Park Towne : News & Notes

Game show guru Alex Trebek is coming to Madison. The Kohl Center will be the site of the 2008 "Jeopardy! " College Championship, producers announced Thursday. Ten episodes of the popular answer-and-question quiz show are scheduled to be taped there on April 11 and 12. "With a vibrant student population, Madison is a great college-oriented community and an ideal choice…

Editors Note: shouldn’t the title of the story been, “Who’s coming to town in April?”. Maybe not development per say, but this type of event will help us market Madison to the world. I suggest a Jump Around at each taping and a costume reception for Alex on State Street…

MON., OCT 29, 2007 - TOWN OF BURKE — A new customer is coming to the interchange of Highway 51 and Interstate 39-90-94, and it won't be driving an 18-wheeler. Instead, the new visitors to this truck stop-laden exit will be dressed in camouflage, blaze orange and khaki, and they'll be thinking about turkey, deer and fish. One of the largest Gander Mountain stores in the nation is scheduled to open this spring and could help transform the interchange into more than just a spot for diesel fuel, chili and a soda. The 90,000-square-foot store will replace the smaller Gander Mountain at East Towne and will be joined by a 24,000-square-foot Camper World…

10/31/2007 - SUN PRAIRIE -- For the head of Pan-O-Gold baking, investing in land conservation fits perfectly into his company's philosophy. "Eating healthy and being good stewards of the land is simply part of who we are," said Robin Alton, CEO of the Minnesota-based firm that operates a 180,000 square-foot bakery and distribution facility here…

Sunday, October 28, 2007 - The $85 Million Donation Will Let The Uw- madison School Keep Its Name. The Wisconsin School of Business at UW-Madison has received an $85 million gift from a small group of alumni to keep its name just as it is for the next 20 years. It's the largest single gift ever given to UW-Madison. At a time when it's become common practice for buildings, programs, stadiums or schools to be named after major benefactors, this gift goes in the opposite direction by preventing that from happening - and paying to keep it that way. "It's holding the name off the market - but allowing the (business) school to benefit from a gift that's of the same magnitude as current namings. It's brilliant," said UW-Madison Chancellor John Wiley...

Editors Note: I will sell the right not to rename News & Notes for $ 19.95 and dinner at Pepper Mill…

George Brader was 38 when he, his wife Maxine, and a handful of other couples starting thinking about forming a church on Madison 's West Side. At the time, they were holding Bible studies in their living rooms. They did form that church, and now, as Brader prepares to celebrate his 80th birthday Tuesday, Blackhawk Church is ready to open the doors Sunday of a new $17 million, state-of-the-art facility on the Far West Side to welcome the 4,000 or so people who now attend services…

10/30/2007 - MONONA -- It's big. Stocked with $8 million in grocery and other merchandise, one of the largest Wal-Mart Supercenters in the nation will open in Monona next Wednesday. The grand opening celebration, complete with cake for the public, is Nov. 7 at 7:30 a.m. Cash registers go on at 8 a.m. From then on, the store will be open 24 hours. The jury remains out on whether increased traffic will help nearby South Towne Mall and Monona Drive retailers, or whether Wal-Mart's low prices will drive neighborhood shops out of business…

THU., NOV 1, 2007 - What began as a plan to beef up Madison 's ability to promote economic development has devolved into a muddled compromise that accomplishes almost nothing. Unless you count expanding the city's bureaucracy as something. That 's why Mayor Dave Cieslewicz and the City Council should stop and start over…

Editors Note: I found a very good understanding of the sense of “Greater Madison” and the surrounding communities in Madison’s own Comprehensive Plan. This may be a good place to start. All area Comprehensive Plans can be found HERE…

THU., NOV 1, 2007 - Foreclosures more than doubled in Dane County and Wisconsin during the third quarter of 2007, compared with the same period a year ago, according to RealtyTrac, an online marketplace for foreclosure properties. The number of foreclosure filings, including default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions, was up 162 percent in Dane County…

Saturday, October 27, 2007 - Mayor Dave Cieslewicz's controversial pick to be the city's first economic and community development director pulled his name from consideration Friday, spurring the mayor's office to announce a reorganization of the position that would split its two main functions into separate jobs. Bill Clingan - the state Department of Workforce Development division administrator Cieslewicz nominated in September - said it was increasingly apparent that his nomination was undermining the mayor's vision for the position and that he was becoming a "distraction." He said he still believes combining functions like business recruitment and neighborhood revitalization in one office could work but not if staff members and other city players don't buy into it…

Editors Note: I hope development professions see this as an opportunity -- not a victory…

10/30/2007 - Catholic Charities Inc., the "faith in action" agency of the Diocese of Madison, announced that it has broken ground on a new assisted living center on the far west side. All Saints Assisted Living Center will be a 58-unit, 43,000 square-foot facility in the senior community known as the All Saints Neighborhood, near the intersection of Watts Road and County M. The two-story building is planned to accommodate…

Thursday, November 1, 2007 - When entering into a commercial lease, you need to know who's on your side and looking out for your interest - your real estate agent and attorney. The landlord will be drafting the lease, so it will be geared toward their best interests, more so than yours, with the goal of protecting their property and investment. While that doesn't mean the landlord and lease will not be fair, always review it with your real estate agent and attorney. Make sure they help you navigate unfamiliar terms and conditions. Make sure you know what is and isn't included in your basic rental…

Editors Note: But Ralph, if they read the lease they will actually know what’s in it…

Tuesday, October 30, 2007 - The University of Wisconsin System is about to get bigger. More researchers at UW-Milwaukee. More adult students in the two-year UW Colleges. And more undergrads at UW-Green Bay and UW-Oshkosh. The state budget signed into law last week allows UW campuses to begin expansions intended to increase the number of graduates and boost economic development. UW System President Kevin Reilly had campaigned for more than a year for the so-called Growth Agenda, which he called critical to the state's economic future…

Wednesday, October 31, 2007 - Construction Of The First Hotel Started In July And Is Expected To Be Finished Next Summer. The first of two projects that will lead to two hotels near the Princeton Club at the Beltline and High Point Road have begun. Construction began in July on a 132-room, four-story Hampton Inn & Suites. The project is scheduled for completion next summer. The construction of a 121-room, four-story, Homewood Suites by Hilton is scheduled to begin in December and be completed by late next year or early 2009, said Stacey Barmore, director of marketing for the North Central Group, a Madison-based hotel management and development company. The hotels, in the 400 block of Commerce Drive, are being built by Raymond Management Co., of Madison. The North Central Group will assume the operational duties and day-to-day management of the hotels, Barmore said. The two companies also…

Wednesday, October 31, 2007 - When delegates attend a convention in Madison, they sometimes make a side trip to Wisconsin Dells for the water parks, casino and other attractions. Now, Madison often is becoming the side trip as more conventions are held at expanded facilities in the Dells. Deb Archer, president of the Greater Madison and Convention Bureau, said more hotel rooms near Monona Terrace are needed to stem the losses of conventions to other cities, especially the Dells. "The loss ratio is accelerating as our competition gets tougher," she said. "The landscape's changed since Monona Terrace opened."…

Thursday, November 1, 2007 - Construction began in September on Arbor Gate, a $48 million office and retail project south of the Beltline and east of Todd Drive that will replace a strip of aging retail buildings that have been torn down. The 215,000-square-foot project includes two six-story office and retail towers on six acres. A future phase of the project is planned for another part of the property. The ground floor will have shops and restaurants, and there will be office space above. The upper floors will have views of the UW Arboretum , the UW-Madison campus and the Isthmus…

10/18/07 - New Orleans cuisine and entertainment arrive in Fitchburg later this month when Liliana’s Restaurant opens on McKee Road, a half block east of Fish Hatchery Road. The restaurant is the dream of chef Dave Heide, a former Fitchburg resident whose culinary apprenticeship encompassed several well-known restaurants. He named the restaurant after his daughter. Why New Orleans fare? Heide said he loves Italian cuisine but thought the local market was…

Thursday, November 1, 2007 – Virent Energy Systems, Madison, has received a $2 million Advanced Technology Program grant from the National Institute for Standards and Technology , which is part of the U.S. Department of Commerce . The money will help fund Virent's efforts to find more efficient ways to break down agricultural waste products into sugars that can be converted into biofuels. Platypus Technologies in Fitchburg has received a $2.3 million contract with the U.S. Army's Edgewood Chemical Biological Center in Maryland to develop a badge for detecting chemical weapons…

Thursday, November 1, 2007 - Madison has a reputation as a progressive, trend-setting city, but when it comes to skateboarding, it is behind the curve. That may be changing as Madison is planning its first public skateboard park as part of the new Central Park being drawn up on the Near East Side. A committee assigned to devise a plan for Central Park isn't expected to issue its report until early next year, but Chairman Bill Barker said it will recommend a skateboard park be included, likely as the first phase of development. Barker said the committee, though skeptical about a skate park at first, has been impressed by the involvement and support of people such as Dave Mayhew, a retired professional skater who runs a skateboard shop in Middleton…

Thursday, November 1, 2007 - Coldwell Banker Sveum Realtors of Dane County and Coldwell Banker First United Realty of Janesville have merged to form Coldwell Banker Success . The new business is equally owned by Sveum and First United. Terms of the merger were not disclosed. First United has 40 agents, with offices in Janesville and Evansville. Sveum has more than 50 agents, with offices in Fitchburg, Stoughton, Sun Prairie and Verona. First United is the top-ranked Coldwell Banker affiliate in Wisconsin in terms of units sold this year. The merged firm's Web site is www.cbsuccessrealty.com…

Thursday, November 1, 2007 - Great Wolf Resorts will build another indoor waterpark resort and has positioned itself to add one more near one of the largest casinos in the world. The Madison company announced it will break ground before the end of the year on a 402-suite Great Wolf Lodge in Concord, N.C., a suburb of Charlotte. It's expected to cost more than $120 million, the company said. The announcement was made just a day after the company announced it had signed a letter of intent to develop a Great Wolf Lodge resort with the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation in Mashantucket, Conn., which is about halfway between New York and Boston. The tribe, housed on one of the oldest, continuously occupied Indian reservations in North America, operates the 340,000-square-foot Foxwoods Resort Casino, which has more than 380 gaming tables and more than 7,400 slot machines...

Wednesday, October 31, 2007 - Safe passage for bicyclists and walkers on a popular recreational trail in Verona will be all but guaranteed next year thanks to one of the largest grants ever made for Dane County parks. The Madison Community Foundation is giving $150,000 to help pay for the construction of an underpass at County MV (Business 18-151) near the Badger Prairie Health Care facility on Verona's east side. The underpass will allow bikers and walkers to continue traveling on the Military Ridge State Trail and Ice Age National Scenic Trail without having to cross the busy four-lane highway…

11/01/2007 - Hyde's Mill is a photographer's delight. The weathered grist mill with its wooden waterwheel, glistening water falling from the 1850 dam and park-like setting draws tourists from afar and Sunday drivers from nearby. It conjures images of farmers on horse-drawn wagons filled with bags of corn for grinding. The mill is just down the road from the Hyde store, which…

10/31/2007 - WASHINGTON (AP) _ The Federal Reserve, confronted with surging oil prices and a slumping housing market, on Wednesday cut a key interest rate by a quarter-point, the second rate reduction this year…

It will be a classic battle between a David and a Goliath. Milwaukee and its fledging regional economic development group, M-7, have gotten themselves into one heck of a fight...

Goal - Encourage the preparation of business plans for starting businesses, making significant changes to existing businesses, or launching new products in northeast Wisconsin. Why - Business plans are a critical tool in the proper planning and launch of new ventures and are the preferred mode of communication between entrepreneurs and innovators and potential investors. Who can enter – Individuals and companies that meet the contest's goal…

BELOIT, Wisconsin | A half dozen sunflower oil vats are bubbling merrily inside Kettle Foods’ new potato chip plant in Beloit, Wisconsin. Each vat is the size of a minivan and capable of cooking hundreds of freshly sliced potatoes in a single batch. Several times an hour, like clockwork, potatoes tumble through an overhead chute and into the automated food slicer, where the starchy roots are whittled into pale medallions for easy cooking. Then they’re dumped directly into the vats, where an attentive cook guides the chips through the cooking process. According to Kettle, this process will yield more than 56,000 bags of potato chips each year in the 73,000 square foot plant.

Muskego facility planned by GE. Distribution center would move jobs from Cudahy. GE Healthcare is proposing a 485,000-square-foot distribution center in Muskego, a facility that would shift 125 jobs to that Waukesha County community from Cudahy...

Project to spur Town Center development. Insight Development Group received the support of the Mequon Planning Commission recently after presenting a conceptual plan for a mixed-use development at the current Thermoset site...

Hearing set for 'gateway for development'. A public hearing will be held prior to the next Plan Commission meeting concerning a proposed change in zoning along North Chicago Avenue as part of the city's tax-incremental finance district No. 2...

Greenfield Highlands idea begins to bloom. Finalized plan includes landscaping, architectural details. The Greenfield Common Council has finalized plans for Greenfield Highlands, a development that will include 156 condominium units at the northwest corner of State Highway 100 and Armour Avenue...

Village, school district relationship a model one. With municipal and school district budgets tightening statewide, relationships between the two entities are increasingly important, Germantown Park and Recreation Director Brett Altergott said...

Medical facility proposed for College, Moorland. Project would be part of new TIF district. Residents soon will get their first look at plans for a new 485,000-square-foot GE Medical facility proposed for a 35-acre site south of College Avenue and west of Moorland Road...

Senior housing causes concern. When Village of Eagle residents Lisa Eddy and Liz Erman bought lots in Fox Chase subdivision, they were under the belief the strip of land between their homes might be used as a drainage easement. Now, with Bielinski Homes' plans for a senior apartment...

WCEDC announces county economic positioning strategy. Details to be outlined in coming months. Waukesha County Economic Development Corp. (WCEDC) released a draft economic positioning strategy for Waukesha County. WCEDC's board of directors plans to review and provide feedback on the initiative at its quarterly...

Not just for big cities. Bustling downtown condo life luring residents away from rural homes. The condominium developments of downtown Milwaukee and adjacent wards have drawn intense interest from baby boomers and young professionals who want to plug into the buzz of a busy...

Not all subprime fallout has landed. Wells Fargo official says situation won't stabilize until '09. More than $1 trillion in adjustable-rate mortgages may jump higher in the next five years, triggering "a tidal wave of defaults and foreclosures," America's largest mortgage servicer predicted...

Thursday, October 18, 2007 - CORRECTION: Dennis Sandora of M&I Bank was referring to real estate in Florida when he talked about the market being overpriced by 30 percent. A story in Thursday's edition incorrectly said he was referring to the Dane County housing market. (Correction published 10/19/07)…

Editors Note: An honest mistake, but one both Mike and I are anxious to correct…

Sunday, October 21, 2007 - On a large picture of Madison's skyline in his office, Rich Lynch, president of J.H. Findorff & Son, can point to at least at dozen major buildings that his company has built. Findorff, founded in 1890 by carpenter John Findorff, has developed a Madison reputation as a builder of big projects. Among them are Monona Terrace, the Overture Center and American Family Children's Hospital. The company is now working on the University Square mixed-use project, Capitol West condominiums and the UW-Madison Institutes for Discovery. But Lynch, who personally supervised the construction of Monona Terrace, said some of the most memorable projects are the small ones, such as a school addition 15 years ago on Madison's West Side…

Saturday, October 20, 2007 - Prices At Aria In Sun Prairie Range From $219,900 To $459,900. Condominium sales were slow over the summer at the Aria in Sun Prairie, but developer John Waterman remains optimistic. He knows that demographics are on his side for the 55 and older community because of an increasing number of aging baby boomers who may want to give up lawn mowing and snow shoveling. He also thinks that the quality of the Aria condominiums - gas fireplaces, sun rooms, spacious bright floor plans, full basements and kitchens with granite countertops and stainless steel appliances - will be attractive to buyers. Waterman plans to build 10 four-unit buildings, 26 duplexes and 39 single-family units on a 43-acre site near highways 19 and C…

Editors Note: I have suggested for some time now that we need to promote the entire region to this (“don’t call me senior”) demographic. I even had the hook “come for a football game, stay for a lifetime”, (click here for my BusinessWatch article). I know that bio is cool but boomers are – well – booming.

Saturday, October 20, 2007 - Regent Street, the bustling but worn corridor between Camp Randall and the Kohl Center, may get a face-lift, more shops, tall buildings and a parking garage. After nearly a year's effort, a special committee is nearly done with the first-ever streetscape and design guidelines for the Regent Street corridor and neighborhood to the north, a 160-acre mishmash of small shops, chain stores, houses, offices and parking lots. The neighborhood plan, which still must be finalized and then approved by the City Council, covers an area between Camp Randall, the Kohl Center, Regent and Johnson streets. But it's far from clear how or when the blueprint will become reality for the corridor, heavily used by students, locals, commuters and, on game days, legions of red-clad Badgers faithful…

FRI., OCT 26, 2007 - UW-Madison's new Microbial Sciences Building, which will be formally dedicated this afternoon, is now the largest academic building on campus. But within its expansive 330,000 square feet, expect to find a strong sense of neighborhood, said professor Glenn Chambliss, chairman of the College of Agricultural and Life Science 's bacteriology department, which now makes its home there. The neighborhood concept is part of the facility 's design not just because it feels good, Chambliss said, but because it makes for good science…

WED., OCT 24, 2007 - Eliot Butler appears ready to take full advantage of the new state budget. If the budget plan is signed by Gov. Jim Doyle as presented, Butler, owner of the Great Dane Pub & Brewery, said his company's beer will soon be flowing at its newest location, at Hilldale Shopping Center. In addition, plans for expansion will proceed. "It's a huge relief," Butler said of a budget provision that allows brew pubs that make less than 10,000 barrels…

Wednesday, October 24, 2007 - A battle is brewing along Old University Avenue, where one of Madison's leading real estate families is pushing the envelope on tall buildings in an established neighborhood. The Mullins Development Group is pursuing a high-rise apartment complex at Campus Drive and Highland Avenue, across from the Best Western Inntowner hotel. It would be aimed at professionals, students and staff at the nearby hospitals, potentially including a future transit station for trains or buses. The project would consume the entire triangular-shaped 2500 block of University Avenue. Lombardino's restaurant would stay, but the balance of the block would be razed. Preliminary plans call for a single building with street-level retail and four levels of parking, one below ground. The apartments would start at level four, rising over 150 feet high and offering views of Lake Mendota and the west campus…

COMMERCE The Wisconsin Department of Commerce is offering the Women's Business Enterprise designation to help women-owned businesses procure contracts. The designation is intended to help companies seeking to meet diversity goals to identify businesses that are owned by women…

Wanted: Pied piper for commerce secretary. State lags in attracting businesses, observers say. Shortly before announcing her resignation as Wisconsin's secretary of commerce, Mary Burke issued a harsh criticism of her agency...

Editors Note: We need a Secretary focused on placing Wisconsin of the economic development map. We need a state cheerleader who will work with local communities to attract new business to the state…

Fri Oct 19 2007 - The Dane County Board on Thursday approved its first comprehensive plan, which lays out general guidelines for future policy decisions, but also may set the table for legal battles over zoning between the county and town governments. The county's plan has been developed over the last five years through public hearings and the work of a steering committee made up of citizens and elected officials. Local governments must pass a comprehensive plan by 2010, according to the state's 1999 Smart Growth Law…

Sunday, October 21, 2007 - A unique form of business multi-tasking is now on display in the city's old commercial district. Forrestal's photography studio recently opened a bar and restaurant on its premises, which are sufficiently picturesque for both purposes. The backdrop for the photography and the food is the old American Hotel, which opened in the Civil War era and was known for its 25-cent Sunday dinners, as well as a place to drink alcohol when neighboring areas were "dry." It's one of two buildings that survived the Great Middleton Fire of 1900 (the other is the old opera house). The ivy-walled courtyard with its gazebo, limestone pond and white canopy with paper lanterns is an idyllic place to dine on a balmy evening. On non-balmy evenings, a greenhouse allows diners to look at the courtyard. Food is also served in the handsome bar in the building's oldest section. The Gallery Pub and Restaurant is part of a rapidly growing enclave of locally owned restaurants in Middleton's historic downtown buildings…

Sunday, October 21, 2007 - The outlet mall here has been open almost 10 years. In that time, thousands from south central Wisconsin and beyond have flocked to this Jefferson County village for deals on shoes, bedding, clothes and pots and pans. The impact of development on Johnson Creek since 1998 can easily be quantified, and not just by the number of gargantuan cream puffs and caramel apples sold at the Pine Cone, an eight-acre truck stop with 9,000 square feet of convenience store and restaurant space adjacent to the outlet mall. The village's population has grown by more than 33 percent and the property value has skyrocketed from $46 million to $284 million…

10/25/2007 - Bobby Hinds admits he never gave much thought to local history. He was a Kenosha boy who boxed at the University of Wisconsin, then worked as an insurance executive before owning Lifeline USA, the well-known Madison-based company that manufactures and markets Lifeline jump ropes and Lifeline gyms. But his interests took a complete turn when he and his wife Joy bought an old farm in Iowa County…

10/25/2007 - Stepping onto the refurbished basketball court, Gary Gorman beams. "My dad remembers watching his uncle Leonard play basketball here in the 1930s," Gorman says, pointing out the narrow free throw lane that was standard in the days before George Mikan and other big men changed the game. The court is in what has long been known as the Red Brick School on Oregon's Main Street…

10/25/2007 - Gary Gorman never intended to start a company focused on historic preservation development. During law school, Gorman got a job at the old state Commissioner of Securities office reviewing offering memoranda for real estate deals. So when he joined a law firm after graduating, he ended up representing developers and syndicators who were raising capital from investors to do their deals…

Editors Note: I know – it’s Gary Gorman week but the new digs are way cool and News and Notes ran the local article that got the other papers interested. Gary, I can do lunch next week…

10/23/2007 - Don't they always blame the dog? A poem about a gas passing dog -- at least the author claims it was the dog -- has earned a Colorado man Duluth Trading Co.'s first Golden Plumber Award for the funniest story to occur at a job site. Bert Entwistle will receive the Golden Plumber Award trophy and $1,000 in gift cards at a ceremony next month at Duluth's corporate offices in Belleville, the company announced today…

Editors Note: If anyone can find the actual poem I would love a copy to post…

First-Ring Industrial Re-Development Enterprises, an entity formed earlier this year by the City of West Allis that is similar to the Milwaukee Economic Development Corp., recently received $35 million in federal New Markets Tax Credits. The tax credits will be used to assist redevelopment projects in Milwaukee, Racine and Kenosha counties, said John Stibal, West Allis director of development. "It will be used for your basic redevelopment projects," Stibal said. Preference will be given to projects that create a large number of jobs and add significantly to the tax base, he said. As a land-locked and built-out suburb, West Allis has been working for years to redevelop its many obsolete industrial sites. The redevelopment of much of the former Allis Chalmers plant into…

Commerce State Bank has awarded the construction contract for its new 33,000-square-foot headquarters building to WB Corp. of West Bend. Construction of the new bank building on Silverbrook Drive at the intersection of Highway 45 and Paradise Drive will begin immediately. The new Commerce State Bank building will be the most visible and prominent class "A" office building in West Bend, according to Joe Fazio, chairman and chief executive officer of the bank. "WB Corp. clearly established themselves as experts in the construction of high quality, complex office buildings…

A City of Milwaukee Comprehensive Area Plan to guide future development and identify catalytic opportunities for Milwaukee's northwest side is in draft form and ready for public review. The plan's recommendations include reducing the amount of rental housing units in the area, having new housing developments be owner occupied and redevelopment for the former Northridge Mall property. Two "open house" sessions will offer the public a chance to review the plan and share ideas. One will be held from 9-11 a.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 24, at Direct Supply, 6663 N. Industrial Road, and the other will be held from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Oct. 27, at Destiny Youth Plaza, 7210 N. 76th St. The plan can also be viewed on the Department of City Development's web site at www.mkedcd.org.

Whispers of Wal-Mart at Iceport site swirl. The Common Council, the Community Development Authority and the Plan Commission are hosting a special meeting at 6:30 p.m., Wednesday Oct. 31, to discuss the future of the Iceport property...

Housing plan trimmed. Northland Development officials hope a scaled-down version of Canterbury Court will win the approval they have sought for almost two years...

Medical center opens, offers spa-like services. Medical Associates Health Centers is trying something new in Menomonee Falls...

Drexel Avenue will be more pedestrian-friendly. Sidewalks near new Shoppes are first step. Responding to community pressure for a more pedestrian-friendly environment last week, the Franklin Plan Commission recommended measures to allow for the reconstruction of West Drexel Avenue...

Revenue to keep moving from one TIF to another. Industrial park's success offsets slow business park growth. An unexpectedly slow-developing Germantown Business Park has led the village to take measures to prevent a possible $1 million burden on property taxpayers during the 2009 budget year...

Streetscaping project continues on Oakland. Although there have been a few snags along the way, work on the Oakland Avenue streetscaping plan is progressing...

Stormwater utility fee established. New fee means $36 tacked onto tax bills. The owner of a single-family residence in South Milwaukee will pay an annual fee of $36 for a stormwater utility fee approved by the Common Council Oct. 16...

$1.75 million Pabst interchange OK'd. Move made despite loss of developer. Setting aside concerns about explosive growth and the recent loss of a shopping mall developer, Waukesha County Board members agreed Tuesday to contribute $1.75 million for a new freeway interchange at Pabst Farms...

Hotel developers hope for spring start. Kimpton project planned for vacant Park East area. Developers seeking to build a luxury Kimpton Hotel in downtown Milwaukee expect to begin construction by spring...

Hotel planned for Grafton Highway 60 interchange. An 83-room hotel is the latest commercial development planned for a rapidly developing interchange in Grafton...

UWM plan survives budget. $8.4 million tagged for expansion project. The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's plan to build a new engineering campus and research park, hailed as one of the biggest economic growth projects in southeastern Wisconsin, remained on track Monday as...

Developer proposes senior complex. Aurora Sinai's former western campus may be converted. A portion of Aurora Sinai Medical Center's former western campus would be converted into 52 apartments under a new proposal...

Conference center wants annexation. Green Lake complex, town disagree on development. Green Lake Conference Center, a prestigious mid-Wisconsin religious and family gathering spot, has vowed to exit its hometown...

Park East poised to start renewal. Development plans are close to bearing first fruit in area north of downtown. A few years from now, we might look back at 2007 as launch time for Milwaukee's Park East redevelopment area...

$931,790 backed for Milwaukee projects. Federal funds would go to efforts including development, training. The Milwaukee Common Council's Community & Economic Development Committee recommended Tuesday that five large-impact projects receive a record $931,790 in federal funds in 2008...

10/16/2007 - SOMEBODY MUST have spotted them getting off the cruise ship from Rome and called the police. The ship had docked at La Spezia at a little past noon on a beautiful Sunday last month. The American couple bought tickets for a tram tour of the city and got great seats at the very rear of the tram, offering a panoramic view off the back. The sun-splashed waterfront was glorious. But minutes passed, the tram did not move, and then the police cars began to arrive, one after another. "Something big is going on," the American man said…

Editors Note: The man was George Weiland, a Madison Real Estate broker and this clearly demonstrates the length we will go to in order to publicize our commercial holdings! Please give George a call and wish him well -- and ignore the bulge in his coat…

Available commercial properties for the greater Madison area are now listed by community. The listings are available at individual community websites, along with information about the community, easily accessible by clicking the community on our regional map found here. If you are a broker please check your listings for accuracy and correct contact data.

10/12/2007 - MADISON - Mary Burke will step down as head of the state Department of Commerce on Nov. 1, Gov. Jim Doyle announced today. Burke, who has been commerce secretary for two-and-one-half years, said she is leaving to devote more time to her non-profit work and family interests. She is president of the Boy’s and Girls Club of Dane County and her family’s Trinity Foundation. “I’ll miss the people, but this job is all-consuming,” said Burke, who said she was honored to hold the post. “But I’m leaving with the state headed in the right direction…

The newest residential development on the Conservancy Place site in DeForest will host an open house, or more appropriately an “open lot” event Saturday, October 27th from 11:00 am until 2:00 pm. Events will include special pricing and financing on lots, free brats and burgers, free pumpkins for the kids, the chance to win Badger hockey tickets, a GPS system and an iPod. Ozee Cars of Stoughton will also be offering tours via neighborhood electric vehicles. Joe Ring with Park Towne Development states, “We are excited to bring these new home sites into the DeForest area…

The City of Madison is beginning their planning process to develop the new Downtown Master Plan as part of the citywide Comprehensive Plan. The outcome of this will influence the rewriting of the downtown portion of the city zoning code that is taking place over the next several years. The outcome of both will have a major impact on the future of redevelopment in the downtown area. We feel strongly that the process should include major downtown property owners and developers in a tangible and meaningful way and plan to draft a position paper encouraging the Mayor to be supportive of this position. On October 23, 2007, Smart Growth Madison Inc (SGM) will be hosting a Downtown Developer/Property Owner Roundtable to bring together these groups…

FRI., OCT 19, 2007 - MOUNT HOREB — The classrooms are hot. Some of them have wasps. Sections of the three-level school are unreachable by elevator. The roof needs replacing. Some look at the Primary Center here — built in 1918 — and see a deteriorating school building that is expensive to maintain. Others see an irreplaceable example of Wisconsin Prairie School architecture…

10/11/07 - Joan Gefke shudders to think what the Red Brick School looked like a year ago. “Oh dear, what a mess it was,” said Gefke, a local historian who spent her grade school years at the 1922 building before graduating in 1947. “It was in pretty sad shape.” Today, the beloved building near the corner of East Grove and Main streets has been transformed. Gorman and Company, led by president Gary Gorman, is putting the finishing touches on a $3 million-plus renovation, and this weekend about 40 employees will begin the move from their former headquarters on S. Park Street in Madison to Oregon’s downtown…

Thursday, October 18, 2007 - The Wisconsin Heart & Vascular Institute announced that late next year it will relocate its Madison clinic to the Arbor Gate development being constructed at 2601 W. Beltline. The institute began in 2001 with eight cardiologists practicing in space on the Meriter Hospital campus and has grown to 13 cardiologists, two vascular surgeons and five mid-level providers, necessitating additional space. The institute is the first tenant to sign a lease for Arbor Gate, a $55 million office and retail project south of the West Beltline and east of Todd Drive that is replacing a strip of aging retail buildings. The 215,000 square-foot project includes two six-story office/retail towers…

Editors Note: And if these guys can’t get your heart going you can walk across the street…

MIDDLETON, WI, October 16, 2007 – Sperry Van Ness, one of the nation’s largest commercial real estate investment brokerage firms, has announced that Jeff Jansen, CCIM and Karen Trieloff of the Middleton, WI office have completed a lease with Inner Fire Yoga in the University Place Shopping Center, located at Whitney Way and University Avenue in Madison. Jeff Jansen and Karen Trieloff represented the owner on the transaction…

FRI., OCT 19, 2007 - The bulk grains, organic vegetables and soy milk have been absent from 32 N. Bassett St. for almost a year. But the legacy of the Mifflin Street Co-op is helping the new tenant and likely will aid other community organizations in years to come...

Editors Note: Hundred’s of hippies are lost in downtown Madison seeking "Food for the Revolution". I truly love this city…

A "green" affordable apartment project is set to open Friday in Middleton, Nakoma Development LLC and Enterprise Community Investment Inc. announced. Parmenter Circle, 2310 Parmenter St., is a 50-unit, mixed-income complex providing 40 affordable and 10 market-rate apartments…

Wednesday, October 17, 2007 - A t the immaculate condo of UW-Madison students Dan Bereiter and Shaun Aukland, stainless-steel appliances gleam in the kitchen. A slate-paneled fireplace adorns the great room. The porch offers a view of Lake Mendota. And a word of warning before stepping on the pale, birch floors: They "scratch easily." "It's nicer than the house I grew up in," said Bereiter, 19, whose parents bought the Downtown condo at 311 N. Hancock for him to live in while he attends school…

Prairie Bean Coffee is located in a beautifully designed space in the Fitchburg Center technology park -- it's on the ground level of an earthy looking office building called the Agora. Agora is Greek for public space or marketplace. The white tentlike structure next door (home to the Fitchburg Farmers Market and other community events) is dubbed the Agora Pavilion, so Center planners must be optimistic for a marketplace-like bustle…

Thursday, October 18, 2007 - As vice president of commercial lending at M&I Bank in Madison, Dennis Sandora is on the front lines of the local real estate scene. And Sandora doesn't see much hope for a quick end to the housing slump, which has brought construction of new homes to a standstill and left financial markets reeling. "I'm afraid we're still at least three years out," Sandora said Wednesday during a conference titled "Reacting to a Troubled Real Estate Market" at the Concourse Hotel. In fact, Sandora believes the market in Dane County remains overvalued by about 30 percent…

Wednesday, October 17, 2007 - Problems in the housing industry intensified last month with construction of new homes plunging to the lowest level in 14 years. Consumer prices, meanwhile, rose at the fastest pace in four months, reflecting higher energy and food costs. The Commerce Department reported today that construction of new homes fell 10.2 percent last month, compared to August, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.191 million units. That was the slowest building pace since March 1993 and was far bigger than the 4.2 percent decline that economists had been expecting…

Wednesday, October 17, 2007 - Neighborhood Meetings Are Scheduled Before And After The Design Is Presented To The City Council On Dec. 4. Plans for the redevelopment of city-owned property on Allied Drive will be unveiled to the Madison City Council on Dec. 4, according to a resolution introduced Tuesday night. Neighborhood meetings to discuss the designs would be scheduled for the weeks of Nov. 12 and Dec. 10, and the City Council would need to vote on the proposal by Jan. 22 so that the project could receive tax credits from the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority…

Tuesday, October 16, 2007 - Who owns the air and sky between Langdon Street and Lake Mendota on the UW-Madison campus? That question is delaying efforts by the UW Hillel Foundation to more than triple the size of its existing student center at 611 Langdon St. The Jewish student organization, which traces its roots here to the 1920s and is the second oldest operating Hillel in the world, is seeking approval to tear down its existing 12,000 square-foot building and replace it with a four-story, 40,000 square-foot facility. But those plans have run into opposition from the Ann Arbor, Mich.-based owners of the 74-room, seven-story Campus Inn hotel next door at 601 Langdon St., who maintain they have a "legally enforceable implied easement for air and sunlight under Wisconsin law." Their attorney cites a 1982 Wisconsin case as precedent…

Editors Note: “legally enforceable implied easement” I have one of these, I think…

Monday, October 15, 2007 -12-year Minneapollis Investment Pays Off. Could It Happen Here? When Mark Eilers was a grad student at UW-Madison in the early 1990s, he relished swimming in Lake Monona on lazy summer afternoons. But he stopped doing it after a while because he kept getting ear infections that he attributed to the murky, algae-infested waters.When Eilers and his family moved to Minneapolis in 1999, he decided to check out the water quality in the city's "chain of lakes" (Brownie, Twin Lakes, Lake of the Isles, Cedar, Calhoun and Harriet), a few miles southwest of the downtown. And he was amazed by how much cleaner they seemed than the lakes in Madison…

Editors Note: If we could do this the economic impact long range would be huge!!

We Energies announced today that it has completed the sales of more than 2,500 acres of land in northern Wisconsin the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and The Trust for Public Land (TPL). The land sold to the DNR includes more than 500 acres in Florence County, and the transaction with TPL encompasses approximately 2,000 acres in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Woods Creek, a main tributary to two of Wisconsin's designated Wild Rivers, runs through a portion of the 500 acres sold to the DNR. Woods Creek provides upstream protection for the Popple and Pine Rivers and is a Class 1 brook trout stream…

Oct 18 - BARABOO, Wis. (AP) -- The foundation named for famed ecologist Aldo Leopold received an honor Thursday that would have made the conservationist proud: the U.S. Green Building Council named the group's new home the greenest building it has ever rated…

Despite the recent announcement that Chicago-based General Growth Properties Inc. has dropped plans to build a regional mall at the Pabst Farms development at Highway 67 and Interstate 94 in Oconomowoc, development of other areas of Pabst Farms continues to progress…

Wednesday, October 17, 2007 - Kerry Americas, a Beloit manufacturer of beverage flavorings and ingredients, has started construction on a $45 million headquarters and research and development center. When completed in 2009, operations at the existing plant in downtown Beloit will be moved to the new 250,000-square-foot facility on 124 acres of land at the intersection of Interstate 39-90 and Interstate 43 on Beloit's east side. The company said it plans to increase its work force from 300 to 500. The company, a division of Kerry Group in Ireland, got about $10.5 million in incentives from the city and state for the project…

State agencies win tax credits. U.S. awards $300 million worth. More than $300 million in federal tax credits intended to spur development and create jobs in low-income areas are headed to organizations in Wisconsin...

Board approves rezoning for mixed-use project. Coffee shop, salon, restaurant planned. A major facelift planned at the intersection of Pilgrim Road and Silver Spring Drive is continuing to evolve...

Alternative energy sources such as solar, wind, ethanol and biodiesel will play a key role in economic development, officials said Wednesday at an economic forum at the Radisson Hotel. About 130 people attended the event, held by the La Crosse Area Development Corp. and the La Crosse Area Chamber of Commerce…

Waukesha County explores idea-matching venture. Group links companies with dormant inventions gathered by Racine site. An economic development group announced plans Wednesday to stimulate business in Waukesha County by matching eager entrepreneurs with inventions and ideas that are sitting on a shelf...

Construction gets under way on riverfront condo project. Construction has started on a 133-unit condominium project, approved two years ago, on a riverfront site just north of downtown Milwaukee...

Lawson Building could be razed. Renovations might not be worthwhile. Sentiment for saving the historic Lawson Building at 909 Menomonee Ave. appears to be on the decline, based on the reaction of the Community Development Authority to a proposal to renovate the city-owned structure...

Work starts on new hospital. Aurora agrees to handle public upgrades in Summit. After months of site preparation, work has begun on the footings and foundation of a new Aurora Health Care hospital at I-94 and state Highway 67...

Alderman seeks design review for storefronts. Model would be similar to Third Ward. Although some in the community would like to see more consistency in storefront façades in "downtown" Bay View, at least one business owner says the eclectic storefronts contribute to the diverse character of South...

Kohl's looks to sky for power. Solar panels to go on area buildings. Continuing the most sweeping national rollout of solar power ever by one company, Kohl's Corp. will install hundreds of solar panels on two area stores and on its new photo studio in Milwaukee...

Business in Brief. LOCALApartments to be financed by tax creditsConstruction will soon begin on a 24-unit apartment project in Milwaukee's central city, the first Wisconsin project financed with affordable housing tax credits that's led by an African-American developer...

Pabst Farms: Get this project right. Now that General Growth Properties has withdrawn plans to build an upscale shopping center at the Pabst Farms development in Oconomowoc and the city has said it is happy to wait for the right proposal, maybe it's time to reconsider options for the site,...

Germantown borrowing OK'd. Developer will repay loan for sewer service extension. The Village Board on Monday, in a second vote on an unusual issue, approved borrowing $2.6 million on behalf of a developer in order to extend sanitary sewer service west of Highways 41 and 45...

$700,000 for low-income homes unspent. County could lose 'bonus' from HUD if it's not disbursed. Milwaukee County officials are struggling to spend the bulk of $1 million in "bonus" federal low-income housing money awarded in June, money that could disappear if not used by the end of the...

At last, the chips are up at state bioscience firm. GenTel has product on market, expects others soon. When Alex Vodenlich came to GenTel BioSciences Inc. in February 2003, he assumed the company was well-positioned for swift growth...

New housing fund gets 21 requests. City will provide $2.5 million to address community's needs. Milwaukee's new Housing Trust Fund has received 21 proposals requesting a total of more than $5.6 million to provide housing for low to moderate income residents of the city...

Bank sues Brewers Hill developer. Nine foreclosures filed for Olson-owned properties. Wauwatosa Savings Bank has filed nine foreclosures seeking nearly $11 million from Timothy J. Olson, a landlord and developer, who less than a month ago narrowly won approval from the Milwaukee Common...

'Human TIF' plan could be just what state needs. Finally, one major organization has cut through the cluttered debate over how to fund higher education so that it can better drive the state's economy. Competitive Wisconsin, a group of leaders from labor, business, agriculture and education, recently...

Delafield panel rejects site plan. No advantage seen in sharing a facility with St. John's. A special committee studying the need for new or renovated municipal buildings will recommend that the city not sell City Hall and build a new municipal office/library facility in co-operation...

Offices, residences sought on 'busy, noisy streets'. Residents petition for change in plan. A compromise on a proposed change to Glendale's master plan will be considered by the Plan Commission at its Nov. 6 meeting...

Town Board needs more time to study development plan. Commercial district near I-94 and Bluemound could feature eight-story buildings. Brookfield's Town Board last week tabled a vote on a redevelopment plan for an important commercial corridor at the intersection of Barker Road and Interstate 94 after town...

Green theme eyed for business area. But issues develop with bioswale garden beds. The use of environmentally friendly bioswale garden beds to beautify the East Silver Spring Drive business district has run into some technical and cost difficulties...

Lost in the chatter about cutting legislative salaries or expenses if they fail to pass a state budget on time is the fact that lawmakers and Gov. Jim Doyle have been slowly - OK, make that glacially - chipping away at major issues that stand between them and agreement…

Editors Note: Nice take from Tom Still and far less partisan than most. The lack of a budget will soon have a huge impact on the development industry not to mention long term recruiting efforts to attract new business to the state.

The financial meltdown of local real estate developer Robert Niebauer is reverberating across the state, including the resignation of the Oshkosh city manager in part for failing to alert officials about a bank foreclosure on a high-profile downtown apartment project backed with $2.2 million in public money. Investors in a long-stalled Monona condominium project have also filed suit against Niebauer, claiming he reneged on a deal to purchase the Garden Circle apartments after tenants were moved out…

Editors Note: Development is a tough business and I believe Bob had nothing but good intentions and wanted to bring all his projects to fruition but even the slightest market turn can have a serious impact.

Monday, October 8, 2007 - Enjoy some beer tasting, then take a historic brewery walk in downtown Madison. Discover how beer making has left its "mug" imprinted on city development. That's all on the agenda for a walking tour titled "Hops and History," which will be held from 3 to 5:30 p.m. Saturday, beginning at the Great Dane Brew Pub, 123 E. Doty St.

Editors Note: Ahhh… the good old days. Of course today none of these places could get a license…

Thursday, October 11, 2007 - Monona Terrace is losing events because there are not enough hotel rooms associated with it, Greater Madison Convention and Visitors Bureau President and CEO Deb Archer is telling city officials, and they are saying a new hotel could be built on city land. Mayor Dave Cieslewicz told a meeting of the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday that the surface parking lot and greenspace behind the Madison Municipal Building would be a good site for another hotel or an expansion of the Hilton Monona Terrace, a 240-room…

Editors Note: would it be inappropriate of me to suggest that I have been writing about this for over a year… And for the record moving DHFS out of their building and turning the gothic structure into a world class hotel would be way cool. Good bones, lousy use, Great Opportunity…

After more than three months of negotiations and delays, the stage is set for a final showdown over the state budget. Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch said today that his house will take up Gov. Jim Doyle's compromise spending proposal on Monday. Doyle called a special session earlier this week to force the Republican-controlled Assembly and Democrat-controlled Senate to finally adopt a new budget. The two sides have been deadlocked since July over the proposed spending proposal…

FRI., OCT 12, 2007 - The Assembly 's leader predicted Thursday that his chamber will reject Gov. Jim Doyle 's new two-year budget bill Monday, but administration officials were talking with Republican lawmakers in an effort to generate support for the plan.

Although foreclosures fell both nationally and locally in September from record levels in August, they remained far above a year ago, RealtyTrac reported. The 223,538 U.S. foreclosure filings -- default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions -- reported in September were 8 percent below the 243,947 in August but just shy of double the 112,210 last September. The September total is the second highest since Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac begin tracking foreclosures in January 2005. In Dane County, 74 foreclosures were reported in September, down 28.1 percent from 103 in August but more than triple the 22 last September…

Brown Shoe Co., the parent of Madison-based Famous Footwear, is considering moving its corporate headquarters out of St. Louis and Madison is a prime possible destination, the St. Louis Business Journal reported. The publication cited sources close to the negotiations in the report last Friday. It said Brown, one of St. Louis' oldest and largest publicly traded companies with about 500 employees at its headquarters…

Thursday, October 11, 2007 - It was a simple little bench - the kind old farm houses had by the back door where children could sit while putting on or taking off their boots. It seemed rather out of place at World Dairy Expo. And because of that it drew lots of attention. Actually, it wasn't intended to be a bench at all. Rather, it was an example of an engineered biocomposite board made of 50 percent bovine digested solids and 50 percent recycled paper fiber. The company that made it, GHD, Inc. of Chilton, specializes in designing and installing manure digesting systems on dairy farms across the country…

Summer Boyd says that mold problems in Ingraham Hall on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus are so bad that she has to work at home. Numerous other workers in the 1960s-era building say they have been plagued with breathing difficulties, burning throats, itchy eyes and coughs, and that UW officials have been slow to solve the problem. UW officials and workers in the building agree that mold developed in basement rooms in February after water leaked…

Thursday, October 11, 2007 - Monona's new city administrator is Patrick Marsh, the current administrator in Coal Valley, a village of 3,600 in northwestern Illinois. Marsh also has been assistant city administrator in Eldridge, Iowa, and worked for 12 years for the regional planning commission in that part of eastern Iowa and northwestern Illinois. He replaces Dave Berner, who had been Monona's manager since 1995. Berner departed in June to become city manager in Platteville. Marsh, one of more than 50 applicants, was selected because he has the "good development background that we were looking for and good personnel experience," said Mayor Robb Kahl. The members of the search committee were "uniform in their impressions of Patrick," Kahl said..

Wednesday, October 10, 2007 - Mayor Dave Cieslewicz's message this morning to members of Madison Chamber of Commerce was that they need to trust his selection of Bill Clingan to be the director of the city's new Economic Development and Community Development Department. But some of the mayor's listeners said they doubt the business community will come across. "I was looking for the traditional economic development experience the business community values so much, but I was also looking for other qualities," the mayor said during a breakfast meeting at the Concourse Hotel, where he defended a selection that prompted two high-level resignations from the city's Economic Development Commission…

Monday, October 8, 2007 - Home builders have responded to the weakness of the Dane County real estate market by building the fewest homes in a month this century, MTD Marketing reported. There were 53 permits issued for new homes and duplexes in Dane County in September, the fewest going back to at least January 1999, when MTD started tracking the statistic. The previous low in that period was 68 last December, while the highest was 284 in June 2005. There were 73 last September and 122 in August of this year. Year-to-date through September, the 888 permits issued are well off the 1,117 for the same period last year and far below the range of 1,448-1,963 from 1999-2005…

Friday, October 5, 2007 - Although Mayor Dave Cieslewicz's proposed 2008 operating budget upsets some affordable housing activists and advocates for the homeless, individual agency heads say the mayor is facing a difficult task. Ald. Brenda Konkel said Thursday that she "sees fear (among agency heads) such as I haven't seen since the '90s that, if they say something the mayor doesn't like, they will get defunded." Konkel has been executive director of the Tenant Resource Center since 1995..

Wednesday, October 10, 2007 - The decline in sales of existing homes this year will be steeper than previously anticipated, a trade group for real estate agents said today. The eighth straight downwardly revised forecast from the National Association of Realtors calls for U.S. existing home sales to be 10.8 percent lower than last year as housing market struggles persist. In its October report, the association predicts 5.78 million existing homes will be sold in 2007, down from 6.48 million last year. Last month, the association predicted an 8.6 percent drop from a year ago…

While the Badgers were scoring frequently in the second quarter of their victory over Washington State on Sept. 1, a young couple was scoring on their own in a stall in the women's restroom in the upper deck, resulting in a court appearance today on charges of disorderly conduct…

Editors Note: This story is here only in case you missed it… The line about the pants had me laughing out loud… It’s Friday go home…

Barrett wants 'full-court press' to keep headquarters. For Milwaukee, the biggest unknown in the MillerCoors deal is what will become of Miller's corporate offices...

Pabst Farm zoning won't permit big boxes. Mayor says city will wait for upscale retailers. Mayor Maury Sullivan said Monday that zoning and land-use plans do not permit so-called big box stores to be built on the Pabst Farms site where a large shopping mall has been proposed, and city officials...

Time Warner plans new building. Appleton facility will consolidate, add workers. Time Warner Cable announced Monday it plans to build a $20 million operations center in Appleton, a facility the company said is expected to create up to 300 new jobs over five years...

Property values' rise slows down. Waukesha reports 5.08% increase, below state average. The residential housing slump seems to have caught up to Wisconsin this year, with the state posting its lowest valuation increases since 1992...

Lohmann's steakhouse sold, to close in December. Busy corner was rural when popular eatery opened doors in 1947. After 60 years serving up steak with a side of hometown charm, the owners of Lohmann's Steak House, N9609 Appleton Ave., Germantown, will close its doors for the last time Dec. 15...

Group unveils plans for police, fire station. GHS needs to raise $2 million to buy, renovate building. The clock is ticking for the Greendale Historical Society, which has less than a year to raise $2 million to renovate the former police and fire station...

Economic development: Determining needs. Select Waukesha County businesses this week will be receiving a survey on the county's higher educational needs. It's a survey we encourage every recipient to answer because every recipient has an interest in what's at stake. The survey is being sent...

Wisconsin falls in business tax rank. Report measures several types of taxes. Wisconsin fell three places, to No. 39, in the annual ranking of state business tax climates published Tuesday by a conservative Washington policy research organization...

Lakefront upgrade. Racine is readying its shore for more fishing, more living, more fun. The whole sprawling body of Lake Michigan seemed to splay out in front of Javail Winston as he fished. The lake was lightly choppy and dotted by a few white yachts gliding into the...

Is Pabst Farms a city unto itself?. In Oconomowoc, some wonder. The number of developers knocking on the door of City Hall at this epicenter of growth in western Waukesha County has so overwhelmed city staff and services that Mayor Maury Sullivan recently had to convene a series of special...

STAG acquires property. Boston investment firm increases presence in area. A Boston-based real estate investment firm has purchased its third Milwaukee-area building over the past six months...