 2001, James Westring and his family bought a 100-year-old Craftsman-style house in the Greenbush neighborhood with wide aluminum siding on the bottom and faded asphalt on the top. He wasn't intimidated, since when he was younger he worked as a carpenter in Boston where houses dating to the late 1600s are common, and he now owns Westring Construction.

Three Madison-area businesses joined by a number of partner companies were among the 27 winners of national Contractor of the Year awards issued by the National Association of the Remodeling Industry. The winning local companies and their partners, if any, were: Lori Jolin Design of Monona, for a residential bath valued at $30,000 to $60,000. Partnering team members were Monona Plumbing and Fire Protection of Madison, Nonn's Flooring of Middleton and Academy Electric of Madison.

Sanimax has announced the temporary shutdown of its DeForest biodiesel operation. About 20 of the operation’s 30 employees will be laid off Friday. A few employees will remain at the plant while some will be transferred to other Sanimax facilities, said Daniel Hansen, a spokesman for the company based in Montreal, Quebec.

Fish Hatchery Road in the heart of Fitchburg will be shut down for three months of construction starting Monday. Commuters from the south are being advised to follow a detour along Highway M to Highway PB to Verona Road. From the north, traffic is being diverted west at McKee Road. Two Metro Transit bus routes are being shifted east from Fish Hatchery Road to Research Park Drive until construction ends in mid-October.

A 128-room Staybridge Suites extended stay hotel opened at 1141 Blue Ribbon Drive, Oconomowoc, south of I-94 and west of Highway 67, on Tuesday. It’s part of the Pabst Farms development, and is operated by Madison-based S&L Hospitality. It joins a Staybridge that opened in Franklin in March.As I reported earlier Wednesday, a Staybridge might be coming to Glendale. But construction on the Staybridge in downtown Milwaukee, at N. Water St. and E. Juneau Ave., remains on hold while the developer tries to obtain financing to finish the project. Staybridge Suites and other hotel chains are typically licensed to developers and investors, who own the hotel and pay a franchise fee to use the brand name and its reservation system. The Staybridge brand is owned by by London-based InterContinental Hotels Group PLC.

A Chicago developer is considering plans to build an 83-room Staybridge Suites extended stay hotel in Glendale. Rachit Dhingra has had preliminary discussions with city officials about the hotel, said Richard Maslowski, city administrator. No plans have been filed yet, he said. Dhingra operates Odyssey Hotels, and neither he nor another Odyssey executive could be immediately reached for comment. The four-story Staybridge would be built at the northwest corner of N. Port Washington and W. Green Tree roads, Maslowski said. It would replace the former Peking Palace restaurant, which closed over three years ago. Odyssey operates the Radisson Hotel Milwaukee North Shore, which is just north of the development site.

The long-vacant former home of Downer Garage, on Milwaukee’s east side, has been sold to investors who will redevelop it into a multi-tenant retail property. An investment group lead by Wangard Partners Inc., has acquired the 6,500-square-foot building, 1609 E. North Ave., for $509,600, according to documents filed with the Milwaukee County Register of Deeds. The 91-year-old building housed the Downer Garage for several years before becoming vacant, and falling into disrepair, said Tony DeRosa, of Wangard Partners. The sale was brokered by Tom Gale, of Equity Commercial Real Estate. The property’s value includes its location near a new University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee residence hall for 700 students, DeRosa said. Work recently began on that building, which overlooks the Milwaukee River, north of E. North Ave. and west of N. Cambridge Ave. It is scheduled to open by the fall of 2010.

A 45,000-square-foot former Kohl's Food Store, 2750 W. Grange Ave., Greenfield, has been sold for for $1.9 million to Viet Hoa Holdings Inc., which plans to operate an Asian grocery and restaurant, and lease additional space to other retailers. The sale was brokered by Jon Thoresen and Brian Gingrass, of Commercial Property Associates Inc. The property's seller was the Masue Trust, of Boca Raton, Fla., according to assessment records.

Mandel Group Inc. this week is hosting grand opening events for One Apartments, the first building that the firm has completed in its The North End development. Milwaukee-based Mandel Group Inc.this week is hosting grand opening events for One Apartments, the first building that the firm has completed in its The North End development at the southwest corner of Water and Pleasant streets, the former Pfister & Vogel tannery site along the Milwaukee River in downtown Milwaukee. One Apartments is a five-story building with 83 apartments and 12,000 square feet of retail space.

Milwaukee World Festival, Inc. today announced that its consulting division, World Festival Productions, has been selected to participate and consult in a major site development initiative to create a new multi-purpose park for the City of Aurora, Ill., a southwestern Chicago suburb. Under the agreement, World Festival Productions will serve the Aurora Park Collaborative, a design team consisting of public and private groups responsible for developing and implementing the RiverEdge Park Master Plan. The RiverEdge Park Master Plan promotes redevelopment, recreation and resource restoration. Under the plan, the park will be intertwined with the Fox River. An outdoor performance venue will anchor the design as the primary functional element of the park.

Instrumentarium Dental Inc., which distributes dental imaging equipment, is moving to Milwaukee's Menomonee Valley in part because the company wants to be near downtown. That's what John Franz, general manager and vice president, told me Wednesday after Instrumentarium announced its July 17 move. Instrumentarium, with 23 local employees, is leasing 16,200 square feet at the Canal Street Commerce Center, 1301 W. Canal St. Instrumentarium, now at 300 W. Edgerton Ave., hosts sales representatives who come to Milwaukee from throughout the United States. The company's machines cost from $5,000 to $175,000, and Franz said he wanted a location near downtown's hotels, restaurants and other amenities."We have to be in a nice, modern building in a nice area," Franz said.

The state Department of Administration is seeking to lease 60,000 to 70,000 square feet of office space in Milwaukee County. The Department of Health Services wants to occupy the space by February 2010. The state is seeking a 10-year lease, with options totaling 25 years. A request for proposals may be downloaded here. Look under the Current Space Needs section. You can also contact Bill Forbes, real estate transaction manager at 608- 266-2275, or send a request to State of Wisconsin, Division of State Facilities, P.O. Box 7866, Madison, WI 53707-7866. You can email requests to bill.forbes@wisconsin.gov or fax at 608-267-0200. Proposals must be received by 2 p.m., Wednesday, July 8.

The 40,000-square-foot building under construction along the Wisconsin River on the northern edge of Prairie du Sac is quite different from the basement office where owners of the company — known for its ButterBurgers and custard — first established their corporate office. Culver Franchising System, which owns nine and oversees close to 400 franchised Culver’s restaurants in 17 states, will leave its two separate corporate locations, totaling about 18,000 square feet, in downtown Prairie du Sac for a new building just up the road, likely by the end of year.

As Wal-Mart Stores Inc. opens about 150 new or expanded stores in the U.S. in 2009, the company expects to hire about 22,000 people for new jobs. Those positions include plenty of cashiers and stock clerks, but the world's largest retailer will also be adding store managers, pharmacists and personnel workers. Wal-Mart is holding its annual shareholders meeting on Friday, and employees from its stores around the world are spending the week in Bentonville at company headquarters.

The Obama administration is determined to employ the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the Small Business Administration to make a big dent in the small business credit crunch. The goals for the SBA in this effort are to jump-start job creation, re-start lending and promote investment in small businesses. The Recovery Act provides the SBA with $375 million to temporarily eliminate loan fees and raise guarantee limits up to 90 percent on most types of 7(a) loans. It temporarily eliminates 504 loan fees for both borrowers and lenders. The SBA estimates these provisions will apply to about $8.7 billion in 7(a) loans and $3.6 billion in 504 loans and last through calendar year 2009. To help small businesses compete for construction and service contracts, the Act allows the SBA to more than double the amount it can offer for SBA-backed surety bonds from a previous $2 million maximum to $5 million.

The General Motors plant in Janesville and the Chrysler engine plant in Kenosha have a new chance at life, Gov. Jim Doyle said Monday. As GM, the once mighty U.S. automaker, filed for bankruptcy protection Monday, Chrysler won a judge’s approval to sell most of its assets to Italy’s Fiat, and could emerge from bankruptcy this week. Both announcements brought encouraging news for Wisconsin’s crippled auto industry. The idled GM-Janesville factory is one of three assembly plants a possible sites to build a new small car, GM spokesman Chris Lee said Monday. The other two are in Spring Hill, Tenn., and Orion, Mich., both of which will end production this fall. “We are still alive,” Gov. Jim Doyle said.

Frugal consumers trimmed spending in April — although by less than expected — as rising unemployment kept pocketbooks in check and motivated Americans to save. With income growth far outpacing spending, Americans’ personal savings rate zoomed to 5.7 percent, the highest since February 1995, the Commerce Department reported today.

While some businesses may be making cutbacks because of the recession, Wisconsin's private campground owners have been spending money to make their properties more attractive to prospective customers this year. They've invested hundreds of thousands of dollars to improve their facilities even without the benefit of federal stimulus dollars.

The manufacturer of power transmission equipment for the marine and off-highway equipment industry said it will close its Racine factory for the month of July and implement workforce reductions and rolling layoffs of hourly employees. The austerity measures include dropping the 2010 bonus/incentive plan, changes to several benefits programs, and up to a 50% reduction in marketing, advertising, travel and entertainment expenses. As a result of the layoffs and other personnel changes, Twin Disc expects to incur costs of $1.4 million in the fiscal fourth quarter, which ends June 30.

McCain Foods told employees Monday that about half of its hourly and salaried workers at its Fort Atkinson plant will lose their jobs over the next three months. Company executives say 112 hourly employees and 14 salaried positions will be eliminated in Fort Atkinson as the result of a realignment of its appetizer plants. Work will be shifted to other plants beginning this month. McCain manufacturing vice president Scott Bartlett says the decision to cut the jobs will allow the company to be more efficient. The company says a collective bargaining agreement with the United Food and Commercial Workers International union requires it to honor seniority. McCain Foods USA is headquartered in Lisle, Ill.

Food for our average meal today will travel about 1,500 miles to reach our plates. Thankfully, a number of trends promise to shorten the journey while creating considerable opportunities for our region. Entrepreneur Heather Hilleren, founder and CEO of Greenleaf Market, provides a great example of preparation seizing opportunity. As a Whole Foods employee, Hilleren observed the challenges of sourcing locally grown food. Whole Foods had to contract individually with local growers to arrange for local purchases. This complexity imposed a burden compared to using Sysco (the leading food products distributor) with its one-stop shopping, invoicing and delivery of non-local food products.

There is no shortage of isolated spots in Wisconsin, and Washington Island is high on the seclusion list. Located about seven miles off the tip of Door County, where the waters of Green Bay meet those of Lake Michigan, the 30-square-mile island is accessible by boat, car ferry and two grassy landing strips. But if you need broadband Internet service once you get there, you can probably find it. Washington Island is home to Wisconsin's first known example of "broadband over power line" communications, which is technology that can transmit high-speed Internet service over electrical power lines to a full range of customers. It was installed through a deal between IBM - a worldwide provider of information technology hardware, software and business services - and the tiny Washington Island Electric Co-op. The project is an example of how high-speed Internet can reach even the hardest-to-reach places, economically and reliably, and link those places to the global economy.

A damage claim that could lead to a lawsuit seeks $1.3 million from the village of Lake Delton for owners of homes demolished or swept away in flooding that drained the lake a year ago. Village Clerk Kay Mackesey said the notice of claim was hand-delivered this week. Five homes and nine lots were destroyed last June when flooding caused a breach in the earthen bank that formed the shore of the lake, sending a torrent of water to the nearby Wisconsin River. The property owners received $2.3 million from the state for condemnation rights as the lakeshore and a county road along it were rebuilt. The lawsuit seeks the difference between that amount and what they contend is the fair market value of the property.

The developer of the Park Lafayette condominium towers on Milwaukee's east side has settled its dispute with the landlord of the condo development's off-site sales center. An eviction suit filed against Renaissant Development Group LLC of Oak Brook, Ill., has been dismissed, according to Milwaukee County Circuit Court records. An affiliate of Lighthouse Development Co. filed the suit in April, claiming Renaissant had fallen behind by two months on its rent for the sales center, at 2025 N. Summit Ave.The affiliate, LDC 910 Land Place LLC, said it was owed about $20,000 in overdue rent. The suit was dismissed after Renaissant paid its rent, Lighthouse attorney Tom DeMuth told me. Renaissant President Warren Barr called it a "misunderstanding" that has since been resolved.

Construction contracts in April in the Madison metro area were well off a year ago, although up slightly from March, according to from McGraw-Hill Construction. Residential construction contracts in the three county metro area of Dane, Columbia and Iowa Counties totaled $15.9 million in April compared to $15.1 million in March, while non-residential contracts totaled $34.6 million in April compared to $21.1 million in March.

The area west of University Ridge Golf Course between Woods Road and Shady Oak Lane contains some of the most spectacular glacial terrain in Dane. When the giant ice sheet melted there more than 10,000 years ago, it left behind a ridge of terminal moraine, kettle holes and Richardson's cave -- a hidden geological gem seldom visited by the public. Now, the city of Madison is attempting to map out future development for the Shady Wood neighborhood, some 640 acres between Midtown Road and County PD.

Facing funding cuts from the state and lower-than-expected revenues, Dane County’s budget committee Tuesday night froze half of the $50 million in capital borrowing approved for this year. The committee nixed funding for 25 slated projects, reducing this year’s borrowing by about $25 million. The debt service on those projects would be $3.2 million in next year’s operating budget. “We want to set ourselves up for being in as good of a position as possible going into next year,” said committee chairman Sup. Brett Hulsey, of Madison.

Home prices fell at the fastest annual rate ever in the first quarter, but the pace of month-to-month declines continues to slow, a closely watched housing index showed Tuesday... The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller National Home Price index reported home prices tumbled by 19.1 percent in the first quarter, the most in its 21-year history. Home prices have fallen 32.2 percent since peaking in the second quarter of 2006 and are at levels not seen since the end of 2002. The 20-city index fell by 18.7 percent in March from the year before and the 10-city index lost 18.6 percent. Those declines were a bit better than February's and marked the second straight month the indexes didn't post record drops.

Madison-based Cellular Dynamics International (CDI) today announced that it has exclusively licensed a key patent portfolio generated by Gordon Keller, Ph.D., previously from Mount Sinai School of Medicine (MSSM), surrounding the differentiation of stem cells into human cardiovascular progenitor cells. According to CDI, these cells are capable of further differentiation into the multiple cell types of the heart, including cardiomyocytes, endothelial cells, and vascular smooth muscle cells, both in vitro and in vivo.

Ben Lap is hoping the financial drought is over. Lap says his Madison company, BioSentinel Pharmaceuticals, needs $2 million in venture capital to forge ahead with new products, now that its first - a quick test for deadly strains of botulinum toxin - is just out on the market. Terry Barry is looking for about half that much money from angel investors. His startup business, AquaMost, is fine-tuning its prototype, a device to purify contaminated water. Will funds come through?

A Madison company aiming to put itself at the center of the evolving field of regenerative medicine said Wednesday that it has licensed a key patent portfolio involving the differentiation of stem cells into heart cells. A Madison company aiming to put itself at the center of the evolving field of regenerative medicine said Wednesday that it has licensed a key patent portfolio involving the differentiation of stem cells into heart cells. Cellular Dynamics International negotiated an exclusive license to the technology from Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, the company said in a news release. Cellular Dynamics, known as CDI, was formed by stem cell pioneer James Thomson and three other University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers. The company raised $18 million from mostly Wisconsin-based investors late last year.

A local developer will buy the Columbia St. Mary’s Hospital buildings near the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Columbia St. Mary's Inc. has agreed to sell its buildings next to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee to a local developer, and university officials are eager to meet with him to discuss their interest in leasing space for student housing and other uses.

Cudahy has shelved plans to use eminent domain to acquire a pair of taverns, which would have been taken over in advance of new development. Last year, Common Council and Community Development Authority members decided to look into the feasibility of exercising eminent domain, the lawful power to take private property for public use by the process of condemnation, on the properties in an attempt to enhance the aesthetics of the area. Mark Wiener, a developer for ERRS, was planning to build an upscale "live-to-work" complex next to the taverns. The development was to have allowed homeowners an opportunity to operate businesses in the same building as their residence.

Construction companies would have to pay the prevailing wage on projects partially funded with public dollars under a plan the Legislature's budget-writing committee approved Saturday. Supporters say the move will result in more higher-paid laborers who can boost the economy through more spending and tax revenue. Opponents contend the proposal means builders will charge local governments more for building projects.

Rebuilding the Zoo Interchange in Milwaukee could cost as much as $2.3 billion, making it the most expensive road project in state history and almost three times as costly as rebuilding the Marquette Interchange. The state's first estimate for the reconstruction puts the price at $2.07 billion to $2.31 billion if the work started in 2012. The project actually might not begin until years after that, based on the limited dollars for engineering work in Gov. Jim Doyle's budget.

A developer is back with plans to build a 16,000-square-foot Aldi in Wauwatosa - and this time around, the proposal is breezing through the city's approval process. When developer Continental Properties proposed building an Aldi store in Wauwatosa in 2006, the plan was shot down by the city after officials and residents said they didn't want to see a discount grocer in their community but instead would prefer more upscale stores.

New Land Enterprises partner Boris Gokhman wants the Village of Whitefish Bay to provide financing assistance for a proposed 21-unit condominium development, Whitefish Bay Now reports. This is the second time New Land has tried to develop condos along Whitefish Bay's E. Silver Spring Drive business district. The latest proposal surfaced in September.

Veit , a specialty contracting and waste management company based in Rogers, Minn., announced that it has opened a new office in Milwaukee at 1011 W. Somers St. Veit offers specialty contracting services including earthwork, demolition, utilities, foundations and environmental remediation.

A Land & Space reader raised concerns about the unfinished riverwalk railing near The Edge, a new condominium building that opened recently at 1902 N. Commerce St. The riverwalk extends behind the new building and south of the building, behind a vacant lot where Chicago-based Tandem Developers LLC plans to eventually build additional condos. The problem is that there's no railing along the stretch of riverwalk behind the vacant lot, creating a precarious situation for anyone strolling there.

The number of profitable banks in Wisconsin jumped in the first quarter, an improvement an industry spokesman attributed mostly to a stabilizing economy and a surge of residential mortgage refinancing. About one in every 10 Wisconsin banks lost money in the quarter ended March 31, compared with one in five in the fourth quarter of 2008, figures released Wednesday by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. show. "I think the first-quarter numbers reflect stabilization in the economy and the financial sector," said Kurt Bauer, chief executive of the Wisconsin Bankers Association. "I think it also can be attributed to an increase in mortgage refinancing and possibly to first-time home buyers taking advantage of the $8,000 federal tax credit."

A group of Wisconsin Chrysler dealers targeted for elimination by Chrysler LLC has filed an objection in federal bankruptcy court in New York. The dealers filed an objection ahead of a hearing scheduled for Wednesday on Chrysler's proposal to reject dealership agreements with nearly 800 dealers nationwide, including 18 in Wisconsin. At a separate hearing Tuesday in Manhattan, federal Judge Arthur Gonzalez will consider approving the sale of Chrysler to Fiat SpA. Each Wisconsin dealer that loses the right to sell new Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep vehicles will be entitled to a claim for violation of state vehicle franchise laws, says the 44-page objection filed by Madison lawyer Paul R. Norman.

Employees at Footlocker.com/Eastbay's call center in Allouez say they have been told the operation — which has about 200 employees — will close by July 31. Some employees were told of the decision Tuesday afternoon while others said they found out Wednesday. Sandra Swoboda of Green Bay has worked at the call center for three years. She was told Tuesday around 4 p.m. that the center was scheduled to close this summer. "People were crying, and there was a lot of shock," she said Wednesday afternoon. A corporate spokeswoman for Eastbay said she couldn't confirm the closing and referred calls to officials from Foot Locker in New York, which is Eastbay's parent company. A message was not returned by late Wednesday afternoon.

Alliant Energy is cutting more than 150 jobs and shutting down four generators at its Rock River plant as it looks for ways to reduce costs. The cuts include 125 management and nonunion employees. Alliant spokesman Rob Crain says the positions eliminated include about 30 percent of the company's highest-ranking managers. Another 34 job cuts are at the Rock River plant near Beloit. Four workers will remain there to operate the remaining five generators. The power plant job losses involve union employees. Meanwhile, voting results are expected Friday on Alliant's request to more than 1,300 International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers to take a one-week furlough and accept a suspension of the company's matching 401K contributions.

Governor Jim Doyle today announced the bids for the second round of road and bridge projects in Wisconsin funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act came in 11.66% lower than expected for a savings of over $10 million. ” Wisconsin is moving quickly to use federal recovery act funds to invest in projects that add long-term value to communities across the state,” Governor Doyle said. “The competitive bids that we have received for road and bridge projects represent significant savings for our taxpayers. These projects will provide thousands of good-paying jobs

A settlement between the United Auto Workers and General Motors Corp. has revived hopes that the Janesville assembly plant could be reopened to make small cars. The settlement includes a provision that GM has agreed to keep one factory and one stamping plant for small cars. The agreement was reached after the UAW raised concerns about GM's plan to import small cars from China. Leaders from UAW Local 95 weren't available for comment. But the union's former president, Assembly Speaker Mike Sheridan (D-Janesville), said in a statement that he would try to convince GM that the Janesville plant should be selected for a new production line.

The economy sank at a 5.7 percent pace as the brute force of the recession carried over into the start of the year. However, many analysts believe activity isn't shrinking nearly as much now as the downturn flashes signs of letting up. The Commerce Department's updated reading on gross domestic product, released Friday, showed the economy's contraction from January to March was slightly less deep than the 6.1 percent annualized decline first estimated last month. But the new reading was a tad worse than the 5.5 percent annualized drop economists were forecasting.

Wisconsin 's 248 commercial banks insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. reported a net $87 million combined profit during the first quarter of 2009, an improvement over the $1.5 billion loss reported the previous quarter. The biggest losers continued to be Marshall & Ilsley Bank of Milwaukee, which reported a $76.6 million first-quarter loss, and AnchorBank of Madison, which reported a $20.6 million loss. Continuing losses at both banks have been related to real estate investments. AnchorBank faces a Friday deadline on a $116.3 million debt it owes to U.S. Bank.

More than 90 percent of economists predict the recession will end this year, although the recovery is likely to be bumpy. That assessment came from leading forecasters in a survey by the National Association for Business Economics released Wednesday. It is generally in line with the outlook from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues. About 74 percent of the forecasters expect the recession — which started in December 2007 and is the longest since World War II — to end in the third quarter. Another 19 percent predict the turning point will come in the final three months of this year, and the remaining 7 percent believe the recession will end in the first quarter of 2010.

Forty-four states lost jobs in April, led by California where employers slashed 63,700 positions, as the recession took a further toll on U.S. workers. Trailing California in over-the-month job losses were: Texas, which saw 39,500 jobs vanish; Michigan, which lost 38,400 jobs; and Ohio, where payrolls fell 25,200, according to a U.S. Labor Department report issued Friday.

Manpower Inc. today released the results of its fourth annual talent shortage survey, revealing that 30 percent of employers across the globe continue to struggle to fill positions available despite the global economic downturn. According to Manpower's 2009 Talent Shortage Survey, the top five positions employers are having most trouble filling globally remain unchanged from 2008: skilled manual trades people, sales representatives, technicians (technical workers in the areas of production/operations, engineering and maintenance), engineers and management/executives. Manpower surveyed nearly 39,000 employers across 33 countries and territories to gauge employers' ability to find the talent they need.

The parent company of Bank First National in Manitowoc says it has repurchased the $12.6 million in preferred stock it sold to the U.S. Treasury in January, becoming the first Wisconsin bank to exit the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP. Lisa M. O'Neill, chief financial officer of First Manitowoc Bancorp Inc., said the cost of the capital plan plus its changing rules and increasingly negative image with the public led to the decision to pay back the money. Although the Treasury initially said the capital was intended for healthy banks, it awarded some to struggling banks as well, blurring the public's view of its Capital Purchase Program. "We're excited to be the first bank in Wisconsin - and I think we're actually the first bank in the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago district - that has completely repaid, and we can go on our way of executing our strategic plan and feel comfortable that we have sufficient capital," O'Neill said.

The Madison City Council voted Tuesday night to support the construction of 83 apartment units after the demolition of 11 current houses on the city’s Near East Side. The proposed developer, Michael Matty of Renaissance Property Group, purchased 19 houses on the 600 block of East Gorham and East Johnson streets in 2007. Working with another developer, Renaissance Property Group would restore eight of the houses on the Gorham Street side of the block while demolishing 11 on Johnson and Blair streets. The demolished homes would then be replaced with three apartment buildings

Associated Bank said today it is acquiring the banking facility inside the Copps Food Center at 2538 Ironwood Drive in Sun Prairie. Associated will replace Guaranty Bank at that location, effective Aug. 17. Associated will also open a branch in the Copps Food Center now under construction at 640 E. Main St. in Sun Prairie. That branch will replace one in the Pick’ n Save store at 2001 Mc Coy Road. The store is scheduled to close in conjunction with the opening next year of the new Copps. Both Copps Food Center and Pick ‘n Save are owned and operated by Roundy’s Supermarkets.

The Dane County housing market remained in the doldrums in April. The 397 homes sold here in April are down 18 percent from the 483 sold in April 2008, according to the South Central Wisconsin MLS. For the first four months of 2009, 1,091 homes were sold in Dane County, down 22 percent from the 1,404 homes sold in the county during the first four months of 2008. That's a slight improvement over total sales for the first three months of 2009, which were down 25 percent from a year ago. Sales did show their typical month-to-month rise for early in the year, improving from 142 in January to 207 in February, 320 in March and the 397 in April.

When economists read the statistical tea leaves, seeking signs of an easing recession, they often look for a bottoming of the stock market or an uptick in factory orders. But the economic picture for thousands of working people across Wisconsin won't improve until the job picture brightens. And on the jobs front, there's some good news for Madison, which was just rated No. 1 among medium-sized cities for so-called Next Generation workers. These are younger, tech-savvy people who want "a good job in a great city," according to Next Generation Consulting, which produced the list.

Bar Harbor Bankshares of Maine might not seem like a candidate for a bailout. The company that owns 12 Bar Harbor Bank & Trust branches reported record earnings for 2008. And it serves a coastal region that hasn't been hit as hard as the rest of Maine by the real estate crash and the recession. Nonetheless, the company - and about 550 banks elsewhere in the country - took federal Troubled Asset Relief Program money as the government tried to jump-start lending. About $200 billion was invested in banks under TARP's Capital Purchase Program. Bar Harbor received nearly $19 million. The money is distributed to banks through government purchases of preferred bank stock. Banks getting money must make quarterly dividend payments to the government until they buy back the stock.

A change in federal rules may leave Madison up to $500,000 short in a rental assistance program for low-income people this year. The city now is determining how to absorb the possible loss of money for its federal Section 8 housing vouchers, used by low-income tenants to help pay rent in private or nonprofit rental housing. The assistance can run from less than $100 monthly to covering most of a month's rent, depending on a tenant's income. The city, which has distributed about 1,400 vouchers this year, was recently notified by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development that payments will be about $8.5 million, about $500,000 short of the $9 million needed to cover costs, officials said.

Ordered by Chrysler Corp. last week to close two of its locations by June 9, Don Miller dealerships in Madison say they will have to end the jobs of up to 35 of their 155 employees, effective June 3. Workers at all six of Don Miller’s showrooms and service departments will be affected by the cuts, said Don T. Miller, who manages the Pontiac, GMC, Mazda and Subaru units. Miller, his brother David, who manages the Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge operations, and controller John McKegney visited each location Thursday to break the news. "We had to choose who would best work out at those locations," Don T. Miller said. "It was very difficult; that’s probably an understatement. We really have been trying to save as many jobs as we can."

S&K Menswear is going out of business. All 105 of its stores nationwide will close, including the two in Madison, at the West Towne and East Towne Malls. "In spite of our best efforts, the current economic climate left us with no choice but to close down the business," said Jonathan Tibus, chief restructuring officer at S&K, based in Richmond, Va. Between the two stores, S&K has nine employees in Madison, said Josh Murphy, assistant manager at the East Towne store. He said he expects the stores to close within about 10 weeks.

If you boat, fish, swim or picnic in Dane County, prepare to experience a park system that will be a cut below, literally, the norm. In moves even the county expects will make waves, officials will close the Tenney Lock three days a week starting Tuesday and will cut back on cutting lake weeds and grass in parks. "I know these are hot issues, but I want people to understand that these are cuts we have to make to make sure we can still provide priority services," said Dane County Parks Director Darren Marsh.

With a projected budget shortfall amid a bad economy, Mayor Dave Cieslewicz will impose a city hiring freeze immediately except for the Police and Fire Departments, cut travel and limit spiraling borrowing costs. But the mayor isn’t yet seeking layoffs or furloughs for city workers. "I will work very hard to avoid that," Cieslewicz said Tuesday. "But I can’t make a guarantee. At the moment, there are too many unknowns."

The State Building Commission on Wednesday added $925,000 to the construction budget of a 45-bed mental health treatment facility for female inmates to be built at the Wisconsin Resource Center, bringing the project cost to just more than $19 million. The state has been moving the project along quickly since the U.S. Department of Justice threaten a lawsuit if the state continues to fail to provide female prison inmates at Taycheedah Correctional Institution with adequate mental health services. The state allocated $11 million in the 2007-09 budget for a mental health assessment and short term treatment facility, and added $7 million in the 2009-11 state budget, which is pending approval.

Plans for a huge Woodman's Food Market in Menomonee Falls are moving forward, with the recommended zoning approval from the village Plan Commission. Menomonee Falls Now, a sister publication, has the details. Woodman's announced plans for the supermarket, its second in the Milwaukee area, in January.

The last few minutes of a public bid are the picture of chaos — scribbling last-minute estimates and concealing your bid from other contractors. The bids are submitted, time stamped and opened. The results, on this April day, startle officials from the Department of State Facilities and trouble a local general contractor. Bids on the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse’s $44 million academic building, which university officials expect to break ground on later this summer, came in roughly $6 million under budget. But in the mayhem of the bidding process, Fowler & Hammer General Contractors had a costly misstep. The La Crosse-based company, whose $16.1 million offer was the lowest, made what business manager Dan Graham would describe as a clerical error.

With a $1 million renovation completed, the Great Dane Pub & Brewing Co. on Friday will open its fourth location and its first outside the Madison area. The 10-week remodeling project of the former Hereford & Hops Steakhouse & Brewpub in Wausau is intended to make local residents forget about the former restaurant and provide travelers from Dane County a familiar pit stop on their way to the North Woods. The grill-your-own steak pits and old bars are gone. The 26,000-square-foot, two-story facility now has a pool hall, new bars and a new menu along with Great Dane’s signature beers, such as Crop Circle Wheat and Landmark Lite.

The Point on the River condominium development is providing buyers access to lending programs offered by Madison-based AnchorBank and Racine-based Johnson Bank. The 147-unit The Point on the River condominium development is providing buyers access to lending programs offered by Madison-based AnchorBank and Racine-based Johnson Bank. Buyers interested in purchasing a home at the 12-story soft loft development located at 106 W. Seeboth St. can take advantage of: conventional 30-year fixed-rate mortgage at 0.25 percent below current market rate, first-time buyer New Neighbor Program with a minimum 5-percent down payment and no private mortgage insurance (PMI), no property appraisals required.

The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and the city of Whitewater are planning to development a technology business park. The city and the Whitewater Community Development Authority have agreed to locate the Whitewater University Technology Park in the southeastern section of the existing city Business Park, house the planned UW-Whitewater Innovation Center on the site and to acquire additional land for the entire project. The project will cost about $10 million. "The Center will allow our faculty and students to work on ideas that will help encourage the development of new businesses," UW-Whitewater Chancellor Richard Telfer said. "What we're looking for is a place to bring all the different strengths of the university together to help with business creation."

The 95-unit Blue Ribbon Brewery Lofts apartments, created within the keg house at the former Pabst brewery, will have a grand opening ceremony on Friday. The apartments, among the first new developments at the Pabst, actually partially opened in January, when the first residents moved in. The project has since been completed. The apartments were developed by Oregon, Wis.-based Gorman & Co. Financing included federal affordable housing tax credits, provided through the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority, and an authority loan, as well as federal and state historic preservation tax credits.

The County Board is to vote today on whether to sell County Grounds land, east of Highway 45 and north of W. Watertown Plank Road, for University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's proposed new engineering campus. Friends of the Monarch Trail are seeking changes in the sale agreement that the group says would strengthen language that preserves a portion of the site as a monarch butterfly migration stopover. The proposed sale got a 4-2 vote recommending approval last week from the board's Committee on Economic and Community Development.

A comprehensive plan for Milwaukee's near south side won a unanimous endorsement Tuesday from the Common Council's Zoning, Neighborhoods & Development Committee. The proposed plan now goes to the full council. Among other things, it calls for development of affordable housing in the area, additional green space and improved transportation options for the area's workers. The plan also suggests some catalytic projects, including more pedestrian connections to the Menomonee Valley, affordable apartments and street-level retail space at the southwest corner of S. Chavez Drive and W. Mineral St., and the redevelopment of the Modjeska Theatre, at the northeast corner of W. Mitchell and S. 12th streets.

The city will purchase 255 acres of land near Oakwood Road and Howell Avenue and promptly sell some of the property to the Oak Creek-Franklin School District and much of it to a developer. The property, mostly farmland owned by the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewage District, is on the southwest corner of Oakwood Road and Howell Avenue. The Common Council in its May 19 meeting unanimously approved spending $7 million to purchase the land and get it back on the city's tax rolls after more than 20 years off. The School District plans to purchase 50 acres of the land and potentially construct a new high school on the site. District officials have said Oak Creek High School is at its ideal capacity and they have started to get residents' thoughts on building a second high school.

My colleague Erica Perez, who covers higher education, reports that a hearing has been set for 6 p.m. May 28 at City Hall on a proposal to use the former Pieces of Eight site for University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's School of Freshwater Sciences. UWM's proposal had an initial presentation May 8 before the Board of Harbor Commissioners.

The owners of the Sydney Hih building are working on a plan to convert the vacant property on Milwaukee's Park East strip into offices, shops and apartments. David Florsheim and Robert Ruvin, owners of Ruvin Development Inc., recently began making facade improvements to the Sydney Hih, 300-318 W. Juneau Ave. They are compiling cost estimates for renovating the vacant building, which dates back to 1876. Florsheim, speaking at Monday's Historic Preservation Commission meeting, said he's heard from prospective office and retail tenants about the building.The developers are to return to the commission in June with a detailed presentation on their plans. The commission is considering designating the Sydney Hih as historic.

A tech-oriented business park being developed by University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and the City of Whitewater will be located in the city's exsting business park, it was announced Monday. The Whitewater University Technology Park would include the UW-Whitewater Innovation Center, which would allow faculty and students to work on ideas to encourage new business development, said Richard Telfer, UW-Whitewater chancellor.

The Milwaukee area's retail real estate market showed some signs of improvement during the first quarter, but is still not performing as well as the rest of the nation. The region's retail real estate vacancy rate was 11.1 percent at the end of the first quarter, an improvement from a 11.4 percent vacancy rate at the end of 2008, according to a new report from Boston-based Colliers International. However, the area's retail real estate market had negative absorption of 41,000 square feet and the area's vacancy rate is still higher than the national average of 10.17 percent, according to Colliers International.

Through the first 20 weeks of 2009, Wisconsin received more new claims for unemployment insurance benefits than it received by week 36 last year. The state Department of Workforce Development reported Wednesday that unemployed workers initiated 480,130 applications for benefits through last week. That's up 77.5% from the same period in 2008. On Thursday, the state is scheduled to release the unemployment rate for April, which is based on household surveys. Preliminary data on payroll counts show the state losing more than 128,000 jobs since April 2008, a 4.5% decline that is deeper than the 4% setback in March.

Lori DeJardin of Sturgeon Bay has never met Mike Woods, who works for an iron ore mining company in northern Minnesota.Neither has met Peter Walton, a Great Lakes mariner who lives in Suttons Harbor, Mich. But in ways all three may not be fully aware, they are connected in a sluggish economy by the common thread of Bay Shipbuilding in Sturgeon Bay. And, of course, by the larger industry of ship traffic on the Great Lakes. When the economy went sour late last year, one of the industries that took the biggest hit was the American steel industry, which saw production capacity drop from about 91 percent in August to 41 percent in March, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute.

The water-ski portion of the Tommy Bartlett Show will open on Lake Delton on Friday night -- another sign that life is returning to normal after the lake drained last year. The water-ski show has been a top Wisconsin tourist attraction for years. But the show and three dozen other businesses and resorts that ring the lake ended up high and dry last summer. The lake swelled in June after torrential thunderstorms, blew through a bank and drained away, leaving behind nothing but sand and stumps.

It's been nearly two weeks since Gov. Jim Doyle announced that state workers will experience what many in the private sector have already gone through because of the national recession.Awaiting some 67,000 state employees, 30,000 of whom work in Dane County, are 16 furlough days over the next two years and the state's decision to rescind a 2 percent pay raise for those who manage to keep their jobs. Upward of 1,100 state workers are expected to face layoffs. While the bare bones of the governor's plan have been released, the specifics still are under discussion, leaving state workers able to do little more than take a wait-and-see approach to what the economic downturn will mean for them. At a recent press conference, Doyle said budget cuts of 5 percent or more are expected, with details on workforce reductions and furloughs likely coming sometime this week.

A consultant hired by the city is proposing nine programs that aim to increase home ownership in the city and strengthen citywide inspections of rental properties, including one that would allow renters to withhold their rent from landlords who aren't maintaining their properties. " Cudahy has an excessive amount of rental units, and thus the number of rental units needs to be reduced," said former Kenosha Mayor John Antaramian in his report to Cudahy's Community Development Authority. "At the same time, Cudahy must articulate the legislative intent for the Inspection Department to do its job; the city must also provide the Inspection Department with staffing needed to fulfill the department's mission."

A $7.3 million proposal to renovate some historic Menomonee Valley buildings into offices for a local architectural firm and other businesses would receive city financing under a recommendation Thursday by the Redevelopment Authority. The authority approved plans for the city to provide $1.5 million to help redevelop the former Milwaukee Gas Light Co. buildings. The money would pay for road work, a riverwalk and other public improvements in connection with renovations to the buildings, which are more than 100 years old. Zimmerman Architectural Studios Inc., based at 5106 N. Port Washington Road, Glendale, in November disclosed plans to move to one of the Gas Light buildings. The firm has 121 employees.

After months of study, a special city committee is recommending a proposal by the Fiore Cos. to build a $43.6 million, six-story glass and brick Downtown library at the corner of Henry Street and West Washington Avenue. But as the Madison Library Board and City Council prepare to consider the recommendation, the big question remains whether the city can afford it. The city budget commits $1.7 million to a library this year and foresees spending $18.3 million in 2010. That leaves a $23 million gap that the city would have to commit to covering up front.

In Dane County, home sales dropped 15.2 percent compared to the first quarter of 2008, from 3,638 to 3,084 through March of this year Wisconsin existing-home sales were down 22 percent through March compared to the same period last year, while median sale prices fell 9.5 percent to $137,500, according to a report issued Tuesday by the Wisconsin Realtors Association. In Dane County, home sales dropped 15.2 percent compared to the first quarter of 2008, from 3,638 to 3,084 through March of this year. The median sales price was $204,200, down 4.4 percent from the $213,600 posted a year ago.

The first day of an expected two-day purge of the nation's car dealerships will apparently leave Dane County relatively unscathed The first day of an expected two-day purge of the nation’s car dealerships will apparently leave Dane County relatively unscathed. Madison will not lose its Chrysler dealerships, even though three of the local Chrysler brand stores and 15 others around Wisconsin were among 789 dealerships identified for shutdown Thursday as part of Chrysler’s bankruptcy case. A hastily arranged, tentative deal — worked out within a few hours of learning they were on the list for closing — is expected to let the Don Miller and Russ Darrow dealerships keep selling new Chrysler brand vehicles in Madison but on opposite sides of the city.

American Superconductor Corp., which has its booming wind power unit based in Middleton, reported the first quarterly profit in its history Thursday on a 60 percent jump in revenues. American Superconductor Corp., which has its booming wind power unit based in Middleton, reported the first quarterly profit in its history Thursday on a 60 percent jump in revenues. The company earned $1.3 million, or 3 cents per share, reversing a year-ago loss of $1.8 million, or 4 cents per share. Excluding one-time costs, earnings totaled 9 cents per share. Revenues climbed to $61.2 million from $38.4 million.

More bad news may be on the way for the 4,000 employees of CUNA Mutual Group, as management looks to cut expenses by $50 million. More bad news may be on the way for the 4,000 employees of CUNA Mutual Group, as management looks to cut expenses by $50 million before the end of the year. Employees learned Friday in a meeting with company leaders that a number of benefits could be on the chopping block to help meet that goal, including their pensions and 401(k) matches, plus the potential for higher health insurance premiums, frozen wages and furloughs.

The dispute began when developer Scott Fergus agreed to sell nine condos to groups led by investor Ron San Felippo, just before construction began on the 152-unit project in 2005. A court-appointed receiver last year took control of The Point, 106 W. Seeboth St., and later asked a judge to toss out those pending sales contracts. Receiver Michael Polsky said the collective sales price would be around $600,000 less than the total market price of the condos. Allowing the sale to occur would hurt the project’s creditors, led by Madison-based AnchorBank, which are owed tens of millions of dollars, while also affecting the ability to sell the development’s remaining units at market prices, Polsky said.

Stoughton Trailers is cutting more jobs -- the fourth work-force reduction in the past year. Company officials held employee meetings Tuesday and said 80 to It will be extremely painful. We (already) are down to our core," said Patrice Gillespie, vice president of human resources

A County Board committee's important endorsement Monday appears to clear the way for full board approval of a land sale to University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee for its planned enginnering campus in Wauwatosa. After the committee's vote, Tom Luljak, UWM's chief lobbyist, told me he feels very confident about the land sale's prospects. The board is to consider the sale at its May 21 meeting. The parcel is on the County Grounds, east of Highway 45 and north of Watertown Plank Road. A note about how much land is actually being sold. In the past, I reported that the sale involves 89 acres. But Bruce Block, UWM Foundation president, says a university affiliate would actually acquire 72 acres.

Milwaukee County should sell land in Wauwatosa to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee for a new engineering campus, the County Board's Economic & Community Development Committee recommended Monday on a 4-2 vote. The proposal now goes to the full board May 21 for its consideration. University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's plans for a new engineering campus in Wauwatosa, which supporters say will help to create more tech-related jobs, took a big step forward Monday. The County Board's Economic & Community Development Committee recommended on a 4-2 vote that Milwaukee County sell 72 acres to a UWM affiliate for $13.55 million. The proposal goes to the full board May 21 for its consideration. The land is on the Milwaukee County Grounds, east of U.S. Highway 45 and north of W. Watertown Plank Road.

After decades of stops and starts, a nearly $51 million project to complete a four-lane bypass on the west side of Waukesha could move forward under a funding breakthrough announced Tuesday. The 4 1/2 -mile project, aimed at giving motorists in southern Waukesha County easier access to I-94, would link Highway 59 in Waukesha to I-94 along the existing Highway TT. By connecting with Highway 164 south of Waukesha, the bypass would also provide a link between Interstates 43 and 94.

A 102,000-square-foot building that formerly housed a Home Depot store, at 7401 W. Good Hope Road, has been sold for $6 million, according to a Milwaukee County Register of Deeds filing. Home Depot Inc. sold the property to an affiliate of development firm Boulder Venture Inc., which is remodeling the building and will lease it to Roundy's Supermarkets Inc. Roundy's plans to open a Pick 'n Save supermarket there, replacing a small, older store at 7830 W. Good Hope Road.

Two local investors who operate a pair of one-screen movie theaters plan to buy a former supermarket in Cudahy and convert it into a four-screen cinema with sit-down dining. Larry Widen and David Glazer have agreed to buy the former Kohl's Food Store, 4630 S. Kinnickinnic Ave., and hope to complete their purchase by the end of July, Glazer said Wednesday. The building is between Cudahy and Plankinton avenues, one block north of Layton Ave. Widen and Glazer, who operate the Times Cinema, 5906 W. Vliet St., and Rosebud Cinema Drafthouse, 6823 W. North Ave., Wauwatosa, plan to remodel the 17,000-square-foot building into a cinema, Glazer said. The Rosebud Cinema Cudahy would include sit-down dining, with wine and beer served, similar to the Rosebud, Widen said.

A pair of affordable apartment projects planned for Milwaukee's central city by non-profit groups won zoning approval this week from the Plan Commission. The city Housing Authority has proposed the 37-unit Olga Village senior apartments for 722 W. Washington St. It would be built behind the existing 22-unit U.S. Bank Village apartments and the United Community Center, according to information filed with the Department of City Development. Heartland Housing Inc. and St. Ben's Community Meal have proposed a 45-unit apartment building at 2501-2513 W. Fond du Lac Ave. It would be for low-income indviduals and couples. Both projects need zoning approval from the Common Council

The city of Brookfield's Plan Commission on May 11 approved a revised plan and method of operation allowing Hooters to occupy the former Pedro's restaurant in the V. Richard's Plaza at the corner of Bluemound and Calhoun roads. The city of Brookfield's Plan Commission on May 11 approved a revised plan and method of operation allowing Hooters to occupy the former Pedro's restaurant in the V. Richard's Plaza at the corner of Bluemound and Calhoun roads.The Plan Commission deliberated briefly before voting, 4-1, to approve the new plan.

Hugo's Steakhouse owner Bill Hilger scaled back a plan to install outdoor volleyball courts, horseshoe pits and a seasonal beverage shed and won Plan Commission backing May 7. Hugo's Steakhouse owner Bill Hilger scaled back a plan to install outdoor volleyball courts, horseshoe pits and a seasonal beverage shed and won Plan Commission backing May 7. It didn't come easy, though. During a recess, Hilger met with about 20 residents, some from the Whitnall Grove condominium board, and made changes to the plan in response to concerns about possible late-night noise and summer rowdyism at his eatery, 6951 S. Lovers Lane Road.

Foreclosure filings across the country hit another record in April, but foreclosures actually went down in the Madison market from the previous month. RealtyTrac, an online foreclosure tracking firm, said 342,038 housing units had foreclosure filings in April in the U.S., up less than a percentage point from March, but 32 percent higher than in April 2008.

Investor hopes that the U.S. recession may have bottomed out propelled oil prices well above $59 a barrel on Tuesday. Investor hopes that the U.S. recession may have bottomed out propelled oil prices well above $59 a barrel on Tuesday. Prices rose despite continued lack of demand, evidenced by U.S. crude stocks that are near 19-year highs and expected to climb further. Benchmark crude for June delivery was up $1.02 to $59.52 a barrel by noon in European electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Monday, the contract fell 13 cents to settle at $58.50.

It's a tense time for Madison-area General Motors dealerships as they wait to find out if GM will tag them for closing. "I think anyone who has a GM franchise is worrying," said Tom Zimbrick, chief executive of Zimbrick Inc. "I take nothing for granted. ... We just try to focus on what we can control." GM announced in April that it will close 1,000 to 1,200 dealerships. They will have until the end of their contracts, Dec. 31, 2010, to go out of business, said Susan Garontakos, GM's dealer communications manager in Detroit. Or, if they close voluntarily, they could be done within 30 days.

Wisconsin banks are working to help home mortgage customers who are unemployed or behind on their payments... Wisconsin banks are working to help home mortgage customers who are unemployed or behind on their payments. Associated Bank of Green Bay this week announced a program to defer mortgage payments. Borrowers who are unemployed, receiving assistance and actively seeking employment can defer mortgage payments on their primary residence for up to a year. The program is designed to assist borrowers who are not covered by the government’s Homeowners Affordability and Stability Plan.

A new federal report says Wisconsin is one of 32 states that lost a record number of jobs in the first three months of the year... A new federal report says Wisconsin is one of 32 states that lost a record number of jobs in the first three months of the year. The Bureau of Labor Statistics report says Wisconsin companies cut more than 14,200 jobs in the first quarter. That's more than twice as many jobs as were lost in the first quarter of 2008. Companies cut about 6,000 jobs then. The Bureau of Labor Statistics also says the number of extended mass layoffs in Wisconsin is up, from 27 in the first quarter of 2008 to 74 in the first quarter of this year. Those are cases in which 50 or more workers lost at least 31 days of work.

Chicago-based HSA Commercial Real Estate Inc.'s lawsuit against Milwaukee real estate investor Steve Stewart has been dismissed, according to documents filed recently in U.S. District Court. HSA last year sued Stewart and his firm, New Vision Development Co., claiming Stewart defrauded HSA by seizing that firm’s work for himself. Stewart denied those claims. HSA in February was granted a one-year purchase option for a downtown Milwaukee lot owned by Milwaukee County. HSA is considering the development of apartments aimed at students attending nearby Milwaukee Area Technical College, Marquette University and other colleges. The lot, now used for parking, is south of W. State St. and west of N. 6th St. The board last year granted an option to New Vision, which was considering a similar plan. Stewart said Tuesday he's working with HSA on its development plans.

After more than a decade of studying Wauwatosa Fire Department facility needs, the city is poised to start construction on a replacement for Fire Station No. 1. On May 5, the Common Council approved a contract with construction firm J.P. Cullen, which will likely break ground on the project about Wednesday, June 10. The new 29,500-square-foot, two-story station will offer more space for apparatus storage and maintenance and training activities, modern mechanical systems and sustainable design features, Fire Chief Dean Redman said.

Minneapolis-based U.S. Bancorp, which has significant Wisconsin operations, plans to be eligible in a few weeks to repay the $6.6 billion in funds that it received from the federal government's Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), according to a Reuters report today. Speaking at a UBS financial services conference in New York, chief executive officer Richard Davis said repaying TARP is a "likely outcome" after regulators complete a "couple of more financial assessments" of the nation's eighth-largest bank. U.S. Bancorp is one of nine lenders not ordered to raise capital after recently undergoing federal "stress tests" of their ability to handle a deep recession.

Given a sluggish housing market, Madison may give the Alexander Co. 21/2 more years to meet condo sales goals and avoid repaying a $4.27 million subsidy given to the massive Capital West project Downtown. No developer in the city has ever been so close to having to repay so much tax incremental financing (TIF) money. Alexander, which got $4.27 million in TIF for its mixed-use project on the 300 block of West Washington Avenue, needs to sell 29 owner-occupied condos in the next six weeks or start repaying money. But under a proposal being introduced Tuesday by City Council President Tim Bruer and Mike Verveer, 4th District, the first deadline would be pushed to December 2011. "This is the spirit of compromise," Verveer said. "Their current predicament is really through no fault of their own."

A three-story, 83-unit apartment project aimed at working people and families will move forward despite requiring demolition of 11 older homes on the 600 block of East Johnson Street. The Madison Plan Commission Monday night unanimously approved the "City Row" project from landlord Michael Matty and Stone House Development.

The Madison Plan Commission voted in favor of a plan Monday that would demolish 11 run-down apartment houses on the Near East Side to make way for three new buildings with 83 apartment units, while also renovating eight adjacent historic buildings. Though the proposed construction project for the area bordered by the 600 block of East Johnson, East Gorham streets and North Blair streets received no dissenting votes, some commissioners expressed reservations about the precedent their actions would create.

Dane County is considering layoffs as it faces up to a $6 million budget shortfall this year if sales tax and other revenues continue to fall short of predictions. The city of Madison is also projecting revenues could come in about $3.5 million short this year, and Mayor Dave Cieslewicz, who is still gathering numbers, can’t promise layoffs will be avoided. Meanwhile, Gov. Jim Doyle on Wednesday told Cieslewicz and other mayors that cities should expect cuts in aid next year. Madison could see a 5 percent, or about a $435,000, cut in state shared revenue and possible reductions in other aid programs, Cieslewicz said.

An effort to save tax exemptions for nonprofit housing providers in Madison is heating up with advocates vowing a protest with tents at the state Capitol next week and top city officials pushing for a change in state law. But the city is continuing to scrutinize nonprofits, especially any that appear to be channeling too much money to for-profit subcontractors.

Madison must return property tax money to Walgreens Drug stores

The city of Madison and other local taxing bodies have been ordered to pay about $248,000 in property taxes and interest to Walgreen Drug Stores and could be on the hook for hundreds of thousands more pending the outcome of an ongoing property assessment dispute. The dispute over how much two east side Madison Walgreens were worth when calculating local property taxes went all the way to the state Supreme Court last July.

A Dane County Regional Transit Authority board would have to hold a referendum before it could impose a sales tax, the Legislature's budget committee agreed early Friday. If the measure makes it through the rest of the budget process, the Dane County Board could create an RTA board by early next year, Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk spokesman Josh Wescott said.

WPS Insurance plans to lay off 39 employees at two of its Wisconsin offices. In a consolidation move, WPS will eliminate 13 jobs at its Wausau office and transfer the work to personnel at the corporate headquarters in Madison. Executive vice president Bill Bathke confirmed Wednesday that the downsizing would take effect July 2. He said the terminated workers would receive severance pay consideration. "We are not closing the Wausau office," Bathke said. "We are realigning some functions."

The measure is expected to pass next week and be signed into law by Gov. Jim Doyle. All workplaces would be smoke-free under the bill before the Legislature. Legislative leaders, smoking ban advocates and the Tavern League of Wisconsin agreed to the changes to the proposal, which is now on a fast track. With little opposition remaining, the bill is set for a vote Wednesday in both houses of the Legislature.

A housing development proposed for Milwaukee's Bay View neighborhood would produce the same amount of energy as it consumes, if the project goes forward. A housing development proposed for Milwaukee's Bay View neighborhood would produce the same amount of energy as it consumes, if the project goes forward. The city Housing Authority is proposing the $40 million development, dubbed Eco-Bay, for the former Army Reserve site at 2372 S. Logan Ave. Eco-Bay would feature 20 single-family homes and townhomes, which would be sold at market rates. It also would have 110 to 120 below-market rental units: 75 to 80 independent living senior apartments, and 35 to 40 assisted living senior apartments, the Department of City Development announced Thursday.

When he sold his company last fall for $62 million, Jim Lindenberg could not bring himself to put his money into an ailing bank system or a faltering stock market. So he invested it in real estate, registering the most expensive home purchase ever recorded in Waukesha County. Lindenberg and his family paid $5.8 million for a four-story mansion that was built about 100 years ago on the shores of Pine Lake. Not only is that the most ever paid for a home in Waukesha County, it is million paid in 2007 for the historic second in the region only to the $6.6 Uihlein mansion overlooking Lake Michigan in Whitefish Bay. Mike Ruzicka, president of the Greater Milwaukee Association of Realtors, said the $5.8 million deal demonstrates that wealthy home buyers are relatively immune to tremors in economic landscape.

Stop at a house for sale by First Weber Group Realtors, make a call, punch in a number and get a 30-second streaming video of the house sent to your phone. You also can get information sent as text to your cell phone, or even more data by e-mail. "It gets the information out there to anybody and everybody who wants it right away," said Marilee Baranowski, an agent with First Weber. The service, called FrontRunner, was introduced last month and is provided for every house listed with First Weber. Many other real estate brokers are offering similar services, as new technology is changing the way houses are bought and sold. Many potential buyers begin looking for a home online - and those searches no longer are limited to brokers' Web sites. They may begin on such sites as JSOnline.com, Google, Yahoo, MSN, Trulia, Craigslist, Homes.com, Zillow, FrontDoor and Cyberhomes.

Developers of suburban condos held at least one advantage over their counterparts in downtown Milwaukee when the housing bubble burst. It's a lot easier to delay building in the burbs, where condominiums are typically developed within relatively small buildings, than in a downtown high-rise or other large, multistory project.So, while Milwaukee's suburbs have empty condos waiting for buyers, developers there have been able to hold off on building additional units - while waiting for demand to pick up. "Why try to push a product when there's so much uncertainty out there?" asked Jeff Scrima, a condo broker who operates Canterbury Realty LLC.

A 33,443-square-foot office building near the former Northridge Mall has been sold for $1.75 million, according to Siegel-Gallagher commercial real estate brokerage. The building, at 9001 N. 76th St., was sold to K&K Holdings Granville WI LLC, which lists the Elkhorn law firm of Godfrey, Leibsle, Blackbourn & Howarth as its registered agent. It was sold by Granville Professional Building LLP, which lists Laura Arnow, of Fox Point, as its agent. The sale was brokered by John Dulmes, of Siegel-Gallagher.

The 56,460-square-foot former Waynz World indoor sports facility, in the Town of Vernon, has been sold for $2.45 million, according to broker Jeff Hoffman, of Judson & Associates. The building, at S68 W22665 National Ave., northeast of the I-43/Highway 164 interchange, was sold by Anchor Bank, which took control of the property last year when Waynz World ran into financial trouble. It was bought by International Union of Painters and Allied Trades No. 7, which will convert the building into a training facility. Hoffman represented Anchor Bank, and Dave Hazenfield, of the Dickman Co., represented the union.

The developer of the Park Lafayette condominium towers on Milwaukee's east side is in a dispute with the landlord of the condo development's off-site sales center. As a result, Renaissant Development Group LLC is facing a possible eviction proceeding at the sales center, according to a Milwaukee County Circuit Court filing. An affiliate of Lighthouse Development Co. says in court documents that Renaissant has fallen behind on its rent for the sales center, located at 2025 N. Summit Ave. The Lighthouse affiliate, LDC 910 Land Place LLC, has filed an eviction suit.

An 88-room hotel planned for the former Chancery build ling on Downer Ave. is on hold, but a smaller hotel might instead be built at the southeast corner of Downer Ave. and Park Place, developer Joel Lee tells me. Lee and New Land Enterprises initially had plans to develop a hotel with extended-stay rooms at the building that once housed the Chancery Pub & Restaurant and Einstein Bros. Bagels. That building would be remodeled and expanded. But it's difficult to obtain financing right now for commercial development projects, Lee said. The street's merchants still want to see a Downer Ave. hotel, which would generate retail

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. By doing so, the companies have evaded paying worker's compensation premiums and payroll taxes, such as Social Security contributions, Hozeny said. Those actions hurt workers by denying them benefits, while also giving the dishonest contractors a way to underbid companies that follow the rules, he said.

The redevelopment of the former Pabst brewing complex on downtown Milwaukee's northwestern edge continues, despite an economic slowdown and tightening credit markets that have killed or postponed other large real estate projects. The 21-acre property was purchased in 2006 by an investors group formed by Joseph Zilber. Zilber has since sold some of the buildings at the development, known as The Brewery, while financing much of the development work.

Cudahy officials plan to spend $440,000 to spur redevelopment of the vacant Kohl's Food Store on the northeast corner of Kinnickinnic and Plankinton avenues. The money would come from unused tax-incremental financing funds allocated by the city last year for a proposed residential and business complex that never materialized. The Common Council on April 21 authorized transferring the money to the Kohl's proposal. The Community Development Authority had previously approved the developer's financing plan for the project. The city would be reimbursed with tax revenue generated by the development. A developer is eyeing the abandoned grocery store site, but specific details, including the identity of the developer, have not been disclosed at this time.

It's not as earth-shattering as Bob Dylan's decision to go electric, but Wednesday's announcement that real estate transaction documents can now be electronically recorded promises to speed up transaction closings, supporters say. Those transactions, which often involve large amounts of paper work, may take several days, or even weeks to close when filed by hand at a county Register of Deeds. By recording the paperwork electronically, banks, mortgage companies and others will be able to submit documents immediately to a Registers of Deeds from any location, and can be alerted to filing errors in a matter of minutes, according to the Governor’s Electronic Recording Council-Wisconsin

A 130,000-square-foot sports complex proposed for Sussex could begin construction by summer, my colleague Scott Williams reports. The Engage Sportsplex is targeting fans of soccer, volleyball and other indoor sports, and would be developed by a Chicago-area firm. The Engage Sportsplex is targeting fans of soccer, volleyball and other indoor sports, and would be developed by a Chicago-area firm.

Not everyone thinks the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's plan to develop an academic facility on the lakefront is a good idea. Preserve our Parks, a local group, says the former Pieces of Eight restaurant site should be preserved for green space. I had that information in Tuesday's Journal Sentinel article about the UWM proposal. But it got cut because the article was too long. UWM on Friday will make a presentation to the Board of Harbor Commissioners about why the former restaurant site, which is owned by the city, is a good location for the headquarters of UWM's proposed School of Freshwater Sciences. Bruce Block, chairman of the UWM Foundation, said he understands the concerns of opponents. But Block said the UWM facility would include public access to the lakefront, which the restaurant did not allow.

Construction began recently for Jackson Square. The project, which is being developed by Robert Joseph, is an 81-unit apartment building with 9,000 square feet of retail space, which is being built at the northwest corner of East Menomonee and North Jackson streets in Milwaukee's Historic Third Ward.

The largest owner of waterpark resorts in the country will no longer own its resort in the Wisconsin Dells area, although the property will retain the Great Wolf Lodge name. In a $6 million proposed deal with CNL Income Partners of Delaware, Great Wolf Resorts of Madison is selling its approximately 30 percent ownership in the Great Wolf Lodges in Lake Delton and Sandusky, Ohio.

Junior Achievement of Wisconsin still hopes to raise enough money to buy the former Discovery World building in downtown Milwaukee, says Lisa Attonito, senior vice president. The private, nonprofit group, which educates young people about economics, announced plans a year ago to pay Discovery World $2.5 million for the 40,000-square-foot building, at W. Wells and N. James Lovell streets. Junior Achievement, if it can raise enough funds, would move its offices to downtown from 6924 N. Port Washington Road, Glendale. Also, much of the former museum space would be remodeled into "learning laboratories" for the organization's programs.

Sussex-based catalog and magazine printer Quad/Graphics said Tuesday that continued cutbacks from catalogers and print advertisers has prompted a reduction of 140 more workers from its North American workforce. Quad plans to make the cuts mostly in its pre-press and QuadTech operations. The company has about 9,000 employees nationwide, not quite 6,000 in Wisconsin, where it has five plants. Quad previously announced cutbacks of 100 employees last August and 550 in January. "Consumer confidence is still shaky so therefore catalogs and retailers are making reductions in the amount of what they print," said Clare Ho, a spokeswoman for Quad. Ho said affected employees would be let go this week and receive severance pay, extended benefits and re-employment assistance.

Several mayors said they expect new cuts in state aid after meeting with Gov. Jim Doyle on Wednesday about the state's worsening budget crisis - which could add $1 billion to the existing $5 billion deficit. Doyle will talk about the growing deficit at a 2 p.m. news conference Thursday. The budget deficit has increased because of a sharper-than-expected drop in tax collections. As a result, there likely will be deeper cuts in the shared-revenue program that is giving $974 million to local governments this year, the mayors said. "This is a very serious situation that all agencies of the state, and those of us who receive money from the state, are going to help pay - in the sense that we're going to help deal with this issue together," Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said after the meeting.

The number of Americans filing claims for unemployment insurance unexpectedly fell last week to the lowest level in three months, a sign the worst of the job cuts may be over. Initial jobless claims decreased by 34,000 to 601,000 in the week ended May 2, the fewest since late January, from a revised 635,000 the prior week, the Labor Department said today in Washington. The number of people collecting benefits climbed to 6.35 million the prior week, the 14th consecutive record, showing companies are still not hiring even as staff reductions abate. Fewer firings reduce the risk that gains in consumer spending will be cut short. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg News predict the payrolls report tomorrow may show unemployment rose to a 25-year high in April, indicating the labor market will be one of the last areas to emerge from the worst recession in at least 50 years.

General Motors Corp. posted a $6 billion first-quarter loss and said it spent $10.2 billion more cash than it took in during the first three months of the year as revenue plummeted by $20 billion. Chief Financial Officer Ray Young said talk of the company going into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection appeared to have scared some consumers away from buying GM vehicles. GM faces a June 1 government deadline to finish a restructuring plan or go into bankruptcy protection. GM's loss for the quarter amounted to $9.78 per share, compared with a loss of $3.3 billion, or $5.80 per share in the year-ago period. Revenue dropped sharply — 47 percent — from $42.4 billion to $22.4 billion in the quarter because of declining sales worldwide, mainly in North America and Europe, the company said.

Concerned about a continuing wave of vehicle sticker thefts, Milwaukee aldermen Tuesday threw their support behind Gov. Jim Doyle's plan to eliminate the stickers altogether. The Common Council sided with Doyle and Police Chief Edward Flynn in endorsing a provision of the governor's 2009-'11 state budget that would do away with annual registration stickers. That puts Milwaukee at odds with police chiefs elsewhere in Wisconsin, and with its own Department of Public Works. Other law enforcement leaders want to keep the stickers as an easy way for officers to check whether suspicious vehicles are properly registered. City public works officials also say parking checkers need the stickers to enforce an ordinance that bans unregistered vehicles from city streets, even if they're legally parked.

The state’s financial shortfall could grow by $1 billion or even more over the next two years, lawmakers said Tuesday. Sen. Luther Olsen, R-Ripon, a member of the Legislature’s budget committee, said that a worsening economy and falling tax collections could add as much as a $1.2 billion to a projected state budget deficit that was already nearly $6 billion earlier this year. A growing budget shortfall could lead to everything from higher taxes to furloughs or layoffs of state workers or cuts to programs such as education and health care.

Deteriorating city finances could force Milwaukee officials to order unpaid furloughs for thousands of city employees within weeks, Mayor Tom Barrett said Tuesday. Police officers and firefighters wouldn't be furloughed, but their overtime would be slashed and the battle over ladder truck staffing would be renewed, Barrett said. Other workers in essential services, such as those who run the Water Works, also might be exempted, as would part-timers, mayoral aides said. Every other full-time city worker - including the mayor but perhaps not other elected officials - would be required to take unpaid time off if the Common Council agrees, Barrett said. That would be roughly half the city's 7,500 full-time employees, or more than 3,700 workers, mayoral spokeswoman Jodie Tabak said.

State government's general fund - its main checkbook - faces a cash-flow shortage of up to $1.3 billion by the middle of the summer, state Secretary of Administration Michael Morgan has warned lawmakers. The cash-flow squeeze caused by declining tax collections may make it necessary to delay some state-aid payments or "prioritize" those payments, Morgan said. The general fund overcame a cash-flow deficit of $495 million in April by borrowing from other accounts, but there are limits on how much can be borrowed in that way, Morgan added.

Governor Jim Doyle today sent a letter to President Barack Obama saying Chrysler should amend its bankruptcy plan to keep the Kenosha location. As recently as Thursday afternoon, Chrysler had not informed Wisconsin officials that the Kenosha plant was not in the company’s future plans. The Governor has been working on an incentive plan with Chrysler and continues to push to keep the plant open. “Taxpayers understand being asked to loan Chrysler $12 billion to help them survive this economic downturn,” Governor Doyle wrote. “But Wisconsin workers will not understand having to sacrifice their jobs to a foreign plant.

The loss of 280 jobs at Thomas Industries in Sheboygan continues to roil the Capitol, with Republicans sharpening their criticisms of Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle for not doing enough to keep the company in Wisconsin. That has prompted Doyle's Department of Commerce to fight back, releasing a timeline that says Doyle personally offered the company a deal from the state if it stayed. The timeline was attached to letters Commerce Secretary Richard Leinenkugel sent Friday to state Sen. Joe Leibham (R-Sheboygan) and business lobbyists Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce. He asked them to provide a "public clarification" of their past remarks about how and why the company decided to move its Sheboygan operations to Monroe, La.

The news that the Kenosha engine factory, which traces its roots as a mainstay of Wisconsin manufacturing back to 1902, is unlikely to survive the Chrysler bankruptcy and bailout has shaken state and national officials who had thought the plant would make it through the industry shakeup. More than 800 workers face the prospect of losing their jobs with the closing of the Kenosha plant, which would be a significant aftershock to the state economy after last winter's shuttering of the General Motors plant in Janesville, which eliminated more than 2,500 jobs.

New foreclosure filings in Wisconsin fell 5% in April from the previous month and dropped about 10% in the southeastern part of the state. But professionals who track foreclosures said Monday not to read too much into the decline. Although many of the subprime and riskier mortgages already are in the foreclosure process, filings will continue to pile up as the poor economy leads to more job losses for people with standard mortgages, they said. "Now the foreclosures are happening because of economics - people losing their jobs," said Philip Crawford, founder of ForeclosureAlarm.com.

Evidence that housing is poised to improve and optimism about the results of banking "stress tests" raised hopes Monday that the recession is easing and helped lift a key stock market measure into the black for the year. Construction spending and pending home sales both fared better than expected in March, and private economists saw the reports as further evidence that the overall economy is stabilizing after its bleakest stretch in a half-century. If so, the economy might be able to mount a recovery in the second half of 2009.

The pace of layoffs slowed in April when employers cut 539,000 jobs, the fewest in six months. But the unemployment rate climbed to 8.9 percent, the highest since late 1983, as many as many businesses remain wary of hiring given all the economic uncertainties. The Labor Department tally released Friday wasn't nearly as deep as the 620,000 job cuts that economists were expecting, and was helped by a burst of government hiring. The rise in the unemployment rate from 8.5 percent in March matched economists' forecasts.

Government exams of the biggest U.S. banks have helped lift a cloud of uncertainty that has hung over the economy. The so-called stress tests -- a key Obama administration effort to boost confidence in the financial system -- showed nine of the 19 biggest banks have enough capital to withstand a deeper recession. Ten must raise a total of $75 billion in new capital to withstand possible future losses. "The publication of the stress tests simply cleared the air of uncertainty," said Allen Sinai, chief global economist at Decision Economics. "The results were not scary at all."