BizTimes Milwaukee | May 13, 2019 by BizTimes Media

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MAY 13 - 26, 2019 » $3.25

Want talent? Where ’s your office?

plus BARTOLOTTA LEAVES A LEGACY 14 PARK EAST BLOCK BACK ON THE MARKET 18 INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENTS GOING WHEREVER LAND IS AVAILABLE 30

! AY Dy TO amil R om/f TE es.c IS tim G biz RE

Presents:

Thursday, June 13, 2019 7:00 AM - 11:30 AM | Italian Community Center

An Owner’s Guide to the Future

We’re surrounded by inevitable changes, from AI to generational workforce shifts, but not all change is progress and sometimes knowing what shouldn’t change is more than half the battle. Join nationally-recognized futurist David Zach for some fascinating forecasts and clear-headed observations about what traditions we should hold onto. Following the keynote presentation, the owners of Bartolottas Restaurants, Wisconsin Lift Truck (part of Wolter Group LLC) and Ariens Company will share insights, philosophies and stories about how they have navigated the complex issues related to growing a successful family & closely held business.

PAUL BARTOLOTTA The Bartolotta Restaurants

KEITH TRAFTON The Bartolotta Restaurants

JERRY WEIDMANN Wisconsin Lift Truck

ZACH

DAN ARIENS Ariens Company

Roundtable Discussions After the presentations, roll up your sleeves and join the 12 concurrent roundtable sessions led by family & closely-held company leaders. Confirmed roundtable speakers:

NICK CHIAPPETTA Chiappetta Shoes

TONY CHIAPPETTA Chiappetta Shoes

JAKE HANSEN Jacsten Holdings

JAY KOENITZER Helwig Carbon Products

SAM MAGLIO Maglio Company

BOB PIEKENBROCK

PATTY PIEKENBROCK Crescent Electric Supply Company

JAMES PHELPS JCP Construction

RICK SMITH raSmith

ROBYN TRESTER-VAUPEL

Crescent Electric Supply Company

Throughout the morning, the presenters will share their insights and experiences on topics such as: • Accountability • Communication & Culture • Conflict management • Crucial conversations & Family Dynamics • Estate planning & Family Legacy • Family Council • Leadership Development • Strategic Planning & Growth • Succession Planning

Trester-Metropolitan

Partner:

LOCALLY OWNED FOR 24 YEARS

» MAY 13 - 26, 2019

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BizTimes Milwaukee (ISSN 1095-936X & USPS # 017813) Volume 25, Number 4, May 13, 2019 – May 26, 2019. BizTimes Milwaukee is published bi-weekly, except monthly in January, July and December by BizTimes Media LLC at 126 N. Jefferson St., Suite 403, Milwaukee, WI 53202-6120, USA. Basic annual subscription rate is $42. Single copy price is $3.25. Back issues are $5 each. Periodicals postage paid at Milwaukee, WI and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send all UAA to CFS. NON-POSTAL AND MILITARY FACILITIES: Send address corrections to BizTimes Milwaukee, 126 N. Jefferson St., Suite 403, Milwaukee, WI 53202-6120. Entire contents copyright 2019 by BizTimes Media LLC. All rights reserved.

Contents

Where ’s your office?

4 Leading Edge 4 NOW BY THE NUMBERS 5 BIZTRAVELER 6 GETTING THERE COFFEE BREAK 7 REV UP 8 IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD BIZ POLL ON MY NIGHTSTAND 9 STYLE

12 BizNews 12 PHOTOS: BUCKS FEVER 14 BARTOLOTTA LEAVES A LEGACY 16 MADE IN MILWAUKEE

18 Real Estate 33 Strategies COVER STORY

Special Report

33 MANAGEMENT Christine McMahon 34 COACHING Susan Marshall 35 LEADERSHIP Jim Lindell

38 BizConnections 38 NONPROFIT 39 SBA LOANS 40 GLANCE AT YESTERYEAR COMMENTARY

24 Real Estate & Development In addition to the cover story, coverage includes a report on the sprawl of industrial real estate developments as space becomes scarce.

41 AROUND TOWN 42 5 MINUTES WITH…

MEET BETTER. EVENTS THAT WORK

Leading Edge

BIZTIMES DAILY – The day’s most significant news → biztimes.com/subscribe

NOW

Milwaukee will lose HQ in Gardner Denver-Ingersoll Rand deal By Arthur Thomas, staff writer The corporate operations of the combined Gardner Denver Holdings Inc. and Ingersoll Rand Inc.’s industrial segment will be located in Davidson, North Carolina, the companies said. Gardner Denver and Ingersoll Rand recently announced plans to merge the currently Milwau-

kee-based Gardner Denver with Ingersoll Rand’s industrial segment. The combined company will take the Ingersoll Rand name. The new industrial company will have around $6.6 billion in revenue and $1.6 billion in annual adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization. The

BY THE NUMBERS Milwaukee School of Engineering plans to spend

MILLION

to renovate and expand the oldest residence hall on its campus. 4 / BizTimes Milwaukee MAY 13, 2019

companies anticipate $250 million in cost synergies from the deal. Vicente Reynal, the current chief executive officer of Gardner Denver, will lead the new industrial company as CEO. The company’s board will include seven directors selected by the current GDI board and three selected by Ingersoll Rand’s current board. Peter Stavros, currently chairman of Gardner Denver, will serve in the same role with the new company. In announcing the deal, the companies said the new industrial company would have its corporate operations in Davidson, North Carolina, which is in the Charlotte area. A press release did not indicate plans for Gardner Denver’s Milwaukee operations. The company, which moved its headquarters to Milwaukee in 2014, currently has around 140 employees in the city, according to Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. records. It is ranked at No. 854 on the latest Fortune 1000 ranking. Gardner Denver moved its headquarters to Milwaukee when current REV Group Inc. CEO Tim Sullivan was leading the company. In 2015, the WEDC awarded the company up to $2 million in tax credits tied to the creation of 200 new jobs and $4 million in capital investment. According to WEDC records, Gardner Denver has created 76 new jobs in Milwaukee, along with

retaining 67 positions it had when the tax credits were awarded. The company has invested $1.1 million in the offices, according to the WEDC. Through the end of 2018, the agency had verified $833,147 in tax credits for the company. Sullivan left Gardner Denver in 2014 and was replaced by former Rexnord Corp. CEO Peter Wallace. Reynal took over for Wallace in January 2016. A spokesperson for the companies said it was too early to say how the plans will impact Milwaukee operations. Ingersoll Rand currently has its global headquarters in Ireland, but its North American headquarters are in Davidson. The companies plan to grant all employees not already equity eligible around $150 million in stock in the new company. Gardner Denver previously granted employees $100 million in stock when it went public in 2017. The deal itself is structured as a “Reverse Morris Trust.” It calls for Ingersoll Rand to spin off its industrial segment to its shareholders and simultaneously merge with Gardner Denver. The remaining climate business of Ingersoll Rand will receive a $1.9 billion cash payment from the industrial company. Ingersoll Rand shareholders will also receive 210 million shares in the new company valued at $5.8 billion, giving them 50.1% ownership of the new firm. n

B I Z T R AV E L E R : CHARLESTON A M ANDA NOWAK Owner and designer, The Simple Home

Amanda Nowak provides home décor sourcing solutions for senior living communities with her business, The Simple Home. She has more than 10 years of experience in interior design and senior care. Nowak has traveled to Charleston, South Carolina numerous times for work and play. After falling in love with Charleston’s history and beaches, she even decided to get married in the southern city. n

T R A N S P O R TAT I O N : “You would fly to Charleston through Charlotte, and Charlotte has one of the best airports. Once you land in Charlotte, you would rent a car and drive (209 miles) to Charleston. There is a great downtown, but also there are these other outlying areas that you need a car to get to. It’s the same price as Milwaukee for taxis and Ubers.”

E XC U R S I O N S: “Charleston has a historical aspect to it, but the beach is right there, too. In the downtown, there is Rainbow Row. That is the scene with a lot of beautifully colored buildings next to each other. There are a lot of different tours. We did a ghost tour pub crawl one year. A little bit away from downtown Charleston is the Island of Palms, where the beach is. Sullivan’s Island is not far from there, with a lot of restaurants and scenery. There are plantations there, too. I got married at a plantation far out.”

ACCO M M O DAT I O N S A N D F O O D : “Charleston is an up-and-coming food scene for the last five, 10 years. Now the big chefs, such as Sean Brock, have restaurants there. Husk is his restaurant there. It is elevated Southern food. The Charleston City Market is a must-see. For a quick, awesome breakfast while working or vacationing, Callie’s Hot Little Biscuit is great.”

T R AV E L T I P : “Plan where you want to do things at one time for the day, because some things are 20 minutes out. There are so many things to do, but it is spread out.”

biztimes.com / 5

Leading Edge

BIZTIMES MEDIA – Like us

GETTING

THERE

What does WSBC do? Jessy Servi Ortiz: “The council really is the go-to spot for business in the state of Wisconsin around sustainability. We are a resource. We have a Green Masters program, which is a free tool for businesses to asses where they are on the sustainability spectrum ... we offer consulting, we do awards for businesses. We really like to see ourselves as the go-to resource for leadership in the state of Wisconsin around sustainability.”

Changing from a single organization to statewide focus? “For me, that’s the most exciting part about taking this role, because when I decided to get my MBA my goal was to consult businesses on sustainability. I really see the potential inside the business community to make a tremendous impact on their communities, on their workforce, on the environment.”

Where did sustainability passion come from? “I grew up camping and connecting to the plentiful resources we have in this beautiful state and across the country … so I’ve always had a heart connection to nature and caring for it. … I (also) grew up inside a house of entrepreneurs, both of my parents are business owners and my sister as well, and so I always spoke business language, I grew up at the dinner table talking shop. I knew I could be a bridge between caretaking the land and the communities with businesses.”

What do we get wrong about sustainability? “There’s a notion that it’s a tree hugger thing or it doesn’t make business sense. I think resource efficiency equates to reduced costs, which also relates to increased profit. There is a tremendous business case for managing your resources more efficiently.”

JESSY SERVI ORTIZ Managing director Wisconsin Sustainable Business Council AGE: 39

COFFEE BREAK

Jeff Pierce

Chief executive officer | Wipfli Financial Advisors LLC, an affiliate of Wipfli LLP 10000 W. Innovation Drive, Suite 250, Wauwatosa wipflifinancial.com INDUSTRY: Financial services | EMPLOYEES: 80 • Jeff Pierce started his new role as CEO of Wipfli Financial Advisors in February. A native of Spokane, Washington, and most recently having lived in Austin, Texas, Pierce was introduced to Wisconsin in the most appropriate of ways. “My first night in Milwaukee it snowed 11 inches,” he said of his first visit to the Cream City. • Even so, Pierce, a dad to two young daughters, said he and his wife were excited to see the rivers and ponds that were frozen over, with kids skating and playing hockey on them. • The thing he looks forward to most at Wipfli Financial is working with the “great young talent that’s passionate” on his team of 80 employees. He said the team is filled with hardworking people that have bought in to the vision of helping people with their financial lives. • “Early on I always knew I wanted to do something in the financial services realm,” Pierce said, adding that his sources of inspiration included ’80s Hollywood movies depicting Wall Street and his father, who was a head of finance for a public utility company. • The two most important things Pierce said he’s learned in his career are to listen and to operate with a high level of honesty and transparency. He said someone can learn a lot if they truly listen to colleagues, and if they show respect to others, it’s often reciprocated and appreciated. • Pierce said he loves spending his spare time with his family, especially in the

outdoors.

• He likes his coffee black. n

EDUCATION: University of Minnesota, BS, interior design; Alverno College, MBA, sustainable business PREVIOUS POSITION: Sustainability manager, Outpost Natural Foods Cooperative

6 / BizTimes Milwaukee MAY 13, 2019

LILA ARYAN PHOTOGRAPHY

HOMETOWN: Brookfield

FRONTDESK LLC

LEADERSHIP: Co-founders Kyle Weatherly, CEO, Jesse DePinto, chief growth officer and Alycia Doxon, chief operations officer

JAKE HILL PHOTOGRAPHY

REV UP

H E A D Q U A R T E R S: 1240 E. Brady St., Floor 2 WEBSITE: stayfrontdesk.com W H AT I T D O E S: Corporate apartment rentals F O U N D E D: January 2017 E M P L OY E E S: 60, about 16 of whom are full-time NEX T GOAL: Expand to 15 cities by the end of 2019. FUNDING: Raised $1 million seed round in October and $500,000 bridge round in March; Currently raising $3 million Series A. Kyle Weatherly, Jesse DePinto and Alycia Doxon

FrontDesk expanding to 15 cities with corporate rental model By Molly Dill, staff writer

AIRBNB, VRBO, HomeAway, Booking.com, Expedia…there is no shortage of competition in the world of private home rentals. But those are just online booking intermediaries. Milwaukee startup FrontDesk aims to corner the market on professional home rental management. “We are the boots on the ground that are actually meeting the guests, cleaning the units, furnishing the units, taking customer phone calls and text messages for customer service,” said Jesse DePinto, co-founder and chief growth officer. “We are the hospitality company.” The company targets corporate travelers who want to stay in non-touristy, upscale neighborhoods, he said. FrontDesk gives guests an on-site contact they can text for assistance. FrontDesk partners with property managers to outsource their guest suites, or may rent a floor of an apartment building as short-term corporate housing. And filling units on not just weekends, but also during the week is a key to FrontDesk’s success, said Kyle Weatherly, co-founder and chief executive officer. Now operating 190 units in eight cities, with seven more cities on the docket this year, FrontDesk has undertaken a rapid expansion strategy. The company focuses on tier 2 U.S. cities, such as Milwaukee, Columbus, Ohio and

St. Petersburg, Florida, DePinto said. For one, tech companies including Facebook, Amazon and Salesforce are starting to locate offices in cities like Columbus and Indianapolis, he said. In addition, rents are lower in tier 2 cities, and FrontDesk’s largest cost is apartment rents. “It’s helpful from a competitive standpoint. It’s more blue ocean,” he said. “What we are passionate about and what we understand best is the smaller city and especially the Midwestern rust belt type of culture.” An in-house pricing department uses FrontDesk’s pricing algorithm to adjust rental rates dynamically based on market conditions, including special events happening in town – everything from a Justin Timberlake concert to the Democratic National Convention. “We spend virtually nothing on marketing,” Weatherly said. “Our challenge to growth is more bringing supply online than it is generating more demand. We feel there’s latent demand for high-quality, well-located homesharing apartments.” The startup recently launched a new website with updated branding to ramp up its direct-to-consumer marketing and originate more booking traffic, which cuts out the fees it pays to sites like Airbnb, DePinto said. n biztimes.com / 7

Leading Edge

@BIZTIMESMEDIA – Real-time news

IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD

EXCEL PRINTING INC. 3374 S. Kinnickinnic Ave., Milwaukee NEIGHBORHOOD: Bay View FOUNDED: 1989 OWNERS: Stacy and Debbie Leszczynski SERVICE: Full-service printing

BIZ POLL

How did you get started in this work? Stacy Leszczynski: “I did this in high school during my senior year. I took the course and three months after I graduated, I was hired at Econoprint, which was well-known in the city at that time.”

30%. Thirty years ago, there wasn’t email. You used to deliver proofs; now everything is done with a click. You have to be able to keep up. If you upgrade and you stay in business this long, you have to be doing something right.”

What goes on in here? “We do full-service faxing, copies, printing and bindery.”

Who are your customers? “The list is long. From contractors to lawyers to heating and cooling companies, plumbers, maintenance. A lot of independent businesses, which is what I like. They come here and get personal service. Word of mouth is

How has this industry changed over the years? “A lot. It’s been affected by the internet. That probably dropped sales 20 to

probably the biggest advertising.” How has the neighborhood changed over time? “It’s actually stayed the same. You have younger families moving in, but for the most part, it’s the same people here as when I started. If you want to know something about the neighborhood, come here. Debbie has seen it all. I think the reason people come here is to visit. We even have doggie treats when people bring their dogs while walking by.” n

on my nightstand...

A recent survey of BizTimes.com readers.

Should the state renegotiate its contract with Foxconn? YES:

NO:

48%

52%

MARCUS WHITE Consultant Marcus White Consultants

“Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World” By Anand Giridharadas

Share your opinion! Visit biztimes.com/bizpoll to cast your vote in the next Biz Poll. 8 / BizTimes Milwaukee MAY 13, 2019

MARCUS WHITE spent more than a decade working at the Greater Milwaukee Foundation and earlier this year started his own independent nonprofit and philanthropic consulting firm. He recently read “Winners Take All” by Anand Giridharadas, a former New York Times columnist. White says the book is “a very challenging look at whether major global philanthropists can really foster meaningful change if they refuse to challenge the status quo that allow the huge growth in income inequality.” While the book has a global fo-

cus, White said questions of whether old tools can solve 21st century challenges apply at the local level. “I don’t agree with all his points, but it’s healthy to reflect on things that challenge us and our views,” he said. Among White’s biggest takeaways are the potential for inequality to threaten democracy and the need for major changes to systems to make enough of a difference. “If you believe intractable, generations-long challenges need new approaches this book is great, provocative food for thought,” White said. n

motorcycle apparel

CYCLE KING JACKET $829 at Harley-Davidson Museum, Milwaukee This heavy leather motorcycle jacket is part of the Harley-Davidson Archives Collection and can only be purchased from the Harley-Davidson Museum in Milwaukee. This jacket, a replica of the original, features D-pockets, which were added to motorcycle jackets after WWII. Introduced in 1947, the pockets have more space and feature a red plaid interior for extra warmth.

HARLEY-DAVIDSON MEN’S BOOM! AUDIO N02 FULL-FACE HELMET

MEN’S FXRG WATERPROOF OVERPANT $550 at House of Harley-Davidson, Milwaukee These overpants offer a comfortable layer over jeans due to the nonbulking fabrication. For extra grip, there are waterproof leather heat shields with thigh vents for airflow. Buckle waist tabs with hidden back waist stretch for a custom fit, and zipper hip pockets keep items from falling out. These pants are offered at any Harley-Davidson dealership.

$529 at House of Harley-Davidson, Milwaukee This sleek helmet offers a fiberglass composite shell and a double D-ring chin strap with chin and forehead venting. Not only is it comfy and stylish, but it also features a built-in Sena 20S Bluetooth communication system that links up to eight riders for intercom, integrated speakers and microphone, with no setup or install needed.

WOMEN’S FXRG SWITCHBACK RIDING JACKET $529 at House of Harley-Davidson, Milwaukee This waterproof jacket is durable for all seasons and conditions. It includes a heat-reflective liner system and lightweight body armor for comfort. A nylon oxford zip-off panel reveals a mesh jacket. This jacket includes vertical side vents and two back exit vents for air flow. There is also armor at the elbows and shoulders for added protection. This jacket is available at any Harley-Davidson dealership.

biztimes.com / 9

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Thriving In a Digital World

Alonzo Kelly, President, Kelly Leadership Group, LLC

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Your Customers Are on YouTube. Now Let’s Get in Front of Them

Making plans come to life to scale your business with an engaged staff

Joe Martinez, Director of Client Strategy, Clix Marketing

Jerry Jendusa, Co Founder and Partner, STUCK, LLC

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Instantaneous Differentiation: How to Make Yourself Memorable

Business Planning - From Vision to Action

What Talent Really Wants

Steve Riege, President, Ovation Leadership

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Approach Difficult Conversations with Confidence

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Can Your Business Survive an IT Attack?

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Dave Molenda, Founder, Positive Polarity LLC

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Cracking the Code: Using Digital Transformation to Elevate Customer Experience and Productivity

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BizNews PHOTO ESSAY - BUCKS PLAYOFFS 1

Bucks fever

Milwaukee shows pride for home team in NBA playoffs By Maredithe Meyer THE MILWAUKEE BUCKS’ NBA Playoff run was marked by citywide fanfare. The Milwaukee River was dyed green, The Hop and two downtown skybridges were decorated with Bucks playoff images, BMO Harris Bank lit its downtown Milwaukee office tower with an 18-story “Fear the Deer” display and all 400 Milwaukee County Transit System buses displayed messages like “Go Bucks!” and “Fear the Deer!” For all of its playoff games, the team throws watch parties on the plaza outside Fiserv Forum with food, drinks, games, a DJ, retail shops, contests to win playoff tickets and other activities. The Bucks swept the Detroit Pistons in their first-round series, allowing them to advance in the playoffs for the first time since 2001. n 12 / BizTimes Milwaukee MAY 13, 2019

1. Bango waves a Bucks flag during the pregame show. 2. Fans stream into the atrium of Fiserv Forum before tipoff.

3. Dave Sachse of Midwest Perks and Amanda Sachse sporting their new â&#x20AC;&#x153;Built to Stayâ&#x20AC;? giveaway t-shirts. 4. Fans watch the pregame show. 5. Former Bucks player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (middle). 6. A fan grabs a beer at one of the full-service bars in the main concourse.

7. Ahead of Game 1 of the Pistons series, the Bucks dyed a portion of the Milwaukee River bright green. (Photo by Gary Dineen.) 8. Bucks majority co-owner Marc Lasry. 9. A view of the court from the lower seating bowl. 10. The Bucks defeated the Detroit Pistons 121 to 86 in Game 1 of the first round of the 2019 NBA Playoffs. 11. Fans gathered at the beer garden adjacent to Fiserv Forum to watch Game 2 of the Pistons series. 12. Bango steps off The Hop to make surprise visits to businesses along the route. (Photo by Gary Dineen.)

13. Hip-hop artist Ohana Bam performed during halftime with the Milwaukee Bucks dancers. 14. Jeff Yabuki, president, CEO and director of Fiserv Inc. 15. Bucks star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo warms up for Game 1 versus the Pistons. 16. Fiserv Forum illuminated during Game 2 of the first round of the 2019 NBA Playoffs. 17. The Bucks decorated one of The Hop streetcars with playoff branding. (Photo by Gary Dineen.) 18. Bango poses for a selfie. biztimes.com / 13

BizNews FEATURE STORY A memorial service for Joe Bartolotta was held at The Riverside Theater.

Bartolotta leaves a legacy of love, hospitality and Milwaukee pride City celebrates life of beloved restaurateur By Maredithe Meyer, staff writer JOE BARTOLOTTA was a self-proclaimed “big deal.” The Milwaukee restaurant industry icon and Bartolotta Restaurant Group LLC co-founder, who died on April 22 at the age of 60, was loved by many for his carefree sense of humor, largerthan-life personality and a way of making everyone he interacted with feel important – and for those who knew him well enough, the occasional witty reminder that he was a “big deal.” Testaments to those lovable characteristics were shared during a memorial service that packed The Riverside Theater. For two 14 / BizTimes Milwaukee MAY 13, 2019

hours, approximately 2,000 family members, friends, employees, patrons and community leaders, most wearing colorful attire, gathered to laugh, cry and celebrate the life and legacy of Bartolotta and the big deal that he truly was to Milwaukee. “Bartolotta restaurants have always been about a dozen or so buildings,” said John Wise, The Bartolotta Restaurants’ director of operations, during his eulogy. “It’s always been about the people inside them – the staff, vendors, and the guests together. Within these buildings, though, there are wonderful restaurants. We worked on Joe’s vision: the best food and

beverage, the best service, the best locations and environment. He created living, breathing entities where magical things can happen.” Over the course of 25 years, Joe and his brother, Paul, grew their business presence from one restaurant to 16 restaurants and catering facilities in the Milwaukee area, building a reputation as one of the premier restaurant groups in the Midwest. Their achievements have earned them national recognition, as well, with a nomination by the James Beard Foundation for Outstanding Restaurateur three years in a row – 2017, 2018 and 2019. Joe and Paul opened their first restaurant, Ristorante Bartolotta, in 1993 in their hometown, Wauwatosa. The authentic Italian restaurant has received numerous awards and accolades, both locally and nationally, and last year celebrated its 25th anniversary. Following the success of Ristorante Bartolotta, Joe led the business to open some of the area’s top dining destinations: Bartolotta’s Lake Park Bistro in 1995 on Milwaukee’s East Side, Mr. B’s Steakhouse in 1999 in Brookfield, Pizzeria Piccola in 2003 in Wauwatosa, Bacchus in 2004 in downtown Milwaukee and Northpoint Custard at Bradford Beach in 2009. In 2004, the company launched another successful venture, Bartolotta Catering & Events. The division is the exclusive caterer for Discovery World on Milwaukee’s lakefront, The Grain Exchange in downtown Milwaukee, and the Italian Community Center in the Historic Third Ward. In 2010, Bartolotta partnered with iconic Milwaukee entrepreneur and philanthropist Michael Cudahy to open Harbor House at the former Pieces of Eight site on

the lakefront. During the following years, Bartolotta opened The Rumpus Room in downtown Milwaukee, Joey Gerard’s – A Bartolotta Supper Club in Greendale and Mequon, Miss Beverly’s Deluxe Barbeque in Greendale, and Downtown Kitchen in the U.S. Bank Center in downtown Milwaukee. “Personally, there are so many rewarding things about working in this industry, but there are so many things that take your energy,” said Omar Shaikh, co-owner and president of SURG Restaurant Group LLC. A friend and peer of Bartolotta’s, Shaikh would often call him to ask for advice or talk through various concerns they had about business or the industry. “We were always bouncing things off each other,” he said. “He was a great resource.” Bartolotta’s 16 restaurants and catering facilities, which make up an empire of more than 1,000 employees, are perhaps the most obvious displays of his tremendous impact on the Milwaukee community. But in addition to playing a key role with The Bartolotta Restaurants’ philanthropic arm, Care-alotta, he sat on the boards of many other local organizations, including the MATC Advisory Board for Culinary Arts and VISIT Milwaukee. In 2014, Bartolotta was elected to the board of directors for the Wisconsin Restaurant Association. He actively supported the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and organ donation awareness. He and his wife, Jennifer, together supported Schools That Can, Meta House, Milwaukee Public Schools’ ProStart Program, and the Wisconsin Humane Society. And what’s more, Bartolotta proudly helped champion Milwaukee’s bid to host the 2020 Democratic National Convention. During Bartolotta’s funeral, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett shared a story about a site visit with Democratic Party officials. “Joe was asked to talk about restaurants and about the city and I was standing behind him, and

as he was talking, I was thinking ‘I wish we were videotaping this’ because he sold this city in an amazing way,” Barrett said. It rained that day, Barrett said, and while the group later enjoyed a two-hour dinner at Lake Park Bistro, Bartolotta handed out steak dinners to the dozens of police officers who were serving as escorts as they were waiting outside. “I’ve seen him do this over and over and over again where he’s kind to people and I think that is a legacy more than anything,” Barrett said. “Everyone who met Joe felt like they were important to him,” said Paul Bartolotta during his eulogy. “I’ll let you in on a secret – you were. Everybody was important to Joe.” He told attendees they are all “FOJs,” an abbreviation (and company inside joke) for “friend of Joe’s.”

During his speech, Paul recognized Jamie Shiparski, Joe’s brother-in-law who donated a kidney so Joe could undergo a living-donor kidney transplant in 2013. Shiparski later gave his own eulogy, saying he’s never defined himself as Joe’s kidney donor because, “Joe would have done the same thing for me, as he would have done for so many people if he had that opportunity.” The transplant added a few years to his life, but Bartolotta had also suffered from other health issues, including Type 1 diabetes since he was a child. Jennifer Bartolotta, Joe’s wife and director of Care-a-lotta, elaborated on the day-to-day health challenges Joe kept private, or what she called “the daily grind that he never showed you.” “He sustained the blows of three heart attacks, had seven stents placed in his heart and six

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“

We all – the Bartolottas, their group, the community – lost a leader, but it’s our job to step up and carry the torch and move the city forward like Joe was doing.

years ago, my beloved brother donated a kidney to Joe,” she said. Toward the end of his life, she said, he was taking 38 pills daily and “the neuropathy in his feet had become debilitating.” Jennifer continued her speech with words of assurance and certainty about the future of the company. “If you’re wondering about your jobs, please don’t. If you’re wondering about our leadership team, please don’t. If you’re wondering about the quality of our food deteriorating, please don’t. If you’re wondering if we can deliver

−Omar Shaikh, SURG Restaurant Group

on his promise to passionately serve you, please don’t. If you’re wondering if we’ll continue our heartfelt service to the community, please don’t. We can and will survive this journey of ambiguity because we will walk in his footsteps,” she said. And Milwaukee’s restaurant community is expected to do the same. “We all – the Bartolottas, their group, the community – lost a leader, but it’s our job to step up and carry the torch and move the city forward like Joe was doing,” Shaikh said. n

BizNews

New ownership works to grow Midwest Composite Technologies THERE IS a good chance in a few years you will ride a motorcycle, buy a home appliance or fly in an airplane with parts in it that Midwest Composite Technologies LLC is helping design right now. The Hartland-based company specializes in helping companies with new product development and low-volume production. It has been that way since Helmut Keidl started the company in 1984. Within the past 10 to 15 years, MCT has increasingly focused on using additive manufacturing, or 3D printing. Core Industrial Partners, a Chicago-based private equity firm, acquired Midwest Composite Technologies last year. Ryan Martin, a former GE Additive executive, joined MCT early this year as chief executive officer. Martin said the company has the advantage of decades of expertise developed by the Keidl family and Core Industrial Partners provides additional capital to continue to invest in growing the business. He added that additive manufacturing opens up new design and engineering possibilities. “In traditional manufacturing, the more complex you make a part the more expensive it is,” Martin said. “In additive, complexity in a lot of these parts you can sort of get for free.” He pointed out the most expensive thing to print with any material is a solid block. Designing complex parts with an eye toward using less material actually reduces the cost of printing each part. Since 16 / BizTimes Milwaukee MAY 13, 2019

3D printing builds things one layer at a time, parts can be designed differently. “You have incredible freedom of design,” Martin said. “That ability to think very organically and nontraditionally allows people to come up with some pretty unique concepts … you can create things that go around components, you can do curved, you can do circular, you can have intercooling chambers just built into the parts.” He said large manufacturers increasingly understand how to design things for additive manufacturing, although there are limitations to the technology. “If you’re just taking a part that was traditionally manufactured and then producing it additively, there’s not a ton of value in that,” he said. “Where there is a ton of value is when you look at the part and you entirely redesign it.” Midwest Composite Technologies works with Fortune 500 companies and their suppliers, primarily in the medical device, agriculture, transportation, aerospace and general consumer industries, Martin said. About 70% of the work focuses on creating prototypes, while the remaining 30% is low-volume production. In many cases, MCT is working with companies on components and parts of their products, making them lighter or stronger, consolidating parts, or improving them. “Where we’re really assisting them is rapid iterations,” Martin said, noting a company can go from a computer assisted design file to a

Midwest Composite Technologies 3D prints parts to help companies with new product development.

MIDWEST COMPOSITE TECHNOLOGIES LLC 1050 Walnut Ridge Drive, Hartland

INDUSTRY: Additive manufacturing/prototyping EMPLOYEES: 65

midwestcomposite.com

finished prototype in hours or days because of 3D printing. “They can send us a file this afternoon, we can build that overnight or even during the day sometimes, ship it to them and they can have it on their desk.” Speed is an advantage for MCT. Martin said the company recently had a medical device customer that was developing a new product and long lead times for a metal casting part were delaying development. Instead of waiting, MCT was able to print 25 of the parts and allow the customer to build demo models. Midwest Composite Technologies has 45 additive manufacturing machines with capabilities in both metals and plastics. The company, however, focuses on more than additive manufacturing. Martin said MCT also does CNC machining, injection molding, fiberglass part fabrication, mold and tool making, finishing and painting. “Typically the people that are coming to us are engineers,” Martin said. “It’s their design, it’s their product and so on our side of things, an area we’ve invested significantly in is our sales engineers.”

He said the company tries to work collaboratively with OEMs to understand what a prototype is intended for and what challenge the customer is looking to solve. Sometimes a part is for testing, other times it is for a demonstration. The challenge could be to reduce lead times or cost or potentially to change material. From there, having a variety of manufacturing methods available gives MCT options, Martin said. “If you’re an OEM, that’s a reason why you come to us,” he said. n

ARTHUR THOMAS Reporter

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Milwaukee County has put Park East Block 22 back on the market for development proposals.

Downtown Park East block back on market as development activity booms in area

THE LAST REMAINING Milwaukee County-controlled Park East parcel is back on the market, and county officials say the time is right for this site to join the others around it in being redeveloped. In April, the county issued a request for proposals seeking those interested in acquiring and developing the downtown parcel, known as Block 22, of the former Park East freeway corridor. The block is bordered by North Water Street, North Milwaukee Street, East Ogden Avenue and North Broadway. Some developers consider the roughly 2.1-acre parcel to be an ideal spot for a mixed-use development, especially considering the number of similar projects going up around it. The Park East corridor looks very different from when the freeway was removed in 2002. The elevated freeway was replaced with the at-grade West McKinley Avenue, allowing for the reestablishment of the city street grid and opening up the land underneath it for redevelopment. According to the county, private development in and along the

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PRICE: $11.75 million BUYER: Cobalt Partners LLC SELLERS: School District of West Allis-West Milwaukee; 1126 West Allis Operating Associates LP SIZE: More than 18 acres 18 / BizTimes Milwaukee MAY 13, 2019

Earlier this spring, Milwaukee-based Cobalt Partners LLC announced it had completed the acquisition of nine properties along the South 70th Street corridor in West Allis related to its West Quarter development. The properties were acquired for a total of $11.75 million. Eight properties are on the west side of the street, and were acquired by an affiliate of Cobalt from the West Allis school district for $7.25 million. The property on the east side of South 70th Street, the former site of Allis-Chalmers’ offices, was purchased from a New Mexico investor for $4.5 million. The West Quarter project calls for 300,000 square feet of office space, 140,000 square feet of educational/institutional uses, 18,000 square feet of retail and a 128-room hotel. The project will include 125,000 square feet of existing space. Other buildings will be demolished. Cobalt envisions the development as a transit-oriented, amenity-rich district focused on industry, education and innovation.

corridor has spurred more than $2 billion in economic impact over the past several years. Developments include the Fiserv Forum, the Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin Sports Science Center, residential and mixed-use developments including The Moderne high-rise, and new office buildings for Bader Rutter, ManpowerGroup and Hammes Co. LLC. “The Park East corridor has grown tremendously over the past several years, and the sale of Block 22 will be the capstone of development on a once-desolate area of Milwaukee,” County Executive Chris Abele said in a statement. In fact, the county had previously selected a project that would go up at the site. In 2015, Wauwatosa-based Wangard Partners Inc. and its development proposal had been selected by the county. Wangard’s proposal called for a $52 million development consisting of 250 apartments, 70,000 square feet of retail space and a parking garage. That project never moved forward, and in 2018 the developer’s option had expired, said Aaron Hertzberg, director of economic development for Milwaukee County. Wangard requested an extension, but county officials instead opted to put out another RFP in hopes of getting development moving on the site. Moreover, the land has appreciated significantly since the first RFP. The county was originally to sell the land to Wangard for $2.5 million, but officials are now hopeful the site will command an even higher price, Hertzberg said. Stewart Wangard, chief executive officer and chairman of Wangard, said the site is in a “very vibrant area.” His firm developed the Avenir Apartments to the east of Block 22, near the southeast corner of East Lyon Street and North Milwaukee Street, as well as the Bader Rutter building to the west, near the northeast corner of North Broadway and North Water Street. Wangard said his firm is considering submitting a proposal again for the Block 22 site, but first has to determine whether it fits in with the rest of its development schedule.

“It’s an ideal mixed-use site,” he said. “If somebody can address some of the engineering issues, I think it’s one of the finest remaining sites available in the city.” Those engineering issues include the more than 30-foot change in grade from one end of the site to the other. Robert Monnat, a partner at Milwaukee-based Mandel Group Inc., said his firm is interested in the site, as well. Mandel developed the multi-phase North End apartment development across North Water Street from the site. “It’s a parcel we have had some interest in because we feel that as a result of our last two phases on North End … that we’ve created a lot of value,” he said. Monnat said if Mandel responds to the county RFP, it would propose uses that are in line with feedback provided by North End residents through surveys. The project would be mixed-use, likely with fewer residential units and more commercial space than buildings at the North End, he said. Wangard feels differently about the prospect of apartments there. He acknowledged some are concerned the area has seen enough apartment developments, but said he expected the continued growth of commercial developments in the area would support more residential units. Hertzberg said the county would perform a first review C of Block 22 RFP submissions in M August. Once officials find a viable offer, they will move forward with Y an award. n CM MY

CMY

ALEX ZANK Reporter

P / 414-336-7116 E / alex.zank@biztimes.com T / @AlexZank

BROOK-FALLS LUXURY PET RESORT Menomonee Falls-based Brook-Falls Veterinary Hospital & Exotic Care Inc. in early April broke ground for its new luxury pet resort and doggy daycare facility. Located at N48 W14850 W. Lisbon Road in Menomonee Falls, the 12,000-plus-squarefoot facility is being built by Jackson-based Design 2 Construct Development Corp. and will be owned and operated by the animal hospital. The resort will feature suites – not cages – for boarding; special housing units for birds, small mammals and exotic pets; a senior center for older dogs; two indoor and two outdoor exercise areas; and large private cat condos with a view of the outdoors. OWNER: Brook-Falls Veterinary Hospital & Exotic Care Inc. SIZE: 12,000-plus square feet COST: Design 2 Construct Development Corp. EC2019-Biz-Times-Qtr-Page-v1-PRESS.pdf

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RICHARD EBBERS PHOTOGRAPHY

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CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE OVERALL DESIGN OF THE PROJECT? WHAT PARTNERS DID YOU WORK WITH, AND WHAT WAS THAT PROCESS LIKE? Design of the building was created by Rinka- they did a lot of modeling through different renditions and ideas throughout the entire process. They did a great job. It was a very collaborative project- all stakeholders maintained constant communication and provided input during the build if something changed or evolved.

WHAT WAS THE TIMELINE FOR THE PROJECT? WERE ALL DEADLINES MET/EXCEEDED? We started in July of 2017 and we finished roughly a month ahead of schedule in August 2018. The lower level tenant was complete with their project in July of 2017 and we started some of our plumbing and underfloor work in May of 2017.

STEVENS CONSTRUCTION RELOCATED ITS MILWAUKEE OFFICES TO THE 42 – FROM YOUR PERSPECTIVE WHAT DOES THE SPACE OFFER FOR VISITORS? TENANTS AND CUSTOMERS? Yes, we moved into the building in August of 2018 once the building

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STORY COVER

IT WAS JUST OVER TWO YEARS AGO that Bader Rutter moved from Brookfield into its new downtown Milwaukee office space. 24 / BizTimes Milwaukee MAY 13, 2019

The marketing firm made the decision to move from the Bishopâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Woods office park into a brand new mixed-use development located along the Milwaukee River at the former Laacke & Joys site, 1433 N. Water St. Company executives say now that theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been in their new offices a while, they have become ad hoc advisors to a number of other companies also

Want talent? Where ’s your office? BY ALEX ZANK, staff writer

»» panies that have in recent years decided to relocate their offices closer to the heart of the city. Although the explanations for each move vary by company, the objective of hiring the best workers is a common refrain.

WHO’S MOVING?

looking to join them in downtown Milwaukee. Of course, they said, they love to share their experiences and give advice to those firms. “There’s no question that the location has allowed us to achieve our vision,” Greg Nickerson, Bader Rutter chairman, said of the choice to move downtown. “Without the river, without the street, without being on the first three floors, we couldn’t have pulled off what we wanted to.” And what was it, exactly, that they wanted to pull off? Selecting a location that would, among other things, serve as a way to help the company recruit talented workers and keep them there. Bader Rutter is just one of a number of com-

The companies that have recently chosen to move either their headquarters or regional offices downtown include: »» Real estate developer Hammes Co. is putting the final touches on a new five-story headquarters building at the corner of North Water and East Knapp streets, where it occupies 34,000 square feet over two floors and is leasing the remaining space to other office tenants »» WageWorks Inc., a California-based administrator of consumer-directed benefits, in 2018 moved its area offices from Mequon into the top two floors of the CityCenter at 735, renovating 35,000 square feet of office space at the building at 735 N. Water St. »» Janesville-based contractor J.P. Cullen & Sons Inc. last year relocated its Brookfield office to the Milwaukee Fortress Building, just north of Schlitz Park near downtown, moving its 40 to 50 employees into roughly 13,000 square

»»

feet on the first floor of the recently redeveloped building. Dallas-based Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. has moved its Milwaukee offices from Honey Creek Corporate Center on the city’s west side to Schlitz Park, where the group’s 200plus area employees take up 14,650 square feet of space. Kansas City-based engineering firm HNTB Corp. this summer will move its Milwaukee office from the Park Place office park on Milwaukee’s far northwest side into a 25,000-squarefoot space in the Two-Fifty building at 250 E. Wisconsin Ave. Milwaukee-based engineering firm GRAEFUSA Inc. is planning to move its headquarters out of Honey Creek and into a brand-new, 35,000-square-foot space on the third floor of The Avenue mixed-use development at North Old World Third Street and West Wisconsin Avenue sometime in late 2019. Rexnord Corp. plans to move operations into the office complex at 105-111 W. Michigan St., according to sources. The company has not publicly confirmed its interest in the building, nor has it detailed how much space it would be leasing or how many employees would move into the office. The building was recently purchased by 111 Michigan Partners LLC and is undergoing renovations. biztimes.com / 25

STORY COVER

A number of these companies have identified the need to attract and retain skilled workers as a key reason for selecting a new office downtown. Mark Kaminski, vice president of HNTB, said it was in the “top tier of elements we considered” when seeking out a new office space. “We want to make sure we’re offering (employees) an exciting location to work, an exciting location to stay,” Kaminski said.

CHOOSING A LOCATION THAT INSPIRES Steve Pape, principal and office broker at Founders 3 Real Estate Services LLC, said over the past five years, he has seen more companies view their offices as a recruitment tool. “Companies are recognizing the days of employees spending 10 to 20 years with the same company are few and far between,” he said. With a healthy economy, people are no longer hard-pressed to find a job. U.S. unemployment is at 3.6%, and in Wisconsin the unemployment rate is just under 3%. Those low unemployment rates indicate a tough market for

companies to find employees. Some industries, especially those that require a workforce with highly specified skillsets, are having an even more difficult time than others in finding enough qualified employees. Lori Rosenthal, vice president and principal with GRAEF, said her firm has gotten creative in bringing in enough talented workers, such as acquiring smaller firms and bringing in an entire group of new employees, rather than one at a time. The company also views its new office space at The Avenue as an important part of those efforts. “We see The Avenue not as primarily a decision for where we are now, but The Avenue is a decision for what we think our future employees are going to be about and want,” Rosenthal said. “So, it’s also part of that employee package and experience that we think is important for recruitment and retention.” The Avenue development represents the reimagining of the former Shops of Grand Avenue just west of the Milwaukee River. The project will dramatically shrink the size of retail space at

the mall to offer a larger mix of uses, including 190,000 square feet of office space; the 3rd Street Market Hall, a 21-tenant, 35,000-square-foot food hall on the ground floor; and the 52-unit Plankinton Clover apartment complex. It will also offer amenities such as a fitness club, an event center and a tenant lounge. Tony Janowiec, co-owner of The Avenue, said the decision to add office space at The Avenue development came after the project team evaluated both what could feasibly be done with the building and what was needed in the market. He said there was particularly a clear need in the downtown area for large-format office space on a single level. “We evaluated the intersection of what we felt there was demand for in the market, plus what areas of the building could actually be used for other than the historical retail use,” he said. The Avenue checked a lot of GRAEF’s boxes in what the firm was looking for, such as the ability to house all employees on a single floor, easy access to the freeway, ample parking and a cheaper overall price than what they were paying – which was in part achieved by shrinking the square foot-

2 26 / BizTimes Milwaukee MAY 13, 2019

INTERIORS: LILA ARYAN PHOTOGRAPHY

ALEX ZANK

1. Bader Rutter chairman Greg Nickerson and CEO Jeff Young in the café of the company’s downtown headquarters. 2. Bader Rutter’s open concept, loft-style lobby. 3. A breakout room and patio face the Milwaukee River Walk at Bader Rutter. 4. A fireplace is tucked beneath the stairs at Bader Rutter.

COURTESY KUBALA WASHATKO ARCHITECTS

age the firm was leasing. One thing that set it apart, though, was all the energy surrounding it. “To be honest, there just was a lot of buzz after being through The Avenue,” Rosenthal said. “The space, when we saw it, looked like it did when it was shuttered. … But still, you could see the beauty of this raw space and everybody just came back very excited.” John Kissinger, president and chief executive officer of GRAEF, said when the firm was first pitched The Avenue as an office location, he didn’t think much about it. Now, he knows the firm made the correct choice to move downtown, given the number of competing firms that have announced they would do the same in recent months. “The Avenue really sold us on their vision, the vision of transforming this old mall into an office,” he said. Similar to GRAEF, Bader Rutter executives were attracted to downtown due to its energy, as well as the promise of new developments such as the Fiserv Forum. Jeff Young, president and CEO of Bader Rutter, said this was a “tipping factor” in making their choice. “As we were pondering staying out west, we would look at sites, then we would come down here and look at sites,” he said. “Greg and I would talk and we’d go, ‘We’re sort of deluding ourselves if we somehow could create the energy that you could get down here — we’re on the river, we’re on Water Street — that we could recreate that energy in the ’burbs.’ … There really was no comparison.” Nickerson said it’s important that his company and others attract talent from beyond the Milwaukee area, including nearby urban areas like the Twin Cities and even the coastal U.S. This benefits not only the company but the entire Milwaukee community, as it draws in more talented employ-

ees that otherwise wouldn’t be here. The company’s new office has helped in those efforts. Bader Rutter noted it has seen a 40% increase in traditional applications – such as through its electronic system as opposed to things like word-of-mouth and referrals – between 2016, when it was located in Brookfield, and 2018. At HNTB, Kaminski said his firm started out the office hunt by looking at over a dozen places throughout the city. “It wasn’t too long before the properties and assets we were looking at, all the top ones were (in) the downtown area,” he said. The Two-Fifty building attracted HNTB with access to nearby transportation and transit networks, such as bus lines, The Hop streetcar system and the interstate. Its proximity to the Milwaukee Public Market in the Historic Third Ward, restaurants and the Fiserv Forum and related entertainment offerings also played a role. “For us, we wanted to make sure from an accessibility standpoint that whatever location we chose was easy to access for both our employees and our clients,” he said. Kaminski was careful to point out that the firm’s decision to move isn’t a reaction to the challenge of finding enough talented workers. Rather, HNTB views its new office as a tool to continue its success in attracting and retaining employees.

URBANIZATION ON THE UPSWING Bill Bonifas, executive vice president and office broker at CBRE’s Milwaukee office, said like any broader trend, the shifting of companies from the suburbs to downtown (and vice versa) seem to have their own lifecycle. He noted that when he first started in the business, most of the office market was focused down-

A rendering of GRAEF’s new headquarters office space, overlooking the 3rd Street Market Hall, at The Avenue in downtown Milwaukee.

town. What began the overall movement to the suburbs, he said, were the freeways that were built around the 1960s. The interstate system allowed people to quickly travel to the far reaches of the metro area, and it meant companies did not have to settle for older, vertical buildings with smaller floor plates. “A lot of these were built when they had to go vertical due to transportation issues,” Bonifas said. “So it was embracing the modern, going to the suburbs and taking the freeways, which was this new and exciting thing.” Bonifas said the larger buildings and cheap development costs drove “millions of square feet” to the suburbs. But now, the migration back toward urban environments is occurring due to a number of factors. Bonifas said the younger generations typically have more of a taste for urban areas, perhaps because more of them have been exposed through their personal experiences or through traveling. Then there was the apartment boom, which brought more people toward the city’s center – again, with many of them being younger. Bonifas pinpoints the start of office users moving back downtown around 2003, with Roundy’s Inc. moving from Pewaukee to 875 E. Wisconsin Ave. and bringing with it about 500 employees. Then in 2007, ManpowerGroup moved about 900 employees from Glendale to its new headquarters at Schlitz Park. “It’s more exciting and vibrant for most employees, so I think we’re going to continue to see this trend in the future,” Bonifas said of downtown. biztimes.com / 27

STORY COVER

As more companies look toward downtown, they will have more choices for new office spaces. For instance, Milwaukee-based Irgens Partners LLC is securing tenants for the new BMO Tower under construction at the corner of North Water and East Wells streets. The 25-story glass office building is expected to be finished at the end of this year. Accounting for the leases that have already been announced, about 160,000 square feet of the roughly 360,700 square feet of office space is still available in the tower. Milwaukee developer J. Jeffers & Co. plans to build an 11-story office building, called The Huron Building, at 511 N. Broadway downtown. The building will be anchored by the Husch Blackwell law firm’s Milwaukee office. However, additional developments promise to add hundreds of thousands of square feet of additional office space on the west side of the Milwaukee River. This includes The Avenue project, though that space is likely to fill quickly, according to the project developers. Janowiec said once GRAEF moves into its offices there will technically be about 115,000 square feet of office space available. But, he added, about 80% of that space has potential tenants at some stage of the letter of intent process. Janowiec said he’s spoken with a range of possible tenants, including a creative firm, a marketing firm and a national coworking firm. “It’s really quite a diverse array of businesses that we’re negotiating with,” he said. The Milwaukee Bucks also recently unveiled conceptual plans for the remaining developable sites of its eight-block Deer District. Centered around the new Fiserv Forum arena, the area already includes developments such as an entertainment block, the team’s training center with an attached clinic, a parking structure and an in-progress apartment complex. The remaining undeveloped blocks are envisioned to include a mix of uses, such as retail, residential, hospitality and, of course, offices. In fact, marketing brochures depict 242,500 square feet of office space for the block north of the arena and east of the parking structure. The new office development could be completed by April 2021, depending on preleasing activity.

GAUGING THE MARKET By the estimation of Brandon Frankel, market analyst with CoStar Group Inc., the downtown market is performing well relative to what’s typical for the area. Specifically for the downtown east area, which includes the primary central business district of downtown Milwaukee, office vacancies are at about 8.5%, he said. This rate “would be healthy 28 / BizTimes Milwaukee MAY 13, 2019

ALEX ZANK

MORE OFFICES ON THE HORIZON

by almost every standard, but especially healthy that downtown east averages 9.8% historically,” Frankel said. Class A office space vacancies are at 10.7% in the downtown east submarket, a little higher than all office space in the market, he added. This, said Frankel, is primarily because of the new construction activity in the area, such as the 833 East building at 833 E. Michigan St. and the upcoming BMO Tower. Rent growth, meanwhile, has softened after a strong five-year period. From 2013 through the end of 2017, rent growth in the downtown east submarket was never below 1.3%, with the market historically seeing about 1.5% growth per year. In 2018, however, the market saw less than 1% rent growth. With that in mind, Frankel said the development community in Milwaukee appears to have done a nice job balancing new supply with expected demand. However, one other thing to be aware of, he said, is that job growth among office users in the downtown east submarket was negative in 2018. This is not a positive sign for future office absorption rates, since it directly correlates with office-using job growth.

BEYOND LOCATION To be sure, the new glass towers downtown turn a lot of heads. But many of the recent moves – Jacobs Engineering leasing space at the redeveloped Schlitz Park, HNTB moving into the renovated Two-Fifty and GRAEF committing to a redeveloped former shopping mall – involve buildings that have been recently updated or converted into Class A office space, Pape said. With such buildings, companies can enjoy lower rental costs. Parking also often plays an important role, as is the case with GRAEF. Location is certainly important when companies consider an office space that will win over employees, but it’s not the only thing, Pape said.

The recently renovated Two-Fifty building, located at 250 E. Wisconsin Ave., recently added HNTB as a tenant.

The most important aspect, in fact, may be the amenities that the building and surrounding area offer workers. Pape said he sees more office buildings that are beginning to offer things like coffee bars, tenant lounges, fitness centers and coworking spaces. These provide workers with the opportunity to “vary their work environment outside of their four walls.” This means downtown isn’t the only place that can offer an office environment that serves as a means to attract talented employees. Pape said good examples of amenity-rich office environments outside of downtown include Summit Place office complex in West Allis (the end result of a $50 million transformation of a former Allis-Chalmers site in 2004) and the Milwaukee County Research Park in Wauwatosa, which boasts tenants like GE Healthcare and Fujifilm, as well as young startup companies. Even so, he said it’s clear many younger workers are seeking out a job that has them working in “cool, urban environments.” This gives downtown an advantage in the location decision-making process as companies are factoring in everything from rental costs to building amenities to location. Beyond that, attracting talent still remains just one factor in choosing the right office environment. Bonifas said he views the urbanization of office spaces as one of several key trends in the office market. Among the other important trends is that companies are seeking out offices that have an interesting aesthetic, meaning design is more important than ever. “It’s a look and feel that elevates and is aesthetically interesting, however defined by the people,” such as the choice between concrete floors or in-

ALEX ZANK

teresting carpet patterns, he said. As a result of this emphasis, the cost of tenant improvements is on the rise. Similarly, companies are placing more emphasis on office views and natural light. They are also more sensitive to environmental issues than in the past, and seek out environmentally friendly buildings with LEED certification. Beyond the office itself, companies are now placing more emphasis on technology, Bonifas said. Employers, he said, want their people to be able to work from places other than just their desks, whether that be in collaboration areas, from home or even at a coffee shop.

MAKING THE CHANGE When discussing Bader Rutter’s move with other companies, Nickerson and Young said they get a lot of questions about how they handled everything from managing the transition to making sure employees were on board. Nickerson said some employees expressed concerns about working downtown at first, ranging from parking, to the commute, to potential crime. What Nickerson and Young said they can tell others, though, is that they can count on one hand the number of people they lost directly due to the move downtown. And now, Bader Rutter is seeing employees more interested and engaged in the community than they had been in the suburbs, they said. Bader Rutter is also seeing more oppor-

tunities to form meaningful relationships with area organizations and universities. “There’s not an absolute formula that you can plug into this (decision),” Nickerson said. “Ultimately you’re going to go with your gut telling you that if you look at all these things, that this is right for your business. Because it is a big investment of time, energy and most cases, dollars, but also

The new Hammes Co. headquarters building, located at the northeast corner of North Water and East Knapp streets.

there’s a disruption to the business.” In the two years since making the move downtown, Nickerson said he has not looked back and regretted the decision. n

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Special Report REAL ESTATE & DEVELOPMENT

Industrial developments going wherever land is available By Alex Zank, staff writer ON THE OUTSKIRTS of the village of Germantown, Milwaukee-based developer Zilber Property Group is busy creating a new 140-acre industrial park that recently was used as farmland. Gateway Corporate Park is being developed at the intersection of Holy Hill Road and Gateway Crossing, less than a mile east of the I-41 and Holy Hill Road interchange. The park is anchored by a 706,000-square-foot distribution facility for Wauwatosa-based Briggs & Stratton Corp. that’s wrapping up construction, and will soon be home to an additional two speculative industrial buildings, each of which will be roughly 200,000 square feet. What’s more, just east of the corporate park, a 100,000-square-foot industrial building is being planned for Menomonee Falls-based Dielectric Corp. Once completed, that building will serve as a manufacturing facility and new headquarters for the company. The developments happening in and near this new corporate park in Germantown are just one example of developers looking further outward for available land to build new industrial facilities. It was not long ago that areas like this were viewed as too far out of the metro Milwaukee market, said Jeff Hoffman, a principal at Cushman & Wakefield | The Boerke Co. in Milwaukee. “That’s (a) location three years ago everybody was saying, ‘It’s too far north,’” Hoffman said. So far, 2019 has been a continuation of what the industrial market was seeing last year: Strong demand from users and investors, with indicators such as low vacancies further encouraging developers to push forward with more spec developments and corporate parks. “We continue to see very strong demand in really every area of (industrial) real estate, ranging from warehouse distribution, manufacturing, new development (and) investment,” said Jim Barry III, president of Milwaukee-based The Barry Co. “We’re marketing several investment properties right now, and there’s extremely strong demand from investors looking to place their capital in industrial real estate.” Kenosha, Racine, Milwaukee and Waukesha counties are receiving the most attention from developers looking to put up spec buildings. The Racine-Kenosha area, especially communities like Pleasant Prairie, have started attracting the atten30 / BizTimes Milwaukee MAY 13, 2019

tion of large national developers and investors. A recent Commercial Association of Realtors Wisconsin report on the industrial market shows in the first quarter of 2019, the vacancy rate for the eight-county region was 3.3%. This matched the vacancy rate for the fourth quarter of last year. In Kenosha and Racine counties, the vacancy rate was at or just below 3%, essentially flat from the fourth quarter of 2018. In Milwaukee County, the vacancy rate was 5.4%, slightly down from 5.6% in the previous quarter. Waukesha County, meanwhile, recorded a vacancy rate of 1.9% for the quarter, slightly up from the 1.7% in the previous quarter. Chad Navis, director of industrial developments for Zilber, said vacancy rates may go up for the region in the near term. This is due to the amount of spec industrial buildings that are being built, especially for the area south of Mitchell International Airport. However, this space will likely be quickly filled, given the demand from users that’s out there. “I would say there is a significant amount of user activity in this area, and I would anticipate by the second or third quarter you’re going to see a market absorption of that space in the marketplace,” he said. With this strong demand comes challenges, particularly the availability of land in certain areas.

ADDRESSING LAND AVAILABILITY ISSUES The demand in the Milwaukee metropolitan area is clearly there. Hoffman said the longest a new spec industrial building has sat vacant in the metro area recently has been four months. And in the instance of a 193,000-square-foot development in New

Berlin, that building was entirely leased three months prior to delivery. Looking at Milwaukee, especially the primary interstate corridors, it becomes “very problematic” to find a site suited for industrial development, he said. Most developments now require 15 to 20 acres, and finding that much land that isn’t impacted by environmental corridors like wetlands is a challenge. Barry said it’s becoming increasingly difficult to find large enough tracts of land in a fairly central location in Milwaukee and Waukesha counties, especially. This had led to more industrial projects on the periphery. Some have even sought to develop infill sites, or find and repurpose an existing building, such as a former big-box retail store. Another issue lies in the time it takes to prepare a site that isn’t suited for immediate industrial development, such as former farmland on the outskirts of the metro area. Navis said it takes about six to 12 months to bring former farmland online with necessary infrastructure, and on top of that is the development itself. This could add up to two years’ worth of work. “That’s a long time in our world and usually users do not have two years to sit around and wait,” he said.

WHERE DEVELOPERS SEEK TO BUILD The I-94 north-south corridor continues to see plenty of industrial development activity, particularly in the southernmost portion of Milwaukee County, as well as Racine and Kenosha counties. For instance, Chicago-based developer HSA Commercial Real Estate recently purchased land in the OakView Business Park in Oak Creek,

ARTHUR THOMAS

The 706,000-square-foot Briggs & Stratton building in Germantown is nearly finished.

where it plans to construct a 150,000-square-foot spec building. This brings the total number of spec buildings at that business park up to three. A 2.5 million-square-foot warehouse and distribution facility is also being developed for Amazon in the Ryan Business Park just east of the interstate. Further south in the Racine and Kenosha area, ongoing industrial projects include the following: »» New York-based Ashley Capital LLC is building a new 438,000-square-foot spec building at the Enterprise Business Park in Sturtevant. This is the second building going up in the 90acre business park, which is planned to have more than 1.3 million square feet of industrial space when fully developed. »» Chicago-based Logistics Property Co. LLC recently purchased 106 acres of land west of I-94 as part of plans to develop another three buildings totaling 1.7 million square feet in its 94 Logistics Park development in Kenosha.

The first phase of the corporate park includes 1 million square feet across 67 acres. »» Dallas-based Hillwood Development Co. LLC, which has ties to billionaire and former presidential candidate Ross Perot, is planning to build two spec buildings at roughly 194,000 square feet apiece in the Grandview Business Park, which lies just west of I-94 in Yorkville. More developers are now looking at these two counties for a number of reasons, Barry noted. Of course, there is plenty of available land. But beyond that, established facilities like the Amazon and Uline distribution centers in Kenosha County have proven the area to be a place where distribution centers can succeed. Barry added it is less expensive to build on land in Wisconsin versus in Illinois, and the current political climate is generally more favorable for developers here than across the border. While not as hot as the outlying areas, Mil-

waukee County is attracting some industrial development. Scannell Properties recently broke ground on a 150,000-square-foot spec building on West Carmen Avenue on Milwaukee’s far northwest side. Hoffman said this is the Indianapolis-based developer’s first project in Milwaukee. Another option for industrial development that has been slow to gain traction is Century City Business Park in Milwaukee’s central city. Good City Brewing will move in to the Century City I building there, marking some progress. But a major impediment to bringing in more companies to Century City is its location, particularly the fact that it isn’t right next to the interstate, Barry said. Another area to watch for possible infill development, Hoffman said, is along West Canal Street in the Menomonee Valley. His firm is marketing five properties totaling 24.4 acres combined, and said there’s been interest from some developers there. n

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Strategies MANAGEMENT

We need to talk How to navigate a difficult conversation

DO YOU NEED TO TALK with someone about a difficult situation but struggle with what to say or how to say it? Maybe you need to talk with a colleague who isn’t pulling his weight on a project? Or a direct report who constantly talks over you and interrupts you during department meetings? By following the simple six-step process detailed below, overwhelm can be transformed into empowerment. To illustrate the power of this process, observe how the scenario between two department leaders – the Director of Engineering (E) and the Director of Marketing (M) – shifts from being challenging to becoming cooperative.

1. STATE THE PURPOSE OF THE MEETING. E: “I’ve asked to meet with you today so we can brainstorm ideas to improve how our teams work together.”

2. S TATE THE POSITIVE INTENTION. E: “I know this new product launch is vitally important to you and the company; please know that the entire engineering department desperately wants and is working hard to get the new line ready for market as scheduled.” M: “I hear your words but I don’t see much happening.”

3. A SK QUESTIONS OR STATE THE ISSUE. E: “Currently, I’ve been feeling that the tension between our groups is becoming thick and it’s be-

ginning to affect my morale, and the morale of my team. Is your team feeling this tension, too?” M: “Yes, they are … and it’s impacting me, too. If your team could just get the specs right we could still make the launch date.”

4. STATE THE ISSUE OR ASK QUESTIONS. E: “We are diligently working to isolate the root cause of the failures. Unfortunately, each test takes 24 hours. To make this easier for you, I’ve been thinking that if we could get information to you each day, versus saving it for our weekly meetings, you could make better decisions.” M: “That would make it a bit easier, but your team doesn’t operate with a sense of urgency.”

5. EXPLORE SOLUTIONS. E: “Well, then let’s spend a few minutes talking about the weekly meetings.” M: “What’s on your mind?” E: “It seems to me that if we could touch base for 10 minutes each day, I could share the most recent results with you.” M: “That would reduce my stress but it doesn’t guarantee that we will be ready by launch date.” E: “My goal is to improve the information flow between our departments and I think that this will move us in the right direction. I also think that we need to come up with some contingency plans. I know that we don’t want to think of them, and I hope that we won’t need to use them, but if we can’t isolate the issue soon, we will need to mobilize fast and that can only happen if we have a backup plan.” M: “(Big sigh). I hate to even think about that. (Long pause. Looks down at the floor.) There is so much riding on this product line that it is really hard for me to consider that it won’t launch on time. If we don’t deliver, it will be very costly for the company.” E: “I understand … and no one in engineering wants to miss this deadline, but we also don’t want to risk compromising the company’s reputation by rolling out a sub-par product.” M: “What do you have in mind?” E: “Experience has taught me that you should always have three plans: 1. What is the best that could happen?

2. W hat is likely to happen? 3. What is the worst that could happen? How about if we talk through each scenario, give it a few days, and then re-evaluate what we came up with?” M: “I really don’t want to think about that … but I understand your point.” E & M: (Strategy ideation discussion)

6. D EFINE AND CONFIRM NEXT STEPS. E: “Okay, so we have three initial options … how about if I email these to you today and then let’s review them again on Friday?” M: “Sure. I’m glad that we had this conversation. You know, I hadn’t thought about some of these options – this conversation was helpful. Thanks.” By using this simple process, you can facilitate difficult conversations with grace and ease. With practice, the right words and questions will just flow to you. No longer will intimidation or anxiety hold you hostage. n

CHRISTINE M c MAHON Christine McMahon is a former sales executive for Nabisco, SlimFast and Procter & Gamble. She offers sales and leadership training, conference keynotes and executive coaching. She can be reached at (844) 3692133 or ccm@christinemcmahon.com. biztimes.com / 33

Strategies COACHING

Intentional selfdevelopment Who do you dream of being?

“Business is tough. Life is difficult. Competition is fierce. Good thing you’ve been made to withstand all of it.”

IT HAS BECOME FASHIONABLE over the past couple of generations to point a finger of blame at people who have made your life difficult. News flash: Life is difficult! These are the first three words in M. Scott Peck’s perennial best-selling book, “The Road Less Traveled.” The sooner you can understand these words, the sooner you can release a lot of angst when things don’t go your way. And the sooner you can get to work building the person you want to be. Poet E.E. Cummings (whose contrarian style included writing exclusively in lowercase) said another profound thing: “To be nobody-but-yourself – in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else – means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.” Rounding out a trio of quotes, I have one taped 34 / BizTimes Milwaukee MAY 13, 2019

to my refrigerator, though I have no idea who originally said it: “Don’t let someone else’s mistakes make you someone you never intended to be.” When I see and read about so much anger, resentment and demand for restitution, I wonder, how have we been led to this moment? How and why have we decided to let other people’s mistakes make us people we never set out to be? Science tells us that the natural state of things is atrophy and decay and it certainly seems as though science is being proven out. But the natural state is not what most of us want. We want better, stronger, more productive, more equitable, more inclusive, more respectful. My challenge to you as an individual, team member, citizen and rational human being is to set aside the noise of destruction to focus on intentionally developing the You that you dream of being. If you want to live in a world of greater inclusivity and respect, listen. Learn. Value difference. Don’t wait for someone to extend these courtesies to you first. Lead. If you want a world that is better and stronger, learn to forgo the gratification of having what you want right now to build something of value for others who will come after you. If you want to live in a world of greater equity, dedicate yourself to teaching someone what you know. Equip them to compete in a world that, frankly, doesn’t care where they came from or who they know, but cares a lot about what they can do, and for whom. If you want to be seen as someone of worth, do something worthwhile. Every individual is different. We all have stories about how we got to be the way we are. No one’s life story is all sunshine and roses; the people who insist theirs has been are lying. And they know it, which is why so many people are uncomfortable in their own skin and cannot speak plainly; because they are always looking for approval. Business is tough. Life is difficult. Competition is fierce. Good thing you’ve been made to withstand all of it. Figure out what your unique strengths are. Pay attention to the ideas that spark energy within you. Promise yourself that you will be better tomorrow

than you are today, whether “better” means smarter, kinder, quicker to act, more straightforward in your conversations, financially stronger, or any other criteria that matters to you. Some socially accepted ways of “being better” will hurt you. Things like demeaning people who think, act and live differently than you; lying to gain the upper hand; destroying the reputation of a competitor; seeing yourself as more important than others for any reason under the sun. You are not. They aren’t, either. Stop listening to people who talk too much, lie too easily, and want something from you that you are not willing to give. Help the people who want to tell you what you think to understand that you are capable of forming your own opinions, making your own decisions, and responding accordingly to their questions or needs. To do so, you’ll need patience, a sense of perspective, and an abiding belief that they, too, deserve the respect and accommodation you want. These are traits worth working on! Once mastered, they will lead you proudly to the person you dream of being. n

SUSAN MARSHALL Susan Marshall is an author, speaker and the founder of Backbone Institute LLC. For more information, visit backboneinstitute.com.

LEADERSHIP

How to keep your business on course To survive, never stop learning

WHERE IS YOUR ORGANIZATION in its business cycle? Are you beginning, operating or closing the business? If you’re operating it, is it growing or shrinking? Your challenge is to recognize which section of the cycle you’re in and, most importantly, what to do about it. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks the number of businesses started each year and how long they survive: »» Within the first two years of a startup, about one in five companies will no longer exist. »» Within three years, almost one in three will close. »» Almost four in 10 will be gone in four years. »» About half will disappear in six years. Some companies close for good reasons. The owners achieved their purpose, for example. Or the business was sold. But the trend indicates that companies in their early years are more prone to failure. Those at least five years old typically have experienced a recession or hard times. They’ve been able to navigate difficulties, and have the skills and experience to weather future business and financial storms.

WHAT’S NEEDED FOR SUCCESS As a business owner, you must have one or

both of these traits to be successful: 1. You’re excited about being in business. You don’t care about the product or service as much as you do about being in the “game” of business. 2. You’re passionate about the company or genuinely love the product or service. Ideally, you’re excited about both. Business owners must always be learning. Formal education doesn’t include making payroll, servicing debt, closing customer sales, marketing the business or dealing with troubled employees. Formal education is theoretical. On-the-job practical experience is a necessity. Owners create a vision for the organization and make long- and short-term plans. The most straightforward business plan answers these questions: Where are you? Where do you want to be? How do you get there? Business strategists make the process too complicated. Remember the image of a sailor in the crow’s nest of an old sailing ship? He was responsible for identifying whaling opportunities, dangerous reefs or even, “land ahoy!” He looked for markers to understand the ship’s location, opportunities or dangers. His role was to help the ship stay on course. You’re like that sailor, surveying the business environment. The traditional strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats analysis is helpful. The threats and weaknesses evaluations are most critical in the short term. They must be identified, understood and mitigated. Knowing your strengths and opportunities is essential for long-term growth.

business to close. The correct definition is current assets minus current liabilities. It also includes knowing the implications of your company’s policies, creating procedures, and monitoring to ensure there’s enough cash available to operate. Adequate working capital involves prudent customer terms, diligent collection of accounts, appropriate amounts of inventory and sufficient lines of credit from your financial institution, along with wise use of lines of credit, and reasonable credit terms and lines of credit from suppliers. Your business still has to produce a product or service that meets the needs of customers at a price they are willing to pay while still making you profitable. Starting a business and operating it at the beginning, without pressure, is easy. Staying in business is hard and takes significant effort. You must focus on execution and delivery of the product or service to create satisfied customers. Remember this, and your business will stay on course as well. n

THE IMPORTANCE OF WORKING CAPITAL Also focus on working capital and profitable collected sales to ensure the continued success of the business. I’m a professional speaker and consultant and meet many CEOs, CFOs and controllers across the country. And I’ve been surprised by how few understand working capital. Most describe it as “having enough cash available for operations.” That overlooks vital components which could force the

JIM LINDELL Jim Lindell is a CPA, a chartered global management accountant and a certified speaking professional. He is president of Dousman-based Thorsten Consulting Group Inc. and chairs two groups for Vistage in Wisconsin. biztimes.com / 35

Marketplace

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GET THE WORD OUT! News? Press Releases? Awards? Show them off in BizTimes’ new BizUpdates section. Submit your company news at biztimes.com/bizconnect 36 / BizTimes Milwaukee MAY 13, 2019

BIZ PEOPLE

Advertising Section: New Hires, Promotions, Accolades and Board Appointments

COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE CG Schmidt Promotes First-Ever Female Executive. CG Schmidt, a Milwaukee-based construction company, recently announced the promotion of Sarah Dunn to Vice President. Sarah is the first female executive in the company’s nearly 100-year history.

NONPROFIT TEMPO Milwaukee Appoints New Board Chair. TEMPO Milwaukee announces the appointment of Marybeth Cottrill, director-private wealth advisor with BMO Wealth Management, to board chair beginning May 1, 2019 for a two-year term. Marybeth has been an active TEMPO Milwaukee member since 2006.

CONSTRUCTION James Keller, AIA Joins Hunzinger Construction Company. Hunzinger is excited to welcome James Keller, AIA, as an Project Manager in our Interiors Group. James spent the last 7 years working at HGA’s Milwaukee office. He also has a Master’s of Architecture: Design and Energy Conservation Program Degree.

INSURANCE Erin Kelly joins Network Health as Vice President of Sales and Marketing. Wisconsin-based health insurer Network Health announced the addition of Erin Kelly as vice president of sales and marketing. Kelly brings more than 18 years of experience in sales and marketing in the health insurance industry to Network Health.

ENVIRONMENT Urban Ecology Center Hires Director of Finance and Operations. The Urban Ecology Center is pleased to announce the hiring of Rachel Nielsen to the role of Director of Finance and Operations.

LAW M. Scott McBride, Ph.D., joins Quarles & Brady LLP’s Intellectual Property Group. McBride, partner and registered patent attorney, joins the Quarles & Brady Milwaukee office. His hire, along with three other recent patent attorneys hires, is part of the firm’s continued expansion of its IP Group.

SECURITY Dennis Snider brings 25 years of experience in the commercial security technology industry to Engineered Security Solutions, Inc. and joins ESS at a time of unprecedented growth. Dennis began his career in security on the technical side and has held various positions in service and management. Prior to that, he served our country in the United States Air Force. Dennis will be an integral part of the leadership team as Operations Manager. ESS is a Wisconsin security leader providing cutting-edge solutions for commercial, industrial, municipal, law enforcement, education, financial customers and more for nearly 20 years.

To place your listing, or for more information, please visit biztimes.com/connect

New Hire? Share the news with the business community! Announce new hires, promotions, accolades, and board appointments with BizPeople.

Visit biztimes.com/bizconnect to submit your news!

BizConnections NONPROFIT MILWAUKEE RESCUE MISSION COMPLETES $13 MILLION CAMPAIGN FOR SCHOOL EXPANSION Milwaukee Rescue Mission leaders recently celebrated the completion of a $13 million capital campaign to support the renovation and expansion of the organization’s school campus in Milwaukee’s Lindsay Heights neighborhood. Earlier this year, MRM completed the project at its Cross Trainers Academy North Campus, adding enrollment capacity to the voucher school at 1530 W. Center St. In 2015, the organization acquired the property at the corner of North 15th and West Center streets – which included two buildings of a former charter school and the Academy of Learning and Leadership – to develop the Cross Trainers Academy campus. At the time, the school operated out of MRM’s main campus at 830 N. 19th St. and had about 150 students in grades K4-8.

Leaders that year decided to add grades 9-12 and build out a vocational-based high school program. The $19 million North Campus project included connecting the two buildings, adding a gym and building a fabrication lab. In total, the project added about 48,510 square feet to the campus. Catalyst Construction LLC was the project’s general contractor and Plunkett Raysich Architects LLP was the architect. MRM launched a capital campaign to support the project in 2016. It was co-chaired by Michael Grebe, former president and chief executive officer of the Bradley Foundation, and Patty Grebe; and Warren Pierson, managing director and deputy chief investment officer for Baird Advisors, and Ann Pierson. — Lauren Anderson

c alendar City on a Hill will host its Break the Cycle/Heal the City banquet on May 30 from 5 to 8 p.m. at Marquette University’s AMU Grand Ballroom at 1442 W. Wisconsin Ave. in Milwaukee. The event will include a silent auction and “Project Runway,” featuring current and upcoming projects and activities at City on a Hill. The event will also feature a message by local business leader and educator Deanna Singh. More information is available at cityonahillmilwaukee.org. Girl Scouts of Wisconsin Southeast will host its third annual Celebrate the Promise event on May 30 from 5:30 to 9 p.m. at The Pfister Hotel, 424 E. Wisconsin Ave. The event will feature Girl Scouts’ stories of development through the Girl Scout Leadership Experience and recognition of the 2019 Girl Scout Leadership Award G.I.R.L. honorees. More information is available at gswise.org. The Wisconsin Chapter of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation will hold its Cheers to Milwaukee’s Finest event on June 13th from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the Hilton Milwaukee Empire Ballroom, 509 W. Wisconsin Ave. The Milwaukee’s Finest program honors 10 local young professionals who are tasked with raising at least $2,500 to benefit the Wisconsin Chapter of the CFF. More information is available at finest.cff.org/milwaukee/.

D O N AT I O N R O U N D U P Cream City Foundation gave two grant awards totaling $30,000 through its LGBTQ+ Impact-Grant Program. The funding will allow Holton Street Clinic to imbed a registered nurse and clinic assistant two afternoons a week at the Diverse & Resilient office, and will provide seed funding to launch a collaboration between Pathfinders and the Wisconsin LGBT Chamber of Commerce. | West Bend Mutual Insurance donated $100,000 to the Zoological Society of Milwaukee’s Adventure Africa exhibit in support of the Window to the Wild Capital Campaign. | The Rotary Club of Milwaukee has given $50,000 to the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra to support the restoration and renovation of the Warner Grand Theater. | Professional Dimensions recently donated $50,000 to Pathfinders’ New Paths program.

38 / BizTimes Milwaukee MAY 13, 2019

nonprofit

SPOTLIGHT

O U T S K I R T S T H E AT R E C O . 223 Maple Ave., Suite 206, Waukesha (414) 367-6484 | outskirtstheatre.org Facebook: facebook.com/outskirtstheatre Twitter: @OutskirtsCo | Instagram: @outskirtstheatre

Year founded: 2014 Mission statement: Our mission is to provide professional artistic opportunities to emerging artists through thoughtprovoking and entertaining theatre. Primary focus: Artistic opportunities on stage and off for emerging professionals, highlighting women artists, LGBTQ artists, artists of color and other groups, staging productions meant to entertain and educate our community. Other focuses: Providing a next-level theater education to students looking to go into the performing arts, serving as a springboard between educational/community theater and professional work. Employees at this location: Five Key donors: Wisconsin Arts Board, Tony and Andrea Bryant, Bosco’s Social Club, Direct Supply. Executive leadership: Ryan Albrechtson, producing artistic director; Allyson Imig, executive director.

Is your organization actively seeking board members for the upcoming term? Not at this time. Ways the business community can help your nonprofit: Serve as a sponsor. Sponsor a whole production, sponsor a single artist; no gift is too big or small. We know our donors like to know exactly where their money is going to, so we have opportunities to help us in a variety of ways. You can sponsor a specific artist: one female artist per season, one LGBT artist per season, one graduate of your alma mater per season, or whatever you are looking for. Also, come see a show. Get to know us and our work and help spread the word about Outskirts in the community. Key fundraising events: The .05k (164 feet) Fun Run, held at Bosco’s Social Club on Sept. 22; Season Kickoff Campaign, starting in June; annual Outskirts Gala.

SBA LOANS: MARCH 2019 The U.S. Small Business Administration approved the following loan guarantees in March: MILWAUKEE COUNTY

5341 LLC, 5341 S. 27th St., Greenfield, $311,000, WBD Inc.; Action PDR Inc., 10700 W. Venture Drive, Franklin, $150,000, Waukesha State Bank; Bakedmke LLC, 7328 W. Greenfield Ave., Milwaukee, $540,000, Waukesha State Bank; Footbowl LLC, 2969 N. 114th St., Wauwatosa, $50,000, The Huntington National Bank; Footbowl LLC, 2969 N. 114th St., Wauwatosa, $725,000, The Huntington National Bank; GDDZ Inc., 8501 W. Capitol Drive, Milwaukee, $50,000, U.S. Bank; Gil & Gil Property LLC, 1525 N. 68th St., Wauwatosa, $475,000, WBD Inc.; Investments A&C LLC, 5854 S. Packard Ave., Cudahy, $200,000, Waukesha State Bank; NU-Town Painting and Decorating Corp., 5039 S. 37th St., Greenfield, $10,000, JPMorgan Chase Bank; Poiema Automation Inc., 8331 W. Calumet Road, Milwaukee, $480,600, Wells Fargo Bank; Triciclo Peru LLC, 3801 W. Vliet St., Milwaukee,

$70,000, Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corp.;

$10,000, U.S. Bank;

UPTOP MOTORING LLC, 9921 W. Carmen Ave., Milwaukee, $290,700, Waukesha State Bank;

WASHINGTON COUNTY

OZAUKEE COUNTY

Screaming Tuna Restaurant Mequon LLC, 6300 W. Mequon Road, Mequon, $105,000, First Bank Financial Centre;

Turfmaster Lawns & Landscape LLC, 2100 Grandview Drive, Slinger, $70,000, First Bank Financial Centre; WAUKESHA COUNTY

3011 Saylesville LLC, 3011 Saylesville Road, Waukesha,

$578,000, WBD Inc.;

$150,000, Byline Bank;

Destination Management Connection LLC, S104 W20857 Cindy Drive, Muskego, $100,000, Educators Credit Union;

Medved Enterprises LLC, W230 N4967 Betker Drive, Pewaukee, $387,000, Ixonia Bank;

Maple Avenue Acquisition LLC, W228 S7095 Enterprise Drive, Big Bend, $1.6 million, Byline Bank; Maple Avenue Acquisition LLC, W228 S7095 Enterprise Drive, Big Ben,

Primrose Management Group Inc., W170 N5385 Ridgewood Drive, Menomonee Falls, $650,000, FinWise Bank; The Mosaica Group LLC, N53 W24615 S. Corporate Circle, Sussex, $500,000, Byline Bank;

Window Associates Supply Co. LLC, 16680 W. Cleveland Ave., New Berlin, $75,000, Oostburg State Bank.

Dean Moczynski, 1500 Main St., Union Grove, $16,000, Community State Bank; Dunk’s Public House LLC, 3207 Washington Ave., Racine, $135,000, Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corp.; SHEBOYGAN COUNTY

NJC Painting Inc., W7062 Emerald Ridge Road, Plymouth, $92,000, Bank First; Shree Investments LLC, 3912 Motel Road, Sheboygan, $150,000, Independence Bank; Silverwater Productions LLC, 118 Stafford St., Plymouth, $115,000, First Home Bank; Whisk LLC, 633 N. eighth St., Sheboygan, $115,000, Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corp.; WALWORTH COUNTY

Juniors Auto Care Inc., 106 E. Walworth Ave., Delavan,

E L E V AT E I N C . PHONE: (262) 677-2216 WEB: elevateyou.org

PHONE: (414) 449-4444 WEB: eastersealswise.com

We believe that healthy individuals build strong communities. That’s why we strive to address the root causes of high-risk behaviors through prevention, intervention and residential programs that focus on drug and alcohol issues, mental health and delinquency.

To change the way the world defines and views disabilities by making profound, positive differences in people’s lives every day.

F E ATU R E D NONPROFI T

Twisted Maple LLC, 1674 Old Schoolhouse Road, Oconomowoc, $358,000, Wells Fargo Bank;

RACINE COUNTY

EASTERSEALS SOUTHEAST WISCONSIN

2019 GIVING GUIDE

Think Pawsitive Dog Training LLC, 301 Commerce St., Waukesha, $150,000, Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corp.;

To learn more, visit biztimes.com/giving PRODUCED BY

2019 GIVING GUIDE F EATURED NONPROF I T

To learn more, visit biztimes.com/giving PRODUCED BY

biztimes.com / 39

BizConnections VOLUME 25, NUMBER 4 | MAY 13, 2019

GLANCE AT YESTERYEAR

126 N. Jefferson St., Suite 403, Milwaukee, WI 53202-6120 PHONE: 414-277-8181 FAX: 414-277-8191 WEBSITE: www.biztimes.com CIRCULATION: 414-336-7100 | circulation@biztimes.com ADVERTISING: 414-336-7112 | advertising@biztimes.com EDITORIAL: 414-336-7120 | andrew.weiland@biztimes.com REPRINTS: 414-336-7100 | reprints@biztimes.com PUBLISHER / OWNER Dan Meyer dan.meyer@biztimes.com

SALES & MARKETING

DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS Mary Ernst mary.ernst@biztimes.com

EDITORIAL EDITOR Andrew Weiland andrew.weiland@biztimes.com MANAGING EDITOR Molly Dill molly.dill@biztimes.com REPORTER Lauren Anderson lauren.anderson@biztimes.com REPORTER Maredithe Meyer maredithe.meyer@biztimes.com REPORTER Arthur Thomas arthur.thomas@biztimes.com

— This photo is from the Milwaukee Public Museum’s Photo Archives collection.

COMMENTARY

Fiserv Forum a huge success LESS THAN A YEAR since it opened, Fiserv Forum, the new arena in downtown Milwaukee, is clearly a huge success. State and local taxpayers contributed $250 million for the $524 million arena. What did we get for that investment? The arena has obviously been a big hit for the Milwaukee Bucks, who had the best regular season in the NBA. The Bucks’ average home attendance of 17,602 this season exceeded the arena’s seating capacity of 17,500. Marquette University’s men’s basketball team also had a good first season at the arena and had huge crowds for its biggest games. Fiserv Forum was designed primarily for basketball, so its seating configuration brings fans closer to the court for Bucks and Marquette games than the BMO Harris Bradley Center, which was primarily designed for hockey. The spectator experience at Fiserv Forum is superi40 / BizTimes Milwaukee MAY 13, 2019

or to the Bradley Center in every way, including sightlines, amenities, and food and beverage offerings. But the arena’s biggest impact on the Milwaukee entertainment scene has been its ability to attract big-time concerts. So far, 48 concerts, shows and special events have been announced for the venue, including 40 within its first 12 months of operation. By comparison, the Bradley Center hosted 21 concerts during its busiest fiscal year. Huge names that have already played Fiserv Forum include: Justin Timberlake, Maroon 5, Metallica, Bob Seger, Fleetwood Mac and The Eagles. The arena has immediately become the premier entertainment venue in Wisconsin. It ranked 59th on Pollstar’s list of the top 100 arenas in the world for concert ticket sales for shows held between Nov. 22 and Feb. 20. Next year, Fiserv Forum will host one of the biggest events in Milwaukee’s history: the 2020 Democratic National Convention. There is no way a national political convention would have come to the aging Bradley Center. The economic impact of the DNC on the Milwaukee area’s economy is estimated at $200 million. With the Fiserv Forum itself a clear success, the next thing to watch is the broader impact it is

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Molly Lawrence molly.lawrence@biztimes.com ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Maggie Pinnt maggie.pinnt@biztimes.com ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Christie Ubl christie.ubl@biztimes.com SALES INTERN Tess Romans tess.romans@biztimes.com

ADMINISTRATIVE COORDINATOR Sue Herzog sue.herzog@biztimes.com

PRODUCTION & DESIGN

INTERN REPORTER Madison Goldbeck madison.goldbeck@biztimes.com

This photo, taken circa 1937, shows the Milwaukee River running south through downtown Milwaukee. In the photo are ads for Marine National Exchange Bank and Badger Candy Co. On the right side is the Gimbels department store. It is now an office building and hotel with a Planet Fitness on the first floor.

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Paddy Kieckhefer paddy.kieckhefer@biztimes.com

ADMINISTRATION

REPORTER Alex Zank alex.zank@biztimes.com

Milwaukee River views

DIRECTOR OF SALES Linda Crawford linda.crawford@biztimes.com

GRAPHIC DESIGNER Alex Schneider alex.schneider@biztimes.com ART DIRECTOR Shelly Tabor shelly.tabor@biztimes.com

Independent & Locally Owned — Founded 1995 —

making on downtown Milwaukee. In front of the arena, the Bucks have created a plaza and an entertainment block. The Bucks want this to be the community’s gathering place. The plaza has been used for several events, including the Milwaukee Marathon and a Christkindlmarket. This summer, it will host fitness classes and outdoor movies. The entertainment block is filled with several cool new bar/restaurants. But will those establishments complement or cannibalize the nearby Old World Third Street and Water Street bar districts? The full impact of the entertainment block remains to be seen. It will also be interesting to see if the Bucks can attract the additional development they envision for 30 acres around the arena, dubbed the Deer District. With so much happening in and around the arena, perhaps its neighborhood will become the next hot spot for office relocations. n

ANDREW WEILAND EDITOR

P / 414-336-7120 E / andrew.weiland@biztimes.com T / @AndrewWeiland

AROUND TOWN Salvation Army of Milwaukee County volunteer appreciation luncheon

The Salvation Army of Milwaukee County recently held its annual volunteer appreciation luncheon at the Italian Community Center. The ceremony recognized 18 individuals and groups for their volunteer contributions.

STAN KELLEY and KARL STRAND of Salvation Army.

REBECCA KLOPF and COREEN ZELL of TMJ4.

JACKIE BOYD and MARY HARRIS, both of Way of the Cross Missionary Baptist Church.

AMI DASSOW OLDENBURG of Generosity Feeds; ROB OLDENBURG of Irgens Partners LLC; and NAOMI DASSOW of Salvation Army.

ANTHONY SMITH of Marcus Performing Arts Center and DON COHEN of Landmark Credit Union.

CHRISTINE MERRITT and CHRISTINE GIFFEY, both of Salvation Army.

HEATHER STEPHENS with FRANK STEPHENS and TAMMY GILPIN-RIPP, both of the Salvation Army Advisory Board. Photos by Lauren Anderson

YP Week: The Big Impact NEWaukee hosted YP Week 2019 from April 1927. Young professionals in Milwaukee had about 20 events to choose from, including The Big Impact, the culmination of the co:lab civic accelerator.

MARCUS WHITE of Marcus White Consulting and BECCA MADER of Greater Milwaukee Foundation.

TORI BRINGEDAHL of Kohl’s, MEGHAN WALSH of Alverno College and ASHLEY SMITH of GoMKE.

10. REBECCA HOLDERNESS of The Battery Factory, HEIDI HAPPEL of Potawatomi Hotel & Casino and JEREMY HAPPEL of Kahler Slater. 11. ANDY MEGOW (front), JOHN JADRO, AARON RINDT, ROBERTO GARCIA, AMY GONZALEZ and YOSELIN MARTINEZ of ETE Reman.

12. AMIE LIPPERT of Granville Business Improvement District, MANNY LARA of Advocate Aurora Health, SAMANTHA MALDONADO of Pinpoint Solutions and KATIE O’BRIEN of Rockwell Automation.

13. DAVID BRITTON of Foley & Lardner LLP and CAITLIN CHROGE of Johnson Controls International plc. 14. DAWN ROLISON and MARTHA KELLEY KOENIG of HGA.

15. KELLY GAGLIONE and GEORGE MEYER of Kahler Slater. Photos by Molly Dill biztimes.com / 41

LILA ARYAN PHOTOGRAPHY

BizConnections

5 MINUTES WITH…

PETER AND LOU LIAPIS

Co-owners, Grassroots Salad Co. and Georgie Porgie’s Treefort Restaurant BROTHERS PETER AND LOU LIAPIS OPENED healthy fast-casual concept Grassroots Salad Co. in 2015 as a kiosk at Brookfield Square. It serves made-to-order salads, wraps and juice. They expanded the business in April 2018 to a location at Chase Tower in downtown Milwaukee. A year later, the brothers, who also operate Georgie Porgie’s Treefort Restaurant in Mount Pleasant and Oak Creek, are working on plans to grow the Grassroots brand nationally. In a recent interview with BizTimes reporter Maredithe Meyer, the brothers discussed their plans. HOW HAS BUSINESS BEEN SINCE EXPANDING DOWNTOWN? LOU: “We’re at capacity for lunchtime most days. We have high loyalty and retention of customers and we just keep building more and more… Top-spending customers are coming in three to four times a week. “We have a rewards program and every month, it’s been growing exponentially. At the downtown location, we are at about 6,000 rewards members; Brookfield has close to 8,500.” PETER: “Delivery at the downtown location and catering at both locations is also doing really well. We do four to five events a week, ranging from 15 to 150 people. We’ve even done one for 600 people.” WHAT’S NEXT? PETER: “We envisioned the concept as revolutionizing the fast food 42 / BizTimes Milwaukee MAY 13, 2019

market and we are at a stage right now where we’d love to team up with someone to take us to the next level, grow it nationwide. We’d love to see it in hospitals, in airports, kiosks. “We’re great at concept creation and execution, but then to grow to the national or international level, we need some help… We’re trying to create something that has uniqueness but has meaning to people’s lives.” LOU: “(More immediately), we are adding a patio to our downtown location. At lunchtime, we’re maxing out capacity around noon to 1 p.m., so the extra seating outside will be nice. We’re also going to have live music performances by local artists throughout the summer with our new ‘Let the Beet Drop’ concert series (last Tuesday of the month from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m.).” THOUGHTS ON AREA COMPETITION, STAYING RELEVANT LOU: “It’s great to have more healthy options that are available. I think what makes us different is the chef-inspired dressings, the organic greens and being conscious of the ingredients we put in the dressings and on the salads.” PETER: “It’s never complete for us. We’re always improving, always innovating. As soon as you stop innovating and improving, it’s game over. With all our stores and brands, we are always doing something, and that’s what makes it fun for us. That’s where we get the most excitement –innovation and constantly improving and getting the employees involved in the innovation.” n

STUFF made and built in southeastern Wisconsin

Recruit tomorrowâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s workforce Changing the image of careers in manufacturing and the skilled trades in Wisconsin.

Space reservations now open for STUFF SE Participate in the 3rd annual edition of STUFF Made & Built in SE Wisconsin to raise awareness and recruit employees â&#x20AC;&#x201C; going directly to junior high, high school and college students as well as workforce centers throughout the region.

Southeast Edition: 2018 Association Partners: STATE OF WISCONSIN

Publishes: August 2019 | Space reservation: July 10, 2019

To reserve a profile, biztimes.com/stuff2019 Contact Linda Crawford today at advertise@biztimes.com or 414-336-7112

THESE COMPANIES ARE HIRING! Thank you to our 2018 profile participants!

FEATURED MAIN STAGE EVENT AT BIZEXPO

MAY 30, 2019 7:30 AM - 9:30 AM Presented By:

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REINVENTING YOURSELF Choosing a new vision for your future

Join us on May 30th as we kick off the 15th annual BizExpo. BizTimes Managing editor Molly Dill will lead a discussion with four of the regionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s business and community leaders on the various paths each has taken in her career. Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll hear about the drive, curiosity and leadership skills they leveraged to choose new roles that have allowed them to continue to grow and have fulfilling careers. From corporate to entrepreneur to nonprofit, each of the panelists made a conscious decision to change her career path. Listen as they discuss the opportunities, setbacks and lessons learned from changing industries and careers.

Panelists: Deborah Allen, President & CEO, DNA Network LLC (1) Maggie Fernandes, Software Developer, MacGregor Partners (2) Kathy Thornton-Bias, President & CEO, Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee (3) Julie Waterman, Owner, Indulgence Chocolatiers (4)

Moderator: Molly Dill - Managing editor, BizTimes Milwaukee (5) Price: $45/person or $360/table of 8

Woman Executive of the Year: Mary Lou Young, retired CEO of United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County Sponsor:

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