BizTimes Milwaukee | November 12, 2018 by BizTimes Media

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BizTimes Milwaukee (ISSN 1095-936X & USPS # 017813) Volume 24, Number 16, November 12, 2018 – November 25, 2018. 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 2018 by BizTimes Media LLC. All rights reserved.

Contents

6 Leading Edge 6 NOW

BY THE NUMBERS

7 BIZ TRAVELER 8 GETTING THERE 9 INNOVATIONS 10 COFFEE BREAK 11 PROJECT PITCH IT 12 MY FAVORITE TECH 13 STYLE 14 IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD

BIZ POLL

16 BizNews 16 T HE MILWAUKEE BUCKS’

FIRST GAME IN FISERV FORUM IN PHOTOS. 18 THE INTERVIEW 19 MADE IN MILWAUKEE

20 Real Estate 40 Veterans in the Workplace 48 Strategies

COVER STORY

Harbor District lands anchor projects

Special Report

23 Real Estate & Development In addition to the cover story, coverage includes insights on adaptive reuse strategies from the Commercial Real Estate & Development Conference speakers and the results of the annual CARW member survey.

48 INNOVATION Dan Steininger 49 LEADERSHIP Karen Vernal 50 MANAGEMENT Karl Williams

53 Biz Connections 53 NONPROFIT 54 PERSONNEL FILE 55 SBA LOANS 56 GLANCE AT YESTERYEAR

COMMENTARY 57 AROUND TOWN 58 MY TOUGHEST CHALLENGE

Leading Edge

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

NOW

Tariff costs adding up for manufacturers By Arthur Thomas, staff writer Increased tariffs cost Wisconsin companies an estimated $54 million this summer and a panel of manufacturers said recently the Trump administration’s actions are hurting their short-term profitabil-

ity and making it difficult for them to compete over the long-term. “We’re just setting ourselves up for constrained economic growth,” said Mary Isbister, president of Mequon-based GenMet Corp.

BY THE NUMBERS Oak Creek-based pet food maker Stella & Chewy’s is planning to invest

MILLION

in the expansion of its headquarters, potentially adding 82 employees. 6 / BizTimes Milwaukee NOVEMBER 12, 2018

Isbister joined Husco International president and chief executive officer Austin Ramirez and Good City Brewing co-founder Dan Katt for a panel discussion at Husco presented by Farmers for Free Trade and Americans for Free Trade. The event was the seventh town hall held around the country by the two free trade organizations under the name Tariffs Hurt the Heartland. According to data released by Tariffs Hurt the Heartland, Wisconsin companies paid roughly $3.8 million in tariffs on $408.5 million in goods imported from June to August of 2017. The nearly 17 percent increase in imports during the same period this year would have resulted in an additional $642,000 in tariffs, but with the new tariffs imposed this year, Wisconsin companies paid more than $58 million in tariffs. Ramirez said the tariffs hurt his business to the tune of about $1 million a month. Husco is being hit not only on its importing of components but also when suppliers send goods to the company’s operations in China, he said, noting the company produces products in the end market country. If the tariffs stay in place, Husco will be less competitive internationally, Ramirez said.

He’s not the only one to point out that the tariffs may be missing their mark. Frank Carroll, chief executive officer of Hartford-based Broan-NuTone, pointed out at a recent BizTimes Media event that his company is being hit by higher steel and aluminum prices caused by the tariffs, even when he sources it from the U.S. There are also components he can only get in China on which he now has to pay tariffs. His competitors, meanwhile, produce outside the U.S., don’t pay either tariff, and many of their goods come into the U.S. without tariffs. “There’s certainly been behavior by China and other countries that we need to address,” Ramirez said. “Tariffs are not the right policy tool to use.” The specific issue at the center of the back and forth with China is the Trump administration’s position that U.S. companies have been forced to transfer their intellectual property to the Chinese. Also, an analysis by the Economic Policy Institute suggests the growth in the U.S. trade deficit with China between 2001 and 2017 was responsible for the loss of 3.4 million U.S. jobs. The U.S. had a $375 billion trade deficit with China in 2017, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. n

B I Z T R AV E L E R : SA N J UA N

ANTHON Y LUCIANO Principal, director of engineering services, AG Architecture Inc.

Anthony Luciano, director of engineering services for Wauwatosa-based AG Architecture, recently traveled with his wife to Puerto Rico, where they spent time in both San Juan and more rural parts of the island. n

T R A N S P O R TAT I O N : “We flew Delta (Air Lines), from Milwaukee to Atlanta to San Juan. From Atlanta to San Juan, the flight is about three-and-a-half hours. In San Juan, they now have Uber; it’s just getting started. The streets are really narrow in parts of Old San Juan. When you’re in the city, I’d recommend renting a tiny car or Uber. I rented an SUV for the more rural areas of the island. It was good to have a bigger vehicle for areas where the roads are bad.” E XC U R S I O N S: “We started in San Juan for a few days – where our big agenda was to lay on the beach and stay by the pool. Then we spent time on the far southwest side of island, which is more remote and away from the big city. We went back to San Juan for a long weekend – we saw castles, forts, Old San Juan, and Casa Bacardi. Condado Lagoon is a very nice area where you can paddleboard and kayak. We went to Castillo San Cristóbal and saw the forts that were built in the late 1500s/early 1600s. To learn the history of it all was very interesting.”

SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

ACCO M M O DAT I O N S A N D F O O D : “We stayed at the InterContinental while in San Juan. Then we stayed at Copamarina (Beach Resort & Spa) in a town called Guánica on the south side of the island. The south side is very different than the north side of the island; it’s much more rural and where we were staying was right on the ocean. “We found a restaurant that was absolutely to die for: Punto de Vista Rooftop Restaurant. It’s on the top of an old hotel (Hotel Milano) in Old San Juan. It overlooks the cruise ships and the city. The food was incredibly good.”

T R AV E L T I P : “For the most part, unless in the (most remote) areas, people speak some amount of English so you can get by without being fluent in Spanish.”

biztimes.com / 7

Leading Edge

GETTING

THERE

Favorite part of job? “After working for Citigroup in my first summer internship, I felt as though something was lacking. It can be hard to tangibly see and feel the results of work in that industry, whereas real estate, you can see the fruits of your labor with a building developed or revitalized.”

What drew you to leadership? “When I was in high school, I started a business selling things on eBay, mostly for my parents’ friends. This planted the bug about being a leader, even though I was only leading myself. I like the accountability, but also the ability to chart a course and execute on a vision. This is part of the reason I have gravitated towards smaller companies; it gives an opportunity to take a leadership role early, as well as the freedom to be nimble.”

What do you do in your free time? “What is this free time you speak of? I don’t like to sit around, so I do a lot outside of work. I am a member of the board of directors at the Milwaukee Public Museum, as well as a co-founder of a new young professional organization there called the 1882 Society. I am also an amateur (emphasis on amateur) drone enthusiast. I’m also married with a 4-year-old son, so my free time is very limited, but I like it that way.”

What are you watching?

“I just finished ‘Ozark’ season 2, which was great, and ‘Jack Ryan’ on Amazon, which I admit I binged the whole thing over a long weekend. My wife and I are avid ‘Shark Tank’ fans as well.”

What would surprise someone about you? “I love extreme sports. I’ve been bungee jumping on the world’s tallest commercial platform (which is in Macau), skydiving (which I did in Racine, actually), windsurfing, etc. My next goal is hang gliding.”

ANNUAL

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8 / BizTimes Milwaukee NOVEMBER 12, 2018

Vice president and principal PACE EQUITY AGE: 30 HOMETOWN: Milwaukee EDUCATION: Bachelor of business administration from The George Washington University PREVIOUS POSITION: Director of corporate development

INN Elm Grove company develops contrast-free MRI software

Imaging Biometrics Elm Grove

INNOVATION: Contrast-free MRI software FOUNDER: Michael Schmainda imagingbiometric s.com

VAT I ELM GROVE-BASED Imaging Biometrics LLC recently filed a patent application for its MRI software, which allows for the procedure to take place without the use of contrast agents. Imaging Biometrics has developed medical software that takes diagnostic images from CT scans or MRIs of the brain and digitizes them, then runs software algorithms on the image to provide diagnostic help to doctors. The software examines blood supply in an area of the body, for example, to help a radiologist determine whether a mass is a tumor or scar tissue, said David Smith, chief operating officer of IQ-AI, Imaging Biometrics’ parent company. “One of the problems with MRI scans is that the regrowth of a tumor can appear to be exactly the same as scar tissue,” Smith said. “Often with brain tumors, they will look for a blood supply, obviously, to nourish themselves and grow.” By demonstrating blood perfusion, the IB software can help doctors and patients avoid an unnecessary surgery or decide whether to continue chemotherapy if what appears to be a tumor is demonstrated to be scar tissue. The patent application is for “gadolinium-free MR imaging of the brain and other organs.” “When you do an MRI…typically a contrast agent is introduced into the patient’s body that enhances the image,” Smith said. “Those contrast agents are magnetic, which is why the MRI works.” But Imaging Biometrics’ technology helps radiologists get a clear image of the MRI without gadolinium-based contrast agents, which the company says show toxicity potential, and would also offer savings for health care providers. “Using artificial intelligence, what we can do is take a large number of datasets for training purposes, train the AI model and use it to essentially simulate where

Imaging Biometrics’ software allows radiologists to read MRI scans without the use of contrast agents.

contrast would normally appear, even without using contrast,” said Michael Schmainda, founder and chief executive officer of Imaging Biometrics. Schmainda established the company in 2007. It was based on the work his wife, Kathleen, does as a professor at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Kathleen is a pioneer in diffusion and perfusion imaging, Michael said. IB was privately funded for its first 10 years, Michael said, gaining FDA clearance and its first patent during that period. “We were able to successfuly be awarded grants during that time, so it was a combination of sales and grant funding that fueled our business,” he said. Imaging Biometrics was acquired in May by Jersey-based IQ-AI (formerly known as Flying Brands Ltd.), which trades on the London Stock Exchange. IB’s two employees will continue to work out of their Elm Grove office. In fact, Smith said IQ-AI (which stands for Image Quantification-Artificial Intelligence) plans to make the Elm Grove office a research and development hub for the firm, which plans to acquire several medical software imaging companies. “At IQ-AI, what we are looking for are innovative companies that really are first movers into a specific field, and that led us to acquire last year a company in the kidney field,”

Smith said. “We’re on the lookout for more businesses to acquire and it’s our intention, given the expertise that is there in Elm Grove, that we use that as a center and build on that.” The kidney company, Stonechecker, helps a urologist to determine whether a kidney stone would respond well to sound therapy. And Imaging Biometrics’ software has room to grow, as well, with potential applications to other parts of the body, including the liver. “The whole field of AI is having a tremendous impact on health care,” Michael said. “This is just one way AI is being applied to predict where disease could occur or reoccur.” n

MOLLY DILL

Managing Editor P / 414-336-7144 E / molly.dill@biztimes.com T / @BizMolly

biztimes.com / 9

Leading Edge COFFEE BREAK

Join us at our new downtown office for Dave Stamm’s upcoming breakfast seminar series! 2 Dates

8:00 – 9 AM

Nov. 7th Protecting Your Business From IT Attacks Dec. 5th IoT In The Office – See All The Latest Tech Food and strong coffee will be provided. Please visit stammtech.com/events to register. Hope to see you there!!

1207 West Canal Street stammtech.com (414) 263–4260

Sara Walker

Senior strategist, regional director of investments BMO Harris Bank 111 E. Kilbourn Ave., Milwaukee bmoharris.com INDUSTRY: Banking EMPLOYEES: 18 on Walker’s team; about 3,000 in Milwaukee market; 45,000+ companywide • Walker was senior vice president, senior portfolio manager and chief economist at Green Bay-based Associated Bank for 21 years before joining BMO in May. • The decision forced her to take a pause. “It involved so much work personally. This is something we all are told to do, be highly self-aware, know yourself, know what is important to you, your personal mission, but it’s something that I successfully pushed to the back burner for years.” • She likes being uncomfortable. “I like being stretched. I like having a little bit of panic here and there. It’s a little bit of an adrenaline rush.” • Walker is watching the 25-story BMO Tower go up on North Water Street from her office at the Milwaukee Center. She’ll move there in December 2019.

promote communication?

SPACE MATTERS.

• On most days, you’ll see her walking her two dogs, an Airedale terrier and a Welsh terrier, around her East Side digs. “When I walk my dogs on a beach, I cannot stop myself from picking up interesting pebbles or shells or pieces of driftwood or sea glass.” • A Kenosha native, Walker earned a bachelor’s in business from the University of Wisconsin-Parkside in 1981, and an Executive MBA at the University of WisconsinMilwaukee in 2013. “It goes back to that compulsion and drive to learn. It wasn’t easy.” • She takes her coffee with cream and a bit of Splenda. n

10 / BizTimes Milwaukee NOVEMBER 12, 2018

PROJECT PITCH IT I

GENOPALATE LEADERSHIP: Sherry Zhang A D D R E S S: 2140 N. Prospect Ave., Milwaukee WEBSITE: genopalate.com W H AT I T D O E S: Genomic testing and dietary plans F O U N D E D: 2016

GenoPalate adds two new products to drive recurring revenue By Molly Dill, staff writer

n March, a panel of local business moguls awarded Milwaukee startup GenoPalate Inc. investment advice, mentorship, introductions to local investors and strategy development from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Lubar School of Business and Stuck LLC on entrepreneurship pitch show “Project Pitch It” on WISN 12. GenoPalate founder and chief executive officer Sherry Zhang has been very busy since then. In June, the company moved into its first permanent office space, a dedicated office plus flexible shared space at micro co-working space Work Lofts on Milwaukee’s East Side. In May, GenoPalate completed a $357,000 equity and debt funding round. And in August, it relaunched its website with two adjacent product offerings to drive additional recurring revenue. GenoPalate’s main service is offering personalized nutrition recommendations to individuals via genomic sequencing. Zhang has a doctorate in molecular biology and was formerly an assistant professor at the Medical College of Wisconsin. “I have dedicated my career to helping people nourish their body based on science,” said Zhang, who spent more than 10 years studying obesity genetics at the Medical College of Wisconsin. “We all see these generalized, one-sizefits-all healthy dieting options, but we know it won’t help people in the long-term because each of us is genetically unique.” GenoPalate analyzes saliva samples that users submit with its test kit, and develops a personal nutrition guide with information on which foods to eat and which foods to avoid. Now, GenoPalate has added two new products: detailed personalized menus from staff nutritionists based on genomic results; and

Sherry Zhang in the lab.

one-on-one health coaching. Zhang has also expanded her staff to eight full-time and seven part-time employees, including chief operating officer Neal Giugno. “What we’ve focused a bit more on recently is the idea of eating for your genes being the unique value proposition,” Giugno said. GenoPalate provides actionable insights for those who are interested in their DNA profile, he said. And there are about 10 million people who have already had their genotype analyzed through other services. “We have our own niche right now and with my and my team’s scientific background, we’re confident we will develop into the leader of personalized nutrition based on genomics in the industry,” Zhang said. GenoPalate has grown to about 900 customers. Zhang hopes to soon launch another funding round to fuel its national expansion. “We want to reach tens of thousands of users and we want to have 10 to 20 percent recurring rate, meaning people will come back to purchase the meals or purchase the coaching,” Zhang said. n

RESERVE YOUR SPONSORSHIP TODAY! UP TO 4 SPONSORSHIPS ARE AVAILABLE TO ANCHOR THE PROJECT PITCH IT PAGE AND BRAND YOUR COMPANY AS A SUPPORTER OF STARTUPS AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP. Sponsor:

Leading Edge

Thank you to our sponsors, donors & guests for supporting

MY FAVORITE TECH STEVE CATLIN Steve Catlin is general manager for Wisconsin at ParqEx, which has an office in Milwaukee co-working space Ward4. Chicago-based ParqEx was established in 2014 and has expanded to 12 locations in nine cities. The company, a gener8tor graduate, provides a digital platform for people to rent out their private parking spaces. Here are a few of Catlin’s go-to technology tools:

A NOTEBOOK

meet people’s needs?

“No. 1 on my list has to be my trusty notebook. It isn’t an advanced technology, but regardless, it’s indispensable. The product (of course) never runs out of battery and will even survive several drops in a lake. At meetings, my notebook helps keep my computer and phone out of sight. I’m present in the conversation, I have my pre-meeting reminders available, and I can record notes.”

HEADSPACE

CREATIVE SOLUTIONS.

“I’m a big fan of the Headspace app. My meditation practice has been a game changer. Training my mind helps me perform better. The more I meditate, the more time seems to slow down in everyday life, but I can still operate at full speed. I make fewer mistakes and I get more done. That’s definitely a competitive advantage.”

LINKEDIN “LinkedIn is an essential tool for me. My business grows on relationships, and a warm introduction is the best way to get contact with a prospective client. It’s so useful to know who is connected to someone I need to meet.”

KINDLE “Finally, I really value my Kindle. I love that it doesn’t take up much space and that I can easily switch between several books depending on what I need to learn at the moment.” n 12 / BizTimes Milwaukee NOVEMBER 12, 2018

dress coats MEN’S WOOL HERRINGBONE COAT BY SCHNEIDERS $595 at Squire Fine Men’s Apparel, Brookfield The black and grey wool of this Salzburg, Austriamade coat is woven together in a herringbone pattern. It is single-breasted with a notched lapel, and features two side-entry pockets and an inner zipper pocket.

WOMEN’S PONTI WOOL STRIPED CAPE BY SAINT JAMES $695 at Mark Berman & Son, Mequon This cape is an ivory-colored merino wool piece with a nautical style featuring a double-breasted front and navy blue stripes. It is made in Saint-James, Normandy in France, and designed by French designer Romain Briffaut.

WOMEN’S SIGNATURE MERCER ISLAND COAT MEN’S DOUBLE-BREASTED TRENCH COAT JACKET BY CANALI $607.99 at Frieschskys LLC, Milwaukee This Italian-made piece is 100 percent wool. With a doublebreasted front and navy bluecolored material, its design echoes that of a cropped peacoat. It features vertical side pockets and two inner pockets, and is detailed with a button latch collar.

$385 at Pendleton, Milwaukee This coat from Portland, Oregon-based Pendleton features an A-line silhouette that is “perfect for layering.” With an inner lining, a length of 32 inches and its wool, polyester and rayon material, this “ponderosa”-colored piece is made for cool winter conditions. It has wide, sideentry pockets that are detailed with faux-leather trim. It’s also available in “exploded copper.”

biztimes.com / 13

Leading Edge

@BIZTIMESMEDIA – Real-time news

IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD What kinds of commissioned works do you paint? “I pretty much do everything; whatever is significant to the collector.”

CASSY TULLY FINE ART STUDIO & FRAMING SHOP 159 N. Jackson St., Suite #104 NEIGHBORHOOD: Historic Third Ward FOUNDED: 2008 in Plymouth. Moved to current location in July 2018. OWNER: Cassy Tully EMPLOYEES: 1, plus current artist-in-residence Mike McArdle SERVICE: Commissioned and original paintings; custom framing

How has your business changed since moving it to Milwaukee? “The biggest difference is that I decided not to have store hours anymore, so it’s by appointment only. My old studio in Plymouth also offered full-on retail custom framing because I had bought a framing shop – I was married to retail. Now, of

BIZ POLL MI LWAUKEE MADI SON

course we still offer framing, but I’ve really been able to focus more on my paintings and liberate myself from retail hours.” Why did you relocate? “I am from New Berlin originally and I did well where my studio was before, but I am more of a city girl… It’s just in closer proximity to a lot of great resources.” How has business been? “People are finding me. The biggest thing is that I have a lot of ongoing corporate clients.

I recently did the artwork for the BMW Championship in Pennsylvania. So it’s a combination of people coming here and then my traveling to meet with my clients at different events… Gallery Night also went great.” What are your current projects? “Every year I paint a different collectors’ edition Christmas ornament. This year it’s Santa. We do have another book coming out, too, called ‘Angel Thoughts.’ It pairs (author Elise Cantrell’s) inspirational writing with my artwork.” n

A recent survey of BizTimes.com readers.

Should a new Milwaukee Public Museum be built next to the Mitchell Park Domes?

design + build + furnish

35%

Yes, that would create great synergy between the two attractions.

45%

No, build a new MPM somewhere downtown.

20%

We don’t need a new Milwaukee Public Museum.

EXPERTS AT WORK Design thinking improves end user experience and quality of life. creativebusinessinteriors.com

14 / BizTimes Milwaukee NOVEMBER 12, 2018

Share your opinion! Visit biztimes.com/bizpoll to cast your vote in the next Biz Poll.

The Opioid Crisis – Understanding its Impact December 14, 2018 – Italian Community Center – 7:00-9:30am

The Milwaukee County Opioid-Related Overdose Report, indicates that opioid-related deaths increased from 144 in 2012 to 337 in 2017. It’s also reported that for every death, there are approximately five additional people who experienced an overdose and survived. Please join us on Dec. 14th as we host a conversation about the opioids crisis facing our region, which is having an impact at work, at home and in the community. You’ll hear from a survivor who is in recovery and a panel of experts who will share their insights and ideas for mitigating this health crisis. Speaker: Adam Kindred, Director of Prevention Programming for Elevate, Inc., Person in long-term recovery (1) Opioid Panel: • Beth Dejongh PHARM.D., BCPS, BCPP, Associate Professor, Concordia University (2) • Ken Hartenstein, MS, LPC, SAC, Licensed Professional Counselor-Medication Assisted Treatment IOP, Rogers Memorial Hospital, Brown Deer (3) • Kenneth Harris Jr., PhD, Program Director - Master of Science in Organizational Leadership and Administration, Concordia University Wisconsin (4) Following the panel discussion, you will meet this year’s Health Care Heroes awardees in the categories of Advancements in Health, Behavioral health, Community Service, Corporate Achievement, Executive Leadership, First Responder, Health Care Staff, Nurse, Physician and Volunteer. (1)

(2)

(3)

Thank you for your nominations. The 2018 Health Care Heroes will be announced mid-November. Supporting: Presented By:

Sponsor: Event Partner: Elevate, Inc.

SHAPING THE FUTURE Manufacturing Matters! 2017 will take place at the Hyatt Regency in Milwaukee on February 23rd, 2017. The theme of this year’s conference is Shaping the Future, and the conference features 18 breakout session in six tracks including: Growth • Operational Excellence • Human Capital Management C-Suite Essentials • Technology & innovation Wisconsin Manufacturing P L AT I N U M S P O N S O R

As workforce challenges and trends are on the minds of most manufacturers, we are pleased to announce this year’s keynote presenter is Kip Wright, Senior Vice President of Manpower, North America. Kip will discuss G O key L D workforce SPONSORS trends and what manufacturers can do to secure and develop their current and future workforces.

Thank you! Kip Wright

to our sponsors and attendees! Senior Vice President of Manpower, North America

BizTimes Media and Milwaukee 7 presented the Next Generation Manufacturing Summit on October 4th at Generac Power Systems’ corporate headquarters. The event featured a panel of manufacturing executives discussing their strategies for success along with their best practices for competing in a global marketplace. Attendees also participated in roundtable discussions that covered many topics.

SPONSORS:

SUPPORTING:

(4)

BizNews BUCK’S OPENER 1

Milwaukee Bucks’ home opener at Fiserv Forum A sellout crowd of 17,341 filled the seats of Fiserv Forum when the Milwaukee Bucks played their first-ever regular season game at the new $524 million arena in downtown Milwaukee. The highly anticipated event was four years in the making for the franchise and its majority owners, Marc Lasry, Wes Edens, Jamie Dinan and Michael Fascitelli. They purchased the team in 2014 and funded about half of the arena construction project, which was completed in August. Fiserv Forum now replaces the BMO Harris Bradley Center, the Bucks’ home for the past 30 years. The Bucks won the home opener game 118 to 101 over the Indiana Pacers, but they weren’t the only local team to achieve victory that night. Just hours later, the Milwaukee Brewers defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 6 of the National League Championship Series at Miller Park. Many fans at Fiserv Forum sported Brewers hats with Bucks jerseys, periodically leaving their seats to catch a glimpse of the baseball game being streamed on one of the 700 LED screens throughout the arena. When the Bucks game ended, fans filled the new outdoor beer garden in the Entertainment Block near the arena to watch the end of the Brewers playoff game. 16 / BizTimes Milwaukee NOVEMBER 12, 2018

1. Fans gathered on the plaza outside the arena before the game. 2. Former Bucks star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar attended the game.

3. The team and mascot Bango lined up for the National Anthem before tipoff. 4. Fans, wearing special light-up wristbands, await the pre-game show. They changed colors to reflect different moments during the night. 5. Flamethrowers added a dramatic effect to the team’s pre-game show. 6. Bucks star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo received constant fanfare throughout the game. 7. Fiserv Forum features open concourses, allowing fans to leave their seats and still watch the game.

8. Sobelman’s Pub & Grill is among the arena’s local food and beverage offerings. 9. Fans gathered after the game in the new beer garden at the Entertainment Block near the arena to cheer on the Milwaukee Brewers. 10. Fans pose with a deer sculpture created out of basketballs. It’s one of the works in the team’s 79-piece art collection at the arena. 11. Bucks majority owner Marc Lasry (third from left) and Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele (far right) watch the game. 12. A couple takes a selfie near the court.

13. The Cascio Music Bucks Beats Drumline is one of several entertainment acts to perform during the game. 14. An ice luge with the team’s motto, “Built to stay,” in the bar area of the arena’s fourth floor Panorama Club. 15. Fans wave to themselves on the giant scoreboard suspended above the court. 16. 17,341 people attended the game. 17. Bucks entertainers celebrate the team’s win over the Indiana Pacers. biztimes.com / 17

BizNews

the

Interview

ASCENSION WISCONSIN recently celebrated a brand rollout across the health system’s facilities, the completion of

a two-year effort to unify the brands of former competitors Columbia St. Mary’s and Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare, along with Ministry Health Care and Affinity Health System, under the umbrella of the country’s largest nonprofit health system. In recent months, Ascension Wisconsin has announced several new projects, including plans for a new clinic in Shorewood and a medical center in Racine. BizTimes reporter Lauren Anderson recently spoke with Bernie Sherry, Wisconsin ministry market executive for Ascension Health, about the health system’s growth strategy. What does the Ascension brand rollout mean for patients? “Spending the last two years working together, now putting the name out there, our associates and physician partners are driving in Milwaukee, up north, to the Fox Valley, to Racine, and they’re seeing the size and scale of Ascension. They’re proud of that and they’re excited about that as we continue to make more investments and put the Ascension sign in more communities. “Externally, as far as the consumer goes, we think it’s important that they understand how to access faith-based health care with an organization that is mission-oriented and purpose-driven …. We want people in the community to know where Ascension is. It’s important to have our facilities have that brand so they know how to access us.”

Why is Ascension investing in more clinic-based sites? “In 2016, we brought together our four legacy systems and in looking at our services, we realized they were very hospital-centric. Certainly our inpatient services, but a lot of our outpatient services also happened on or near our hospital campuses. We determined that we needed to move ambulatory services off our campuses and bring care closer to home for individuals in their neighborhoods and communities. That move is strategically important for us. It creates a better experience for people and we can deliver it at a much more affordable cost point. “We also had some gaps in care. I’ll use Milwaukee as an example. We had Columbia St. Mary’s and Wheaton that were historically competitors and were now bringing them together as one integrated health care system. We have a great distribution of our hospitals and we have primary care clinic locations, but we needed to look at what care we are not providing. We’ve created clinical service line structures and invited physicians to come around the table and help us realize where we need to make investments in new tech to enhance service offerings and determine what physicians we need to recruit.”

LIL A ARYAN PHOTO

GR APH Y

What will Ascension’s investment in more clinical sites mean for hiring?

Bernie Sherry Wisconsin ministry market executive Ascension Health Employees: 18,000 in Wisconsin ascension.org 18 / BizTimes Milwaukee NOVEMBER 12, 2018

“Through our ambulatory expansion and new primary care clinics, including one in Shorewood and Racine, over the next two years, we have a goal to recruit an additional 100 primary care physicians.”

What benefits does the consolidation of health care bring? How does it impact costs? “Collaboration of our physician partners. You start to share best practices and have physician partners collaborating with each other. You have great ideas come forward. “Ascension, both here in Wisconsin and nationally, is really interested in creating the greatest value for the communities we’re in. We’re working to design our delivery system. Can we be innovative on design and delivery to have an impact on total cost of care? “We’re also advocating, both at the state and federal level, as well as with commercial payers, to move from fee for service to fee for value. We want to see more reimbursement to providers be tied to value. Value is quality, experience, but also the ability to deliver health care more cost-effectively.” n

Communication, flexibility gives Gear Grove a unique culture FROM BARS and restaurants to corporate conference rooms to home offices, Milwaukee-based custom furniture manufacturer Gear Grove has been building a portfolio of projects since 2012, with a focus on unique furniture that also keeps materials out of landfills. The company started out as a passion for co-owner Lyle Stoflet Jr. He found himself building projects a few weekends each month and then, eventually, every weekend. When Stoflet met Tom Daugherty, the latter suggested Stoflet get out of the garage and join him at his shop near West Hampton Avenue and North Teutonia Avenue. What started as a woodworking space in the corner grew within six months to occupy 5,000 square feet. Today, Gear Grove has an 8,000-square-foot space and is eyeing an expansion to another facility sometime in 2019. The companies that Stoflet and Daugherty own together – Gear Grove, contract manufacturer Stratus Industries and upcycler Containers Up – occupy a total of 30,000 square feet at 4720 N. 27th St., plus some additional outdoor yard space and another 50,000 square feet across the street for Stratus’ fulfillment work. “It kind of broadens the horizons of all the companies,” Daugherty said of having several businesses with different capabilities. Gear Grove specifically was formed with an eye toward furniture and design that would repurpose materials while also incorporating a customer’s desires. It is an approach that capitalizes

on design trends that emphasize the use of reclaimed wood, which Stoflet only expects to continue. “I think it’s going to keep accelerating, partly because everybody wants to be unique, they want it to be personalized for what their space is or what their vibe is,” he said. “We don’t have a certain vibe that we go with, we figure out what the client’s vibe is.” The company’s projects range from single pieces of furniture to full corporate office buildouts. Gear Grove also gets creative; the company’s own conference room table is made from a shipping container and a motorcycle stand, which allows it to be adjustable. “What’s nice is we have the ability to have that breadth with the team that we have,” Stoflet said. Some projects take only a few hours for one employee, while others take several weeks in the shop and another few days on-site. The team Gear Grove has put together also comes from a wide variety of backgrounds. One-third of the current workforce has either a mental or a physical disability, and the company was recently recognized by the state Department of Workforce Development for its commitment to hiring those with disabilities. Daugherty said Gear Grove has used the DWD’s Division of Vocational Rehabilitation and temporary work experience programs to help find employees that match its needs. In some cases, the programs offer the business money to help with training, and in other cases they provide potential hires a chance to try out a possible career. “It’s been interesting. Some

Gear Grove makes furniture from reclaimed and urban wood

GEAR GROVE

4720 N. 27th St., Milwaukee INDUSTRY: Custom furniture EMPLOYEES: 18

geargrove.com

people have needed every moment of that training and other people have jumped right in and can handle what we’re trying,” he said. Stoflet said it has been important for the company to maintain a culture that emphasizes open communication and flexibility for employees. Daugherty added that working with employees to find their niche benefits Gear Grove and the employee. In one case, Gear Grove found out an employee’s favorite previous job was wrapping Christmas presents at department stores. It turns out one of the company’s customers requires that level of attention to detail in packaging. “It’s literally something that she absolutely loves doing and the rest of our staff absolutely hated doing,” Daugherty said. Maintaining a culture in which the business feels like a family or a team is a point of emphasis for Gear Grove. While Stoflet and Daugherty are always looking to add talented people, they also do not advertise open positions much, opting to rely on existing partnerships or the referrals of current employees to draw in new hires. As the company grows, Stoflet said he plans to emphasize work-

ing with developers and architects to expand the portion of the business focused on the full buildout of offices into unique spaces. On the other end of the spectrum, Gear Grove also has a presence on Etsy. Daugherty said the e-commerce site has changed over the years from a lot of small stores and individuals to a more corporate feel. “It’s much closer to an eBay or an Amazon (website) than it is the small boutique store it started as, but a lot of custom work comes out of it and it’s just another good avenue to be able to have your presence sitting on,” he said. n

ARTHUR THOMAS Reporter

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Real Estate

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WHO OWNS THE BLOCK? 1 1505 W. St. Paul Ave. Owner: Cream City Yards LLC, registered to Frederick C. Read. Tenant: Third Space Brewing

5 1701 W. St. Paul Ave. Owner: Stone Properties LLC Tenant: House of Stone 20 / BizTimes Milwaukee NOVEMBER 12, 2018

2 1500-1530 W. St. Paul Ave. Owner: Monitor Corp., registered to Cynthia Coakley. Tenant: GPF - General Press & Fabricating

3 1539 W. St. Paul Ave Owner: Cream City Yards LLC, registered to Frederick C. Read. Tenant: BrewCity CrossFit

1719 W. St. Paul Ave. 1741-1743 W. St. Paul Ave. Owner: Garnet Abrasive & Water Filtration Inc. Owner: LCM FUNDS 30 St. Paul LLC Tenant: Garnet Abrasives & Water Filtration Tenant: Future home of Bachman Furniture

4 1635 W. St. Paul Ave. Owner: Caledonia Props 1635 LLC Tenant: Guardian Fine Art Services

8 1900 W. St. Paul Ave. Owner: Sobelmans 1900 LLC Tenant: Sobelman’s Pub & Grill

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WEST ST. PAUL AVENUE FROM 15TH STREET TO 19TH STREET

JON ELLIOTT OF MKE DRONES LLC

AV E

FEATURED DEAL: KENOSHA COUNT Y L AND A Chicago-based logistics company has purchased 50 acres of land just west of I-94 in Kenosha County, where it plans a twophase project. In Phase 1, it will build two industrial buildings totaling 1 million square feet. Logistics Property Co. LLC bought the three parcels, located just west of I-94 and south of the Uline Inc. and Amazon facilities in Kenosha. The company has been eyeing the parcels since earlier this year. In March, a subsidiary of Logistics Property Co. submitted a petition to the city of Kenosha to rezone the land to allow for the construction of two manufacturing and distribution facilities.

ADDRESS: 3902 128th Ave. and 12443 38th St., Kenosha BUYER: Logistics Property Co. LLC SELLER: J&L Drissel LLC, Marvin and Dolores Drissel Revocable Trust and Ronald Wallace PRICE: $6.9 million

BAY VIEW APARTMENTS Several properties along South Kinnickinnic Avenue in Milwaukee’s Bay View neighborhood could be developed into more than 220 residential units and retail space under a new proposal. Milwaukee developer Scott Lurie is planning the Bay View project. The project, which could break ground in the fall of 2019, incorporates 10 parcels in the 2700 block of South Kinnickinnic Avenue. They include several houses and the former Bella’s Fat Cat building at 2737 S. Kinnickinnic Ave., which has been vacant since the restaurant closed in 2010. The proposal, contained in two six-story buildings, would have 27,000 square feet of retail space, according to conceptual plans. DEVELOPER: Scott Lurie, F Street Investments LLC SIZE: Two six-story buildings PARCELS: 10

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COVER

STORY

HARBOR DISTRICT

LANDS ANCHOR PROJECTS

JON ELLIOTT | MKEDRONES.COM

. HQ KOMATSU MINING CORP

R1VER (MICHELS CORP.)

n late February 2016, Lilith Fowler sat down with a map of a 1,000-acre area people were just beginning to recognize as Milwaukee’s Harbor District and began thinking about possibilities for the abandoned sites, vacant lots and aged heavy industrial buildings. At the time, Fowler, the newly-minted executive director of Harbor District Inc., was envisioning a redevelopment path similar to the Menomonee Valley. Fowler served as the first executive director of Menomonee Valley Partners from 1999 to 2004. It took many years to transform the valley from an industrial wasteland to the vibrant district that it is today. Fowler and city leaders could see potential in the Harbor District as well. Nestled in between Mil-

AN AERIAL VIEW OF THE HARBOR DISTRICT, AND THE SITES OF THE MICHELS AND KOMATSU PROJECTS.

waukee’s Historic Third Ward, Walker’s Point and Bay View neighborhoods, with roughly nine miles of waterfront access, the Harbor District was the next logical neighborhood to be revitalized as development spread through those adjacent areas. Fowler originally expected it would take about two decades for the Harbor District to be revitalized. “No one wants to be the first guy to go plunk something down and wait 20 years for the rest of the district to unfold,” Fowler said in 2016. Today, less than three years later, three major developments totaling $515 million are planned in the Harbor District. Those projects include Komatsu Mining Corp.’s plans to build a $285 million headquarters and manufacturing facility at the former Solvay Coke

site south of East Greenfield Avenue; Milwaukee-based development firm Mandel Group Inc.’s plan for a $130 million residential development on the Milwaukee River; and Michels Corp.’s plan for a $100 million mixed-use development along the Kinnickinnic River. The state’s strong economy and the limited number of acres left to develop in downtown Milwaukee and the Historic Third Ward are part of what has driven the early success of the Harbor District, Fowler said. “These are sites on large footprints, on major streets, with great freeway access and huge waterfronts,” Fowler said. “They had a lot going for them and were just waiting for the right economy and waiting for the right market to move.” biztimes.com / 23

STORY COVER

DAN ADAMS, PLANNING DIRECTOR, AND LILITH FOWLER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF HARBOR DISTRICT INC.

Corporate interest Over the past several years, there have been small victories for the Harbor District. Foamation Inc., the maker of Wisconsin’s iconic cheesehead hats, relocated from St. Francis to a vacant 15,920-square-foot, 116-year-old warehouse at 1120 S. Barclay St. in 2016. Milwaukee Pedal Tavern LLC decided earlier this year to relocate its Bay View bar Boone & Crockett and its popular pedal and paddle taverns to a 133-year-old warehouse along the Kinnickinnic River, bringing more people to the district and further activating the water. But then in August came huge news for the district. Brownsville-based construction firm Michels Corp. announced a multi-phase, $100 million project on the banks of the Kinnickinnic River that would raise the neighborhood’s profile. Michels had owned the former Horny Goat property at 2011-2029 S. First St. for more than 24 / BizTimes Milwaukee NOVEMBER 12, 2018

a year, fueling speculation the company had development plans for the site. But until the announcement, few imagined the magnitude of the project. That project, called R1ver, will begin with an eight-story office building, which will be home to about 400 Michels employees. Once R1ver is completely built out, the entire campus will include 220,000 square feet of office space, 67 units of multi-family housing, 19,000 square feet of retail, a 103-room hotel, and nearly 1,000 underground parking spaces. As part of the project, the City of Milwaukee is also planning to invest in more than 1,000 feet of publicly-accessible riverwalk. “So many things that I would have wanted to see… Michels checked every box,” Fowler said. The Michels announcement was the first major achievement since the city earlier this year approved the Harbor District’s water and

land use plan, which took more than two years to create. The plan is conceptual, but laid the groundwork for developing the Harbor District similarly to the Menomonee Valley and the Park East Corridor. It also set the stage for land owners and developers wanting to build in the district by setting zoning recommendations, building guidelines and standards related to the land, waterfront and public access. “I think when you say that there is this shared vision, there is a public commitment and private interest, that makes everyone more comfortable making an investment,” Fowler said. “Partly it’s creating a sense of momentum, and then the actual businesses create the real momentum.”

Neighborhood of the future One of the biggest eyesores in the Harbor District had long been the Solvay Coke site, a 47-

acre property along the west side of the Kinnickinnic River, south of East Greenfield Avenue, that was first developed in 1902 for manufacturing metallurgical coke for use in the production of steel, foundry coke, coal gas and coal tar, according to University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee historical archives. The heavily contaminated site has been vacant for years. In 1999, a Minnesota developer proposed a farfetched $1.5 billion mixed-use development at the site. Those plans never materialized and the developer, Thomas Short and Golden Marina Causeway LLC, went into bankruptcy. Wisconsin Gas LLC, a subsidiary of WEC Energy Group Inc., ultimately purchased the property out of bankruptcy last year. We Energies (Wisconsin Gas’ trade name), East Greenfield Investors LLC, American Natural Resources Co., Cliffs Mining Co. and Maxus Energy Corp., were all deemed as potentially responsible parties for environmental contamination at the site. Work to clean up the site has been ongoing for years. While Wisconsin Gas was purchasing the site, the City of Milwaukee was in discussions with Komatsu Mining Corp. The global mining company was looking for a more efficient headquarters and the city saw an opportunity. In late September, Komatsu announced it would consolidate operations currently located at its headquarters along West National Avenue in

Third Ward

THE HARBOR DISTRICT

Solvay Coke site – future Komatsu Mining Corp. HQ

R1VER (Michels Corp.) site

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STORY COVER

RENDERING OF MICHELS CORP. PROJECT R1VER.

West Milwaukee and at the Honey Creek Corporate Center on Milwaukee’s west side and build a $285 million headquarters and manufacturing facility at the former Solvay Coke site. Komatsu’s new South Harbor Campus will spread across dozens of acres of vacant land. The company has pledged to create 443 new jobs there, bringing its employment in the region to around 1,000. In exchange, the state is providing $59.5 million in state income tax credits and the city is expected to provide $25 million in developer-financed tax increment financing. “We are excited about the Harbor District’s vision for redevelopment and we look forward to a strong partnership with the Harbor District and the business improvement district as they lead the continued revitalization of this important waterfront area,” said John Koetz, president-surface mining at Komatsu Mining. “Our goal is to be a positive contributor, and we look forward to working with them and others as we implement our vision for a long-term future in Milwaukee.” Once fully built, Komatsu’s Harbor District campus will include 170,000 square feet of office space, a 20,000-square-foot museum and training building, and 410,000 square feet of manufacturing space. “Timing is everything,” said Rocky Marcoux, commissioner for the Department of City Development. “Michels is a great piece, but Komatsu re26 / BizTimes Milwaukee NOVEMBER 12, 2018

ally stands out because it takes out of play one of the most challenging sites to develop in the Harbor District and in the state of Wisconsin.”

Early adopters The Milwaukee Inner Harbor redevelopment project was one of two catalytic projects Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett identified in 2013 as part of his ReFresh Milwaukee 10-year sustainability plan. At the time, revitalization was already beginning to take place in the district. In 2012, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee began construction on the $53 million School of Freshwater Sciences. The 92,600-square-foot, three-story building opened in September 2014, adjacent to the former Great Lakes Water Institute that now houses research labs, the school’s boat operations and a dockside classroom. Wauwatosa-based Wangard Partners Inc. began developing Freshwater Plaza on 8 acres at the northeast corner of South First Street and East Greenfield Avenue about two years ago. The fourphase, 180,000-square-foot development includes a Cermak grocery store and a three-story apartment building with ground-level retail. Wangard Partners currently has a second Harbor District site under consideration. The firm has an option to purchase a 2.3-acre site along the Kinnickinnic River, across the river and northeast of where Michels Corp. is planning its develop-

ment. Commercial Heat Treating Inc. plans to move out of the 30,000-square-foot building on the site. Stewart Wangard, chairman and chief executive officer of Wangard Partners, has not said what his plans are for the property. Together, Komatsu, Michels and the nearby Rockwell Automation headquarters will provide the Harbor District with a daytime workforce of about 3,500 people. That population, along with the variety of nearby dining options and the water, make the Harbor District one of the most attractive neighborhoods in the city, Wangard said. “Komatsu could have put their headquarters anywhere in the United States and they chose to make a huge investment in Milwaukee,” Wangard said. “Rockwell has quietly continued to invest in its corporate headquarters and transform into a company that fully embraces (artificial intelligence). And Michels is a quiet success story that is one of the largest privately-held companies in Wisconsin.” Wangard said the Harbor District’s proximity to Foxconn Technology Group’s $10 billion development in Mount Pleasant also can’t be ignored. “The travel time (from the Foxconn site in Mount Pleasant) to First and Becher (in Milwaukee) is about the same as (going from the Foxconn site to) the lakefront in Racine,” Wangard said. “If someone said ‘What is the dynamic neighborhood of today?’ it would be the Third Ward. But the dynamic neighborhood of the future is the Harbor District.”

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STORY COVER

RENDERING OF KOMATSU MINING CORP’S HEADQUARTERS PLANNED IN THE HARBOR DISTRICT.

River a magnet for development Since the 1900s, the Harbor District has been home to foundries, tanneries and rail yards. It also contains the Milwaukee Estuary, which is the mouth of the Kinnickinnic, Milwaukee and Menomonee rivers and a direct link to Lake Michigan. As downtown Milwaukee has been revitalized properties along the Milwaukee River were redeveloped first, which was a function of where the most available adaptive reuse properties were and the river’s proximity to the central business district. “Density drove a lot of those early decisions, particularly with housing conversions,” Marcoux said. Former Milwaukee Mayor John Norquist formed the Riverwalk Initiative in 1988 and in 1991, a public-private group, the Milwaukee Riverwalk District, was formed to help finance the riverwalk. The Milwaukee Riverwalk is now nearly six miles long and continues to be expanded. The Komatsu, Mandel Group and Michels projects will all include a riverwalk component. On the southern end of the Milwaukee River, in the Historic Third Ward, abandoned warehouses were transformed to offices and housing. In 1984, the National Register of Historic Places designated 70 buildings across about 10 square blocks 28 / BizTimes Milwaukee NOVEMBER 12, 2018

as “The Historic Third Ward District.” Since then, there has been about $20 million of public investment, which has spurred more than $205 million in private investment in the Third Ward, according to the Historic Third Ward Association. Flowing northeast from East Pleasant Street to North Humboldt Avenue, the Milwaukee River once bordered an industrial corridor. The area is now home to the Beerline B neighborhood and development along North Water Street and North Commerce Street, which includes high-end apartments, town homes and restaurants. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the Menomonee Valley along the Menomonee River was redeveloped into a business district that houses companies with more than 1,500 employees. Key Menomonee Valley developments include Potawatomi Hotel and Casino; the Harley-Davidson Museum; the Menomonee Valley Industrial Center, which is now complete; and the Hank Aaron State Trail. While development along the Milwaukee River presented an opportunity for housing and office because of its central location and the Menomonee River presented an opportunity for manufacturing because of its proximity to the freeway, the Kinnickinnic River is a hybrid, Marcoux said. “Getting the Solvay site was key for manufac-

turing,” Marcoux said. “But there are also some great sites for office, as we see with the Michels site, and housing. This is following the market and the market needed a place to expand. We had to wait until the (Third) Ward was built out enough before the development community looked at the KK.”

Northern gateway Meanwhile, Milwaukee-based multi-family housing development firm Mandel Group is planning a hotel, apartments and a central parking structure on a 4.2-acre riverfront site at 318 S. Water St. in the Harbor District. A massive grain elevator that once operated on the property will be demolished to make way for the new construction and so will the Wisconsin Cold Storage Co. warehouse complex on South Water Street, which Mandel Group also owns. Mandel Group has long had a philosophy of developing along the water. Its multi-phased North End development is along the Milwaukee River, its planned Portfolio apartment tower overlooks the lakefront on the East Side and the DoMUS apartments in the Third Ward are on the Milwaukee River. The water is what attracted Mandel Group to the Harbor District site, despite its challenges, which includes environmental cleanup,

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STORY COVER

MANDEL GROUP INC. IS PLANNING A MIXED-USE DEVELOPMENT THAT COULD INCLUDE A HOTEL AND APARTMENTS ON A 4.2-ACRE RIVERFRONT SITE AT 318 S. WATER ST.

removing the grain elevator and constructing parking, which will be a huge expense. “The challenge is that you have quantitative interest, so now how do you make sure there is qualitative interest,” said Robert Monnat, Mandel Group’s chief operating officer. “You have to make sure everything is executed so you don’t lose some opportunities in terms of quality public spaces and access to water. That is such a huge part of the plan and character of the neighborhood.” Mandel’s conceptual plans for the project also include a 700-foot riverwalk segment, and a public plaza incorporating the southerly trestle extension of the historic railroad swing bridge – similar to the recently completed Trestle Park on East Erie Street. Mandel would also like to add a movable bike and pedestrian bridge that threads through the superstructure of the railroad swing bridge centered in the Milwaukee River. The development firm has been talking to adjoining property owners to encourage more development along the river, Monnat said. These talks include conversations with VJS Construction Services, owners of a vacant lot at 30 / BizTimes Milwaukee NOVEMBER 12, 2018

234 S. Water St. Situated at the corner of East Pittsburgh Avenue and South Water Street along the Milwaukee River, the site is a key piece in the redevelopment of the Harbor District. Developer David Winograd previously announced plans for a 12-story, 164-unit development on the site, but later canceled the project, citing an oversupply in the market. VJS Construction Services has listed the property for sale. The company did not respond to interview requests.

Looking to the future During the early planning stages for the Harbor District, Fowler and her staff applied for a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency identifying roughly 120 acres of contaminated brownfield sites. While these sites were challenged, they were really the best sites to be developed. They were the largest sites with the best access to water or the freeway, Fowler said. With Wangard’s Freshwater Plaza, Michels’ plan, Komatsu’s proposal and other projects in the works, about 80 acres of those brownfield sites are now spoken for.

The majority of the remaining 900 acres in the Harbor District is already occupied. For example, Fortune 500 company Rockwell Automation’s headquarters is part of the Harbor District. Braise Restaurant & Culinary School is part of the Harbor District. These are businesses Fowler said she doesn’t want to lose. And there are other buildings she wants to see improved, possibly with smaller manufacturers or office tenants looking for a home. Looking across the district, Fowler no longer believes it will take 20 years for the neighborhood to be revitalized. About 18 years after the Menomonee Valley Partners developed its first plan, the Valley 2.0 plan was released, updating what had been achieved, which goals were obsolete, and what still needed to be achieved. “I could see our land use plan being in progress or done in five to seven years,” Fowler said. “But it always depends on Milwaukee’s economy and the U.S. economy, which is on a sugar high. Right now we have the benefit of being part of that, but we are not immune to economic trends. And you can come down from a sugar high pretty hard.” n

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Special Report REAL ESTATE & DEVELOPMENT Brown Deer

Second, taxes on capital gains from investments in the Opportunity Zones can be avoided if the investments are held for at least 10 years. There are more than 8,700 Opportunity Zones throughout the United States. Wisconsin has 120 Opportunity Zones, with 48 in southeastern Wisconsin and 34 in the City of Milwaukee. Portions of the near west side and south side, particularly along West National Avenue, are included, along with parts of Walker’s Point, the Menomonee Valley and a stretch of North Water Street between East Juneau Avenue and East Brady Street. “The idea is to incentivize people to take money out of the stock market or property and invest it into specific geographic areas that are underinvested in,” said Rebecca Mitich, a partner at Husch Blackwell in Milwaukee who specializes in real estate law.

Wisconsin Opportunity Zones Census Tracts Nominated for Designation Wisconsin's 4th Congressional District

30th Street Industrial Corridor

Fox Point Glendale

§ ¦ ¨ I-43

Whitefish Bay

Shorewood

Milwaukee

§ ¦ ¨

I-94

I-43

St Francis

DEVELOPMENT SELLING POINT

Cudahy

South Milwaukee

Nominated Census Tracts

Service Layer Credits: Sources: Esri, HERE,

WHEDA

Congressional District 4

A map of the Opportunity Zones in the City of Milwaukee.

Opportunity Zones provide new investment avenue BY CORRINNE HESS, staff writer GOOD CITY BREWING LLC co-founder Dan Katt has set up a fund for investors willing to capitalize his Century City project. Katt is one of several developers looking at the

economic Opportunity Zone program as a way to help move their projects forward. “We intend to take advantage of the program both for new business ventures and real estate development at Century City,” Katt said. The Opportunity Zone program was a small piece of last year’s federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The program offers investors two benefits. First, they can defer capital gains on a previous investment if the money is reinvested into a zone until the end of 2026. Those capital gains taxes can be reduced by as much as 15 percent.

Developers, of course, see the program as another selling point for their projects. This summer, Katt announced Good City Brewing would move its office and warehouse operations to the stalled Century City Business Park on Milwaukee’s northwest side, with eventual plans to establish a brewery there. In mid-October, Good City acquired the ownership interests of the City of Milwaukee and developer General Capital Group in the Century City I building for $35,000 in cash and nearly $3.3 million in debt. The 53,000-square-foot industrial building is too large for Good City. Katt and his partners are currently working on a specific development plan for the building. Katt has set up the Opportunity Fund so investors who want to take advantage of Century City being located in an Opportunity Zone can invest in his project. As of press time, Katt would not give specific details on his plans.

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“We’re sort of blazing a new path,” Katt said. “We would like to see other entrepreneurs, small business owners and local people who understand and are familiar with the city join us. We are still in a position where we like to have fun and are comfortable trying new things.” Stewart Wangard, chairman and chief executive officer of Milwaukee-based development firm Wangard Partners Inc., has set up three Opportunity Funds. He plans to use two of the funds to invest in Opportunity Zones across Wisconsin and the third to invest in zones nationwide. Wangard went to Washington, D.C. recently to meet with some elected officials to discuss Opportunity Zones. He also serves on commercial real estate association NAIOP’s tax and finance subcommittee. “For an investor, it is a great opportunity for wealth preservation, and for the state at large, it is a great opportunity to put people to work in neighborhoods where there is typically not as much investment,” Wangard said. Two large-scale commercial development projects in West Allis are in Opportunity Zones and the developers plan to use the incentive to market their projects to investors, said John Stibal, the

city’s development director. Cobalt Partners LLC is planning to redevelop nearly 23 acres bordered by South 70th Street, West Madison Street, South 71st Street and West Washington Street. The $87 million project is expected to include a 100-room hotel, retail space, office space and an education component. Mandel Group Inc.’s high-end West Allis apartment project, The West, which is part of its Six Points project, will have 177 units. There have also been several developers and investors from outside of the state looking at property in West Allis because it is located in an Opportunity Zone, Stibal said. “Within the City of West Allis, we are working with about a dozen projects that we expect to generate somewhere around $260 million in Opportunity Zone investments,” Stibal said. “These investments will run the gamut from property acquisition, building development, to investing in manufacturing operations. “ The economic advantages of an Opportunity Zone are not big enough to make a deal happen alone, but the program will dramatically focus and target investments in areas that have zones, Stibal said.

FLEXIBLE REQUIREMENTS On Oct. 19, the IRS published the first set of proposed regulations for Opportunity Zones. The rules were more flexible than expected, Mitich said. According to the regulations, Opportunity Funds can make qualifying investments in a business which has a minimum of 70 percent of its assets in the zone. The flexibility makes it easier to invest in operating businesses. It also means that more dollars can be invested in communities that are more affluent. Opportunity Zones are much more accessible to the average investor. Unlike Low Income Housing Tax Credits or New Markets Tax Credits, a lengthy application and approval process does not have to take place. An Opportunity Fund can be set up by establishing an LLC and through the organizer’s tax return, Mitich said. “Anyone with any sort of capital gains can do this,” Mitich said. “So if you own a lake home, sell it and don’t want to buy a new one, and don’t want to pay the taxes, put it into an Opportunity Zone. If someone had $1,000 out of the stock market, they could potentially put it into a fund.” Mitich said there is still not a lot of clarification on whether the funds can be reinvested. For exam-

Special Report REAL ESTATE & DEVELOPMENT ple, if an investment is going south after two years and the investors want to move their money, can they do so without facing a penalty? “The can was kicked down the road on that one,” Mitich said. “We think it will be allowed, but we still don’t have clear guidance.” Regardless of how economically challenged the country’s 8,700 zones are, they all have the same incentives built in for investors and developers. Because of that, some neighborhoods may never be redeveloped, said Brett Theodos, principal research associate in the Metropolitan Housing and Communities Policy Center at the Urban Institute. “The kind of zones that make the most sense to invest in will be the places that produce the most return on investment,” Theodos said. The Treasury Department does not require any reporting on where the developments are taking place or whether jobs have been added as a result of the program. There are no incentives to take on a more challenging project. Mitich said neighborhoods that feel like a safer investment in a qualified zone will likely be developed first. “That is part of the sense of urgency investors are feeling now,” she said. “They want to get

Good City Brewing plans to use the Opportunity Zone program to help finance its Century City facility project.

to those safer projects and there is some concern those safer projects will run out. The standard investor will be looking for the same investment

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deal that they would look for without an Opportunity Zone program; but the ultimate benefit comes after 10 years.” n

MAREDITHE MEYER

Downtown Milwaukee

CARW members express greater optimism BY ANDREW WEILAND, staff writer THE COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE MARKET in southeastern Wisconsin has been on a bull run for several years and members of the Commercial Association of Realtors expect that to continue in 2019, with more of them expressing optimism than a year ago, according to an annual survey of

CARW members by BizTimes Milwaukee. This year 77 CARW members responded to the survey, the same as in 2017. When asked their impression of the current commercial real estate market in the area, 74 percent said “improving,” 24.7 percent said “flat” and 1.3 percent said “weak.” That is a noteworthy improvement from last year when 66 percent said the area’s commercial real estate market was improving. It is the strongest overall sentiment for the area’s CRE market by CARW members since 2015 when 84 percent said the market was improving. CARW members are also very optimistic about how the market will perform next year. When

asked if they think the region’s commercial real estate market will improve in 2019, 88.3 percent said “yes.” A year ago, 70 percent said they thought the market would improve during 2018. CARW members are most optimistic about the region’s industrial real estate market, with 89.6 percent saying it is “improving,” up from 83 percent who said the same a year ago. Data demonstrates the strength of the region’s industrial real estate market, which has a vacancy rate of just 4.2 percent, according to the latest market report from Cushman & Wakefield|The Boerke Company. Through the first three quarters of the year the region’s industrial real estate

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Column, stacked column, and area charts compare Column, andFor area charts compare data fromstacked multiplecolumn, categories. example, you can data from multiple categories. For example, compare the annual sales of three products.you Thecan x-axis Special Report compare the annual of shows three products. The x-axis shows years and thesales y-axis quantities. shows years and the y-axis shows quantities.

REAL ESTATE & DEVELOPMENT

2010

2011

2012

2013

Description Improving

2010 32.0

2011 35.0

2012 43.0

2013 80.0

Improving Flat

32.0 40.0

35.0 29.0

43.0 49.0

80.0 19.0

Flat Weak

40.0 28.0

29.0 36.0

49.0 8.0

19.0 1.0

Weak

28.0

36.0

8.0

1.0

Description

CARW MEMBERS’ IMPRESSION OFChart CRE MARKET CONDITIONS Column Column Chart

90.0 90.0

45.0 45.0 22.5 22.5 0.0 0.0

2010 2010

2011 2011

2012 2012 Improving Improving

market absorbed 1.6 million square feet of space, compared to 1.9 million during the first three quarters of 2017, according to the report. During the third quarter there was 2.1 million square feet of industrial real estate under construction in the region, up from 906,000 a year ago, according to the report. Average asking rent is $4.63 per square foot, up from $4.59 a year ago. However, CARW member sentiment for the office and retail markets is far less optimistic than their sentiment for the industrial market. For the office market, 49.4 percent of CARW members say the market in southeastern Wisconsin is “improving,” which is up from 43 percent a year ago, 46.75 percent say the area’s office market is “flat” and 3.9 percent say the market is “declining.” The region’s office market has a vacancy rate of 15 percent and absorbed 339,248 square feet of space during the first three quarters of the year, according to Cushman & Wakefield|The Boerke Company. The downtown Milwaukee office market has a vacancy rate of 14.5 percent and has

2013 2013

2014 2014

2015 2015

2016 2016

Flat Flat

2017 2017

2018 2018

Weak Weak

absorbed 147,438 square feet of space during the first three quarters of the year, according to the report. The suburban office market has a vacancy rate of 15.3 percent and absorbed 191,810 square feet of space during the first three quarters of the year. Average rents are higher downtown at $23.47 per square foot, compared to $18.51 in the suburban market. Several office building projects are planned or under construction in the area, with the most notable being the 25-story, 380,807-square-foot BMO Tower in downtown Milwaukee by Irgens. Its tenants will include BMO Harris and Michael Best & Friedrich. Plans were also announced earlier this year for a new $285 million corporate headquarters development for Komatsu Mining Corp. in Milwaukee’s Harbor District and a $100 million mixed-use development planned by Michels Corp. in Bay View, that would include a regional office for the company. As for the region’s retail market, only 42.9 percent of CARW members surveyed describe it as

BIZTIMES ANNUAL SURVEY OF CARW MEMBERS

67.5 67.5

“improving,” 41.6 percent say it is “flat” and 15.6 percent say it is “declining.” The retail real estate market continues to face challenges from numerous store closures as the retail industry shifts more toward online shopping. The liquidation of The Bon-Ton Stores Inc. earlier this year resulted in the loss of Boston Stores that anchored every regional mall in the region. Other recently announced store closure plans include a Target store in Greenfield, a Best Buy store in Grafton and Home Owners Bargain Outlet stores in Milwaukee and West Allis. However some retailers, like Mills Fleet Farm and Meijer, are expanding with several new stores recently opened, planned or under construction in the region. When asked which real estate sector in the Milwaukee area is the most in danger of being over-developed, 52 percent of CARW members said apartments, 18.2 percent said hotels, 13 percent said office space, 5.2 percent said retail space, none said industrial space and 11.7 percent said “none.” n

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New purpose, new life Experts discuss real estate adaptive reuse strategies BY ANDREW WEILAND, staff writer IN AN EVER-CHANGING WORLD, commercial real estate owners, investors and developers are increasingly finding that the landscape has shifted and the demand for real estate has changed so significantly that they must seek new uses than what they have traditionally relied on to fill their buildings. A group of commercial real estate executives, economic observers and a municipal leader will discuss these trends at the annual BizTimes Milwaukee Commercial Real Estate and Development Conference, to be held on Friday, Nov. 16, at the Italian Community Center in Milwaukee. The panelists include: Dan Ertl, director of community development for the City of Brookfield; Doug Fisher, director of the center for supply chain management for Marquette University; Scott Goldman, principal for Chicago-based Baum

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Special Report REAL ESTATE & DEVELOPMENT

(1) Daniel F. Ertl, (2) Douglas Fisher, (3) Scott Goldman, (4) Eric Griffith, (5) J. Michael Mooney and (6) Mark Eppli.

Revision LLC; Eric Griffith, vice president of mall leasing for Chattanooga, Tenn.-based CBL Properties; and J. Michael Mooney, principal, chairman and co-founder of Brookfield-based MLG Capital. The discussion will be moderated by Mark Eppli, director of the Graaskamp Center for Real Estate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business. Amazon.com as at the heart of much of the changing real estate landscape. It is the biggest reason more people are shopping online, creating less demand for brick-and-mortar retail space while increasing the need for distribution centers and warehouse space for the products that are shipped to the consumer’s front doorstep. With more and more consumers shopping online, many brick-and-mortar stores have closed, forcing retail building owners to seek new options to fill spaces. CBL, one of the largest mall owners in the United States, is facing this challenge with its properties across the country, including Brookfield Square Mall, where it is adding a Marcus BistroPlex movie theater, a Whirlyball entertainment complex and a Hilton Garden Inn hotel and conference center. CBL is trying a variety of uses to fill vacant anchor stores at its malls, such as the former Sears and Boston Store spaces at Brookfield Square. “It’s a wide spectrum of uses we are doing across the portfolio,” Griffith said. “We are open for doing totally different things. The stuff we’ve done in the malls is not retail anymore. An entertainment component like at Brookfield square, we’re

adding a casino to one project, multifamily, a hotel attached to a mall. A bunch of different uses. We are even looking at industrial with some projects. The mall of the future is not the mall that it is today. There will be a lot of different uses.” Public-private partnerships are supporting some of the redevelopment projects. The city is supporting the Brookfield Square redevelopment by providing the funds, $24 million, for the conference center at the hotel. MLG Capital converted the former Brennan’s Market building on Bluemound Road into its new corporate headquarters. The building had wood beam ceilings, similar to historic buildings in the Third Ward in Milwaukee, but modern facilities and ample parking on a busy suburban street. “It is sort of like an 1880s feel, but it has 1980s electricity, plumbing and it’s got visibility to 33,000 cars a day going by on Wisconsin’s most important commercial street,” Mooney said. Old industrial buildings continue to be redeveloped into office space, apartments and hotels. Baum Revision, which specializes in redeveloping old industrial buildings, often positions them as creative spaces for artists. An example is the company’s project to redevelop the former Garver Feed Mill in Madison. “We are going around the country and buying a lot of functionally obsolete 1900s manufacturing buildings that are in areas of town that don’t yet lend themselves as being candidates for being redeveloped into cool offices or restaurants,” Gold-

man said. “There’s this big question of what do you do with this? We’ve been converting buildings in many of these communities into places for makers, artisans and creators at really low rents.” Mooney recalled his involvement in the redevelopment of the 6 former Allis-Chalmers complex in West Allis and The Tannery complex in Milwaukee, massive industrial properties that needed a new use and a new life. “My instinct was to ignore what it is and sort of immerse myself in what it could be,” Mooney said. “I used to go in (to the vacant Allis-Chalmers complex) on weekends and I would plunk myself down, I would just sit there for hours looking around and thinking what this could be. I did the same thing at The Tannery. And stuff would pop out. Pretty soon you have a bunch of pieces together and the whole is bigger than the sum of the parts. They all complement each other. That is so exciting and it’s so fun to watch it evolve. Each of those is continuing to evolve.” The revitalization of urban areas has attracted more businesses and residents to downtown areas and hip city neighborhoods, while forcing suburban communities to consider new ways to make bland office parks more appealing. An example is the Bishop’s Woods office park in Brookfield. “We are trying to encourage a diversity of uses there to have that business park compete better with other business parks by introducing alternative uses,” Ertl said. The importance of dense urban areas is only going to grow, Fisher said, and that will be a major factor in future real estate development and adaptive reuse projects. “Cities are going to be here and be very important, I don’t care if you call it urban or urban combined with suburban, it’s where the action is going to be,” he said. “It’s incredibly exciting. It’s not a pessimistic future.” n

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WHAT DOES THE CURRENT PROPOSAL INCLUDE?

WHAT SERVICES WILL BE AVAILABLE TO VETERANS?

• Adaptive reuse of six historic buildings

• Case management

• Preservation of interior and exterior historic features

• Educational training and employment assistance

• Independent living skills training, including: cleaning, meal planning and preparation, laundry and personal finance

• Benefits assistance

• Wellness programs

• Community space for veterans

• Temporary financial assistance

• Sobriety maintenance

• On-site veteran supportive services

• Peer-to-peer counseling

• Nutritional support

• Recreational activities

• Outpatient clinical referrals

• Transportation assistance

• Referrals to partner organizations

• 101 housing units for veterans and their families who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless

PROJECT COST $40,595,000 proposed funding sources include: Low Income Housing Tax Credits, Federal and State Historic Tax Credits, grants, fundraising and other soft financing options.

… "We are closing in on a successful completion of our campaign goal of $3,000,000, which will leverage an additional $37,595,000 for this amazing project. All gifts at this stage will help to get us to the finish line." SAVE THE SOLDIERS HOME FUNDING SOURCES Phases One and Two Metlife Foundation 0.05% - $20,000

Home Depot Foundation 1.23% - $500,000

Citi Salute Funds 0.12% - $50,000

National Park Service – Save America’s Treasures 1.23% - $500,000

Milwaukee Housing Trust Funds 0.37% - $150,000

Federal Home Loan Bank 1.48% - $600,000 Community Fundraising 7.39% - $3,000,000 MILCON 12.32% - $5,000,000

Federal Low Income Housing Tax Credits 45.63% - $18,525,000

GIVING OPPORTUNITIES The campaign goal is $3,000,000, which will leverage an additional $37,595,000 to provide 101 units of housing for homeless veterans and provide community space and onsite veterans services. Partners in the campaign include the Greater Milwaukee Foundation, Milwaukee Preservation Alliance, Center for Veterans Issues, and the Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee.

To Donate – please go to SAVETHESOLDIERSHOME.COM. Every hero deserves a home. TAKE A WALKING TOUR - Explore the grounds. Download the free Soldiers Home walking tour app for your smartphone! Just search “Milwaukee Soldiers Home” on the App Store or Google Play.

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PROJECT COST

PHONE – 414-939-4SHD (4743)

VOLUNTEER LIST

$40,595,000 State Historic Tax Credits 14.78% - $6,000,000

CAMPAIGN CO-CHAIRS • Mick Hatch: Foley & Lardner

• Carl Mueller: Mueller Communications

• Patti Keating-Kahn: PK2Group Federal Historic Tax Credits 15.40% - $6,250,000

PROJECT PARTNERS • The Alexander Company: Project Developer • The Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee: Facility Operator • Center for Veterans Issues: Supportive Resident Service Provider • Uihlein/Wilson - Ramlow/Stein and The Alexander Company: Architects for the Administration Building (Building 1), the Old Main (Building 2) and the duplexes (Buildings 14, 18, 19 and 62) • JP Cullen: General Contractor

CAMPAIGN LEADERSHIP TEAM • George Banda: Allied Veterans Council

• Dave Kurtz: American Legion - Wisconsin

• Jonathan Beck: The Alexander Company

• James Madlom: Mueller Communications

• Clark Crosby: Milwaukee Preservation Alliance

• Dawn McCarthy: Milwaukee Preservation Alliance

• Jim Duff: Milwaukee County Veterans Service Office

• Joanne Seeger: Community Volunteer

• Lori Gensch: Milwaukee Preservation Alliance • Jayne Holland: UW - Milwaukee

• Mike Thirtle: Bethesda Lutheran Communities • Peter Zanghi: Milwaukee Preservation Alliance

biztimes.com / 41

Special Report VETERANS IN THE WORKPLACE

Chris “Tank” Murdoch, far left, was Foxconn’s first Wisconsin hire and participated in the ceremonial groundbreaking.

Veterans at the core of Foxconn’s early hires BY ARTHUR THOMAS, staff writer FOXCONN TECHNOLOGY GROUP’S PLANS for a massive LCD manufacturing campus in Mount Pleasant are nothing if not complex. The company has set ambitious timelines to build a manufacturing campus that is the first of its kind

in the United States and is moving forward with multiple parallel processes at the same time. Given the size, speed and complexity of the project, it may not be all that surprising Foxconn is turning to veterans of the U.S. military to get its operations up and running. “I think there is no better management school than the military,” said Louis Woo, special assistant to Foxconn chairman Terry Gou, in an interview with BizTimes Milwaukee this summer. Foxconn’s first two Wisconsin employees are veterans – one a Navy pilot, the other a former

ALWAYS SUPP ORTING VETERANS 42 / BizTimes Milwaukee NOVEMBER 12, 2018

Army planner. The company also hired a Marine who had just retired as commanding officer of a tactical fighter base to oversee the Wisconn Valley Science & Technology Park. “You look at this bunch of veterans and we are extremely lucky to have them,” Woo said. Hiring veterans was part of Foxconn’s original plan when it announced it would locate in Wisconsin. In September, the company announced 20 veteran career fairs it planned to attend in 13 states by the end of the year. By the time the company is finished, it hopes to count 3,000

WA R M E M O R I A LC E N T E R . O R G

veterans as employees in Wisconsin. Foxconn declined to say how many veterans it has hired or how many employees it has in the state overall. “We’d like to have all 13,000 be veterans. Obviously we’re biased, but that’s not really realistic,” said Capt. Chris “Tank” Murdoch, a former Navy pilot and Foxconn’s first employee in the state. “If we can get to 3,000, I think that would be a remarkable accomplishment.” Murdoch joined Foxconn in 2017 from a job with the Naval ROTC at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. When President Donald Trump joined Gou in Wisconsin for a ceremonial groundbreaking, Murdoch was there, along with Gov. Scott Walker and House Speaker Paul Ryan. The size and scale of Foxconn’s planned investment attracted him to the job, Murdoch said during an interview in June. “The military is being part of something larger than yourself, being part of a larger mission,” he said. “Actually trying to be part of something bigger than me, a larger mission, trying to build something here in Wisconsin … that was very attractive to me.” Murdoch, Foxconn senior director of project management, helped recruit Wisconsin employ-

ee No. 2, Lt. Col. Scott Rubitzky, a 27-year Army veteran. The two are longtime friends and were both involved in the VFW post in Middleton for the past several years. When Murdoch told Rubitzky about Foxconn’s plans, it did not take much to get him to sign on.

sion’s invasion of Iraq in 2003 and worked on setting up the first elections in Bosnia after the country split from Yugoslavia. A third member of the core Foxconn team of veterans joined earlier this year. After relinquishing command of the Marine Corps Air Station in

“ The military is being part of something larger than yourself, being part of a larger mission.” —Chris “Tank” Murdoch, Foxconn

“Frankly, I had been retired for six years. I had sat at home, cutting the lawn,” Rubitzky said. “When Tank explained what was happening here, it excited me.” Rubitzky, director of business development and plans for Foxconn’s Wisconsin subsidiary, brings a background that fits with the complexity of the Foxconn project. Before retiring, he was chief of plans for southwest Asia at U.S. Central Command. He also was a planner for the 3rd Infantry Divi-

Beaufort, South Carolina, Col. Peter Buck moved his family back to Wisconsin, where he grew up and has extended family. “I think our military background is we’re very action-oriented, and this is a very fast- paced initiative that we have here,” said Buck, a Foxconn senior advisor who Woo jokingly refers to as the “mayor” of Wisconn Valley. “The team here, because of our common background, has immediately gelled. The chemistry is really good.” n

Special Report VETERANS IN THE WORKPLACE

USO Wisconsin honors veteranfriendly workplaces BY MOLLY DILL, staff writer

Veteran-Friendly Workplace award finalists were honored at the USO Wisconsin Heroes of Wisconsin gala.

ROBERT “BERT” GARVIN SERVED IN the Wisconsin Army National Guard and was the senior trial counsel for the 40th Corps Support Group in Operation Iraqi Freedom IV. He’s now the executive vice president of external affairs at Milwaukee-based utility company WEC Energy Group Inc., where he works to create a welcoming environment for veterans seeking to transition to civilian employment. “Under our senior leadership, we’re really committed and created a culture for creating opportunities for our country’s military veterans,” Garvin said. “We’ve really as an organization tried to retain and attract leaders that happen to have military service in their background.” As of 2017, 6 percent of WEC’s 8,000 employees self-identified as military veterans.

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Particularly in power generation and distribution, Garvin said veterans are a great fit at WEC because they are proven leaders, highly trained, battle tested, self-motivated and safety conscious. About a year ago, WEC formed a veteran employee resource group, which has about 100 members. The company is also active in sponsoring and volunteering on the Stars and Stripes Honor Flights, which take veterans to see their memorials. “I think we’ve had at least a dozen people help people board the plane and we also participate with the thank you notes they receive,” Garvin said. For its efforts to attract, retain and support veterans in the state, WEC Energy Group was recently named the top Veteran-Friendly Workplace at the USO Wisconsin Heroes of Wisconsin gala in Milwaukee. The finalists also included Madison-based American Family Insurance, Milwaukee-based Direct Supply, La Crosse-based LHI and Chicago-based TDS. The third annual gala, which was held Oct. 20, provides an opportunity to honor veterans and service members, and is a fundraiser for

USO Wisconsin, which works to connect and support military families throughout the state. The veterans honored were: Capt. Jeffrey Koehler, Army National Guard, Burlington; Staff Sgt. Daniel Looney, Marine Corps, Milwaukee; Hospital Corpsman, First Class Teneacia Smith, Navy, Milwaukee; Master Sgt. Robert Kline, Air Force, Mount Pleasant; Senior Chief Petty Officer Michael Molnar, Coast Guard, Racine; Navy Builder 3 Jason Derosier, Navy, Family of the Fallen, South Milwaukee. Christopher “Tank” Murdoch, a U.S. Navy veteran and the first Foxconn Technology Group employee hired in Milwaukee, was the event’s keynote speaker. Foxconn is in the midst of an initiative to hire 3,000 military veterans. “We’re trying to honor those companies that do a great job of hiring Guard, Reserve and then also veterans,” said Josh Sova, executive director of USO Wisconsin. “They’ve been trained in a lot of the soft skills that employers are looking for. They’ve learned how to be given a project and execute it on their own. They’re taught how to do things on time and to do things the right way. The most important thing is that they’re dependable.”

Sova said he’s noted an uptick in the number of Milwaukee-area companies with veteran employee resource groups over the past few years. In addition to WEC, MillerCoors LLC, Robert W. Baird & Co. Inc., Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co., Harley-Davidson Inc. and Kohl’s Corp. have also added the groups recently. “I’d say about three or four years ago is when this really started to take off,” he said. “These groups are great because we know that they want to support veterans, and we give them an outlet for employee teambuilding.” Having somebody to talk to about the frustrations of working in the civilian world can help retention, Sova said. Not everyone does their job or does it on time, for example. Other exemplary veteran-friendly companies make up the difference between National Guard pay and the employee’s salary, he said. “We thought that a lot of local companies wanted to hire and retain veteran employees, but didn’t know how,” Sova said. “This award helps share ideas of what other companies are doing and will hopefully inspire other companies to hire veterans.” n

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Strategies INNOVATION

ences that are then viewed by all team members. That information is collected and becomes the springboard to new design.

Innovate or Die Design thinking works ONE OF THE MOST DRAMATIC developments in the creation of a new product or a new service is to begin with the customer and build innovation around “design thinking.” Jeanne Liedtka, a professor at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, wrote in an article in the Harvard Business Review (October 2018) saying that design thinking not only works, but has also shifted the paradigm for what successful innovation is in today’s world. Everyone has to recognize that all of us have biases. Neuroscientists point out we literally see the past and present based upon our own view of the world and our own experiences. Lawyers have long exploited the differences of witnesses who see the same event but have different recollections of what happened. If that’s the case, how can all of us driven by habits and personal biases possibly contribute to designing whole new offerings for customers? The answer lies in a disciplined approach now called “design thinking.” There is a step-by-step process that has to be put in place that all team members are required to follow religiously if it’s to be successful.

STAGE I: PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION It all starts with problem identification to ascertain opportunities for innovation. That, in turn, requires an immersion in the customer experience otherwise known as “ethnographic research.” Companies approach this from different viewpoints, but it includes not only observing customers but actually doing live videos of their experi48 / BizTimes Milwaukee NOVEMBER 12, 2018

STAGE II: IDEA GENERATION Once the discovery process is complete and the data is collected, it is presented to the design team, which begins the process of identifying solutions. This requires the serious identification of ideas and alternatives to address the challenges identified. Previous studies show the more ideas are generated, the better the results will be. I highly recommend a matrix be developed to prioritize ideas based upon the criteria that must be met. This matrix weights the more important criteria and assigns numerical scores. Once that’s complete, the team knows where it should begin the testing phase.

STAGE III: THE TESTING EXPERIENCE Historically, testing occurred within the halls of the company, isolated from the actual potential customers and users. Design thinking has evolved and is now taking a lesson from early-stage entrepreneurs on this one. They create prototypes for “minimal viable products,” but then those are presented to customers for actual use and feedback; or they do mockups as part of experimentation. For an example, Liedtka offers the experience of Kaiser Permanente, which tested new medical office buildings by actually hanging bedsheets from ceilings to mark future walls and then asked nurses and physicians to interact with patients to see if they had the design right. Changes were made based on what they learned. These real-world experiments are critical to testing the viability of any given initiative. But more importantly, getting potential customers involved is the gold standard, as sometimes they become the first users once the product or service is rolled out. Locally, the architectural firm Zimmerman Architectural Studios Inc. embodies this approach to serving its customers. For more than a generation it has been able to offer state-of-the-art approaches to innovation in the design of facilities supporting a variety of sectors of the economy. The key to Zimmerman’s culture is that “design

matters.” It looks for and hires people who are intellectually creative and curious, and have a passion for improving people’s lives through their good work. Those employees are encouraged and empowered to interact with customers and each other to develop solutions to problems through their creative architectural designs. Steve Raasch, the firm’s president and director of health care planning, has put in place a commitment to a process that ensures patient input and customer feedback in every step of the design process. Zimmerman used this process to forge an integrated facility for both the Froedtert Hospital Birth Center and the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Many first-of-akind innovations were developed and employed, all with a focus on improving patients’ lives. They came up with a shared vision that resulted in an outstanding design and architectural accomplishment across 120,000 square feet on six different floorplates. That design resulted in the company winning a 2017 Center for Healthcare Design showcase award. Embedding design thinking into the culture of innovation is now crucial to success in the world of product or service innovation. n

DAN STEININGER Dan Steininger is the president of BizStarts and of Steininger & Associates LLC, which helps companies drive new revenues through innovation. He can be reached at dan@bizstarts.com.

LEADERSHIP

Find your fearless Leaders need courage to have difficult conversations

“ It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends.”

— Anonymous

A NUMBER OF MONTHS AGO, my husband and I visited my nephew, Bryan, his wife, Laura, and their three kids, Will (12), Clare (10) and Elizabeth (7) in Austin, Texas. It was a great city to visit for the first time. It was better fun to be with the kids and experience their creative spirits. During a trip to the grocery store, I discovered packs of Kleenex with messages on them. When we returned, I placed the packs upside down on the counter and told the kids that they could choose one pack and the message on the other side was meant just for them. Will selected “Summon

Your Strength,” Elizabeth chose “Believe in Yourself” and Clare selected “Find Your Fearless.” The kids were very intrigued by the notion that facial tissue could have a message especially for them. We enjoyed magical time with them before returning to Milwaukee. A day later, the phone rang. A young voice announced: “This is Clare, Aunt Karen.” Clare wanted me to know that when she went to her friend’s house for a sleepover Saturday night, she found her fearless! The kids slept in a room full of dolls that Clare described as all having black eyes. “I was really scared,” she said. “And then I remembered my Kleenex….Find Your Fearless. I thought about it. I kept thinking, ‘I can do this’ and I found my fearless and I was able to sleep all night, and I really had a great time,” she said. As I reflected on Clare’s experience, I thought about the ways that, as leaders, we are called upon to Find our Fearless. There are countless ways today that we have the opportunity to live with courage, to use our voices to influence and our power to make a difference in the lives of others. The political climate today has taken a toll on personal and professional relationships. We are afraid to invite conversations with those with whom we have a difference in opinion, beliefs, etc. – even those we consider colleagues or friends. Dawna Markova and Angie McArthur offer a way to Find our Fearless and dig into the conversations in their book, “Reconcilable Differences: Connecting in a Disconnected World.” They acknowledge how difficult it is to “dig in” when we are at odds with another. Their “Kleenex message” includes replacing what they call limiting beliefs with beliefs that will liberate. They remind us that you can’t make another love, respect or even like you. You can, however, find a way to respect yourself and how you are relating to the other no matter what. The authors define respect as “the ability to see again, as if for the first time.” With this framework, Markova and McArthur suggest that the “greatest gift we can give each other and ourselves is a willingness to question our biases, see past our blind spots and discover each other again.”

The authors offer three questions for us to consider when we engage in a difficult conversation with someone who does not think as we do. The questions require that we find our fearless, embrace our courage and ask: 1. “Here’s how you are specifically important to me…How am I important to you?” 2. “What’s the most important thing to you right now in the issues that have come up between us?” 3. “Are you open to hearing what’s most important to me?” The process isn’t easy. It’s messy. It’s not linear. There are no perfect roadmaps and yet, we do have the responsibility as leaders to advance the conversation, to listen to what is important to the other and to discover common ground. Thank you, Clare, for reminding me that it’s important to pay attention, to know when I need to step in with courage and Find my Fearless. n

KAREN VERNAL Karen Vernal is the president of Vernal Management Consultants LLC, a Milwaukeebased leadership and organizational firm. For more information, visit vernalmgmt.com. biztimes.com / 49

Strategies MANAGEMENT

Be prepared for change The importance of your business continuity plan

worth? How should the purchase price be paid? These and many other questions also surface if you need to monetize your interest in the business. Will your spouse be left without any liquidity if you die and your surviving business partner refuses or is unable to purchase your business investment? What happens if your partner simply decides to move on to a new opportunity or retire? What if one of the business owners divorces?

CONTINUITY AT RISK WHAT DO BUSINESS continuity plans and prenuptial agreements have in common? Both protect you from unforeseen circumstances. As a TEC/Vistage chair and CEO coach, I learn firsthand the various ways business owners protect their businesses. While most owners of privately held companies know the importance of having a business continuity plan, they often delay creating and keeping the documents they need to assemble it. Having a plan, long before you begin an equity purchase or transfer, will make an important difference in the amount of wealth you build for yourself and your family. Reviewing and maintaining the company’s continuity plan, often documented in your shareholder/unitholder agreement, is perhaps the most important step a business owner can take.

WHAT HAPPENS IF...? Most companies don’t have a sole owner. If you don’t, what happens if you decide to buy your partner’s interests, or your business partner dies unexpectedly? Is your partner’s spouse or child – or both – your new partner? Does that person have knowledge and expertise important to the business? Are you obligated to buy him or her out? Can you afford to? Is he or she obligated to sell to you, or can the person invite other buyers? How much is the person’s interest 50 / BizTimes Milwaukee NOVEMBER 12, 2018

These events and many others can put the continuity of your business, which may be your greatest financial asset, at risk. A well-crafted continuity plan determines what will happen in these situations before they occur. Creating a solid plan for your business goes a long way toward preventing damage to company operations and value. Continuity plans make terrific sense for any business that has multiple owners, including family members, because they establish transaction and valuation standards. Think of creating a continuity plan as a prenuptial agreement for business owners. Though it’s best to create the plan when you start your business, you can do that at any time and review it annually.

other sources. Another method may be for the buyer to pay a part of the price at closing, and pay the balance in a promissory note over time. One of the biggest issues of your continuity plan, beyond not having one in the first place, is failing to review and revise it on a regular basis. Annual shareholder/unitholder meeting agendas should include assessments of the company’s value, and the viability of the funding mechanisms that will be deployed if there’s a triggering event. You do conduct annual meetings, right? Creating and following a business continuity plan protects your business and provides continuity. It also benefits your business partners, your employees and your family. n

WHAT YOUR PLAN SHOULD INCLUDE Your plan should identify: »» The owners of the business. »» The underlying assets the plan addresses. »» Shares or percentages of ownership, or both. »» Trigger events like a death, divorce, termination, incapacitation, etc. »» The prearranged price or formula for valuing the business. This can be an outside appraisal or industry standard. »» Funding mechanisms. This can include whether the buyer pays cash using personal funds, insurance proceeds, bank loans or

KARL WILLIAMS Karl Williams is a CEO coach, a strategic planning and transaction facilitator, and chairs two groups for TEC/Vistage. He can be reached at williams@h2orock.com.

W I S C O N S I N 2 0 1 9

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BizConnections NONPROFIT S TO L L EN W ERK FA M ILY FOUNDATION GI V ES $1 MILLION TO BLOOD RESE ARCH INS TITUTE Versiti’s Blood Research Institute has received a $1 million gift from the Mequon-based Stollenwerk Family Foundation for a new stem cell and cellular therapy institute. The Blood Research Institute’s foundation is raising a total of $10.4 million for the creation of the new institute, which is targeted for completion over the next three years. The gift from the Stollenwerk Foundation allows the organization to employ a new researcher, John Pulikkan, as part of the Stem Cell and Cellular Therapy Institute.

The Stollenwerk Family Foundation was founded by John Stollenwerk Sr., retired Allen Edmonds Shoe Corp. president and chief executive officer, in 2009 to support medical research, education and the arts. Stollenwerk has served on the board of the Blood Research Institute Foundation for more than 20 years. The institute plans to recruit six additional researchers as a result of future philanthropic gifts, all of whom will become part of the Stem Cell and Cellular Therapy Institute. — Lauren Anderson

c alendar America SCORES Milwaukee, the community outreach program of the Milwaukee Kickers Soccer Club, will host an evening of storytelling featuring the program’s poet-athletes, their principals and their coaches. The event will be held from 5 to 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 27 at Milwaukee’s Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum, 2220 N. Terrace Ave. Tickets are available for purchase online or at the door for $30. The event will feature a raffle and an art auction of one-of-a-kind pieces that are local artists’ interpretations of the youth poets’ works. More information is available at americascoresmke.org/programs. The Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design will host its eighth annual Holiday Sale from Nov. 29 to Dec. 1 to benefit MIAD student scholarships. The sale will feature student and alumni art and design work. Gifts available include sculptures, paintings, photographs, furniture, cards, ornaments, jewelry, handbags, ceramics and more. The sale will be held at MIAD’s fourth floor Raw Space, 273 E. Erie St. A preview night will be held Nov. 29 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Admission is $10. More information is available at miad.edu.

D O N AT I O N R O U N D U P Seton Catholic Schools received a $49,000 grant from the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development to train and develop teachers through the Seton Teacher Residency program. | Near West Side Partners and Marquette University received a total of $345,000 from two national organizations, the PatientCentered Outcomes Research Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, to support community health equity efforts. | Amazon’s Kenosha distribution center recently donated $10,000 to the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin. | Kohl’s donated $500,000 to the American Red Cross in support of communities affected by Hurricane Michael. | The ninth annual Bryon’s Run/ Walk/Roll to Cure Paralysis event raised $63,000 for the Bryon Riesch Paralysis Foundation. | Cardinal Stritch University recently received a $618,891 grant from the Lilly Endowment Inc., which will fund the Collaborative Parish Leadership.

nonprofit

SPOTLIGHT

UNISON

600 W. Virginia St, #400, Milwaukee (414) 291-7500 | unisonmke.org Facebook: facebook.com/unisonmke

Year founded: 2018, via a merger of Interfaith and SET Ministry. Mission statement: We serve more than 15,000 people of all ages in Milwaukee County annually from 40 community locations, over 50 public schools and thousands of homes. Younger families serving older adults. Older people serving children, families and other older adults. Building self-sufficiency. Strengthening resilience by linking generations. Enriching communities. Primary focus: UNISON breaks negative cycles by building social bridges, cultivating relationships, and establishing hope and trust to create healthier, more stable neighborhoods. UNISON is the solution. We support neighbors and neighborhoods through outreach programs. We help to create wellbeing by connecting people who help each other live healthier lives. Other focus: Promoting intergenerational connectivity, healthy homes, successful schools and work, and vibrant neighborhoods.

Executive leadership: Laurie Gramling Lambach, president and CEO Board of directors: Jeffrey Chang, Keith Cruise, Robert J. De Vita, William S. Droste, Robert F. Frediani, Timothy Klare, Laurene Gramling Lambach, Marilyn Metz, Andrew Musgrave, Deanna T. Nguyen, David Pifer, Virginia Riesing and Stephanie Sue Stein. Is your organization actively seeking board members for the upcoming term? Yes. What board roles are you looking to fill? UNISON does not have a specific position that we are looking to fill. We are looking for qualified candidates with experience starting and running a business. Ways the business community can help your nonprofit: We value financial contributions, which help us grow our programming. We also are always looking for volunteers to provide valuable manpower – just an hour a week makes a big difference in what we can accomplish.

Employees at this location: 130 Key donors: TRA (Technology Resource Advisors) and STIR Advertising & Integrated Messaging biztimes.com / 53

BizConnections PERSONNEL FILE ACCOUNTING

BUSINESS SERVICES

CONSTRUCTION

MANUFACTURING

Vrakas CPAs + Advisors, Brookfield

ActionCOACH of Brookfield, Brookfield

The Boldt Co., Milwaukee

Axcesor Inc., Grafton

Vrakas CPAs + Advisors has hired Pete Sinsky to the team to lead the Kenosha office alongside John Staehler, a Vrakas shareholder who has been with the firm for more than 20 years. Sinsky is currently the chief financial officer at Riley Construction and plans to transition into his new role during the fourth quarter of 2018. Prior to joining Riley in 2008, Sinsky was a shareholder with a top regional public accounting firm for 18 years.

ADVERTISING

Laughlin Constable, Milwaukee Laughlin Constable has hired Lisa Bennett as its chief creative officer. Bennett joins LC from newly independent TM Advertising in Dallas, where she has spent the past three years as chief creative officer. Prior to joining TM, she was North American creative lead for DDB Worldwide and chief creative officer of DDB San Francisco.

ActionCOACH of Brookfield has hired Diane Woodson as culture and engagement director. Woodson has an organization, project management, relationship and culture creation background, and previously was director of client experience for ActionCOACH of Elm Grove.

BUSINESS SERVICES

MRA-The Management Association, Waukesha MRA-The Management Association has promoted Jenny Mangone to talent management director within the internal HR department. Mangone has been with MRA for five years, during which time she has served on the MRA 24/7 Hotline, facilitated HR training and HR roundtables, and developed curriculum for HR programs. In addition, Mangone will continue to share her HR expertise in the classroom by facilitating training programs on a variety of HR subjects.

BANKING & FINANCE

First Business Trust & Investments, Brookfield First Business Trust & Investments has hired Aaron Schmanski as a vice president. Schmanski has 25 years of experience in the financial services industry. He works with clients on their wealth management needs, along with obtaining and implementing employee benefit plans. Prior to joining First Business, Schmanski worked with community banks, trust companies, public entities and commercial businesses, where he served clients’ primary focus of protecting their assets.

54 / BizTimes Milwaukee NOVEMBER 12, 2018

BUSINESS SERVICES

The Waukesha County Business Alliance Inc., Waukesha The Waukesha County Business Alliance Inc. has hired Emily Curtis as the new events and programs coordinator.

Nickerson

Wagner

The Boldt Co. has hired Derrick Nickerson as project manager. Nickerson, who comes to Boldt with experience in both public and private sector construction, will be working on the company’s projects at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin. Boldt also hired Nick Wagner as a field accountant.

IT SERVICES

New Resources Consulting, Milwaukee New Resources Consulting has hired EJ Bantz to lead its Salesforce practice. In this role, Bantz will be responsible for developing and executing practice strategies, growing the overall Salesforce business, and assisting clients with implementing and maintaining their Salesforce systems. With more than 20 years of experience, Bantz has worked through the full life cycle of application development and design projects, from envisioning through implementation to ongoing support.

Axcesor Inc. has promoted Scott Loftus to vice president, development and engineering. Loftus joined Axcesor in August 2015 as a project engineer, and became engineering manager in 2017. In this newly established role, he will continue launching new customers and projects, advise the president and assist senior managers in developing facilities and business.

MANUFACTURING

Lighthouse Safety, Brookfield Lighthouse Safety has hired Kaylie Lenz as projects and recertification manager. Lenz comes to Lighthouse Safety with a proven professional track record in the fall protection industry, complete with experience in system engineering and design, bidding, scheduling, purchasing and installation. Prior to joining Lighthouse Safety, she worked for Sesco LLC in Manitowoc. Most recently, she has worked at Harley-Davidson.

SBA LOANS: LOANS SEPTEMBER The U.S. Small Business Administration approved the following loan guarantees in September: JEFFERSON COUNTY

Uptown of Watertown LLC, 416 E. Main St., Watertown, $200,000, Bank of the West; KENOSHA COUNTY

$637,800, Harvest Small Business Finance LLC; Ca’ Lucchenzo LLC, 6030 W. North Ave., Wauwatosa, $1.2 million, First Business Bank; Capri Food Association LLC, 801 E. Capitol Drive, Milwaukee, $125,000, First Bank Financial Centre; Eggers Imprints LLC, 5221 W. Beaver Creek Pkwy, Milwaukee, $113,000, Partnership Bank;

Kids Properties LLC, 4212 52nd St., Kenosha, $182,000, U.S. Bank;

Forest Home Avenue BP LLC, 9835 W. Forest Home Ave., Hales Corners, $253,000, WBD Inc.;

Kids Properties LLC, 4212 52nd St., Kenosha, $182,000, U.S. Bank;

Fresh & Safe Inc., 2224 W. Kilbourn Ave., Milwaukee, $150,000, Park Bank;

Loving Hearts Homecare Inc., 10505 Corporate Drive, Ste. 105D, Pleasant Prairie, $60,000, JPMorgan Chase Bank;

Leff’s II LLC, 7206-7212 W. State St., Wauwatosa, $902,000, WBD Inc.;

Minda LLC, 231 30th Ave., Kenosha, $60,000, U.S. Bank; MLPCAR LLC, 6000 49th St., Kenosha, $350,000, Racine County Business Development Corp.; Stein Bristol Properties LLC, 12120 75th St., Kenosha, $936,000, WBD Inc.; MILWAUKEE COUNTY

People First Holding Co. LLC, 1234 Milwaukee Ave., South Milwaukee, $99,000, PyraMax Bank; SE Wisconsin Tutors LLC, 2184 S. 92nd St., Milwaukee, $80,000, United Midwest Savings Bank; Special Operations Document Shredding LLC, 5831 Riverside Drive, Greendale, $10,000, The Huntington National Bank;

A S G Wine Merchants Inc., 11500 W. North Ave., Wauwatosa, $158,500, Bank of the West;

Special Operations Document Shredding LLC, 5831 Riverside Drive, Greendale, $80,400, The Huntington National Bank;

Aquatics Unlimited LLC, 3550 S. 108th St., Milwaukee, $125,000, Independence Bank;

Star Trucking LLC, 11141 W. Forest Home Ave., Franklin, $336,300, U.S. Bank;

Bina’s Bakery LLC, 383 W. Brown Deer Road, Fox Point, $25,000, The Huntington National Bank; Bina’s Bakery LLC, 383 W. Brown Deer Road, Fox Point, $509,500, The Huntington National Bank; Botanas II LLC, 1411-1431 Howard Ave., Milwaukee,

TTMT Inc., 3740 S. 108th St., Greenfield, $100,000, First Bank Financial Centre; TUA Pasta LLC, 100 E. Wisconsin, Milwaukee, $213,400, BMO Harris Bank; Vios Fertility Institute Milwaukee S.C., 2500 N. Mayfair Road, Wauwatosa, $1 million, Cornerstone Community Bank;

OZAUKEE COUNTY

BB&K Creative Group LLC, 10930 N. Port Washington Road, Mequon, $150,000, Stearns Bank;

St., Racine, $390,000, First American Bank; Pawstar RE LLC, 1236 13th St., Racine, $349,200, JPMorgan Chase Bank;

Ellsworth Stevens Holdings LLC, W66 N205 Commerce Court, Cedarburg, $375,000, WBD Inc.;

Simply Lesia LLC, 102 10th St., Racine, $176,500, Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corp.;

Fork & Tap LLC, 201 E. Main St., Port Washington, $51,000, The Port Washington State Bank;

TASRW Inc., 2310 S. Green Bay Road, Racine, $205,000, Stearns Bank;

Fork & Tap LLC, 201 E. Main St., Port Washington, $230,000, The Port Washington State Bank;

WASHINGTON COUNTY

Jacob 1214 LLC, 1214 13th Ave., #1218, Grafton, $1.3 million, U.S. Bank; Kou Vang & Por J Moua, 2684 County Road D, Belgium, $275,000, Oostburg State Bank; Lindems Real Estate LLC, 702 W. Grand Ave., Port Washington, $350,000, Partnership Bank; RACINE COUNTY

Dreamscape Lawncare LLC, 2334 N. Sylvania Ave., Sturtevant, $868,000, Byline Bank; GME Layout LLC, 5839 Finch Lane, Racine, $5,000, Wells Fargo Bank; Marini Manufacturing Inc., 5100 Second

ADH Enterprises LLC, 180 James St., Slinger, $1.2 million, U.S. Bank; Complete Lawn & Landscape Supplies LLC, N174 W20371 Raymond Road, Jackson, $350,000, Bank of the West; Don Patnode Agency Inc., 337 W. Paradise Drive, West Bend, $50,000, Associated Bank; K Smith Fitness Germantown LLC, 11162 Stonewood Drive, Germantown, $350,000, First Business Bank; PT Rentals LLC, 1707 and 1727 American Eagle D, Slinger, $1.7 million, WBD Inc.; Weld-Fab Manufacturing Corp., 180 James St., Slinger, $350,000, U.S. Bank;

WAUKESHA COUNTY

Allen Executive Search Ltd., 141 E. Wisconsin Ave., Oconomowoc, $50,000, First Bank Financial Centre; Arce Handyman LLC, Pewaukee, $450,000, Byline Bank; Benchmark Secured Storage of Hartland LLC, 840 Rose Drive, Hartland, $124,800, First Bank Financial Centre; Core Vision IT Solutions LLC, 150 N. Sunny Slope Road, Ste. 20, Brookfield, $1.5 million, Waukesha State Bank; CP Jams LLC, 17295 W. Capitol Drive, Brookfield, $25,000, U.S. Bank; CP Jams LLC, 17295 W. Capitol Drive, Brookfield, $309,400, U.S. Bank; Edgewood LLC, S81 W19255 Janesville Road, Muskego, $1.3 million, First Bank Financial Centre; GSBR Milwaukee LLC, 12565 W. Feerick St., Unit 2, Brookfield, $100,000, Granite Community Bank; Integrity Landscape Services LLC, 2900 166th St., New Berlin, $1 million, Harvest Small Business Finance LLC; J&N’s Village Automotive LLC, 447 Bay View Road, Mukwonago, $350,000, Waukesha State Bank;

Jamesines Flowers LLC, 202 North Ave., Hartland, $455,000, Byline Bank; Jedi Tattoo LLC, 366 W. Main St., Waukesha, $112,200, Waukesha State Bank; Mavrix Inc., 3020 S. Calhoun Road, New Berlin, $35,500, Central Illinois Bank; Natural Look Salon and Wigs LLC, 426 Eastern Trail, Mukwonago, $29,500, Community State Bank; OFP Ingredients LLC, 140 S. Concord Road, Oconomowoc, $1 million, Capitol Bank; Operation Eggs LLC, Wisconsin Avenue, Oconomowoc, $641,000, First Bank Financial Centre; Out of the Sun Spider LLC, 19450 Janacek Court, Brookfield, $429,000, WBD Inc.; Pacific Prairie Holdings LLC, S42 W31428 Hwy 83, Genesee Depot, $405,000, Waukesha State Bank; Preferred Cleaning Service Inc., 17390 W. National Ave., New Berlin, $50,000, Associated Bank; Skydance LLC, W229 N2633 Duplainville Road, Pewaukee, $1.2 million, WBD Inc.; Wiberg I LLC and Wiberg II LLC, 301 and 305 Travis Lane, Waukesha, $590,000, WBD Inc.

biztimes.com / 55

BizConnections VOLUME 24, NUMBER 16 | NOV 12, 2018

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 Corrinne Hess corri.hess@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.

COMMENTARY

Bay View should embrace success AT A RECENT neighborhood meeting in Bay View, a developer unveiled plans for a new mixed-use development along South Kinnickinnic Avenue. The plans call for two six-story buildings with up to 230 residential units and 27,000 square feet of retail space. The project is planned for sites along Kinnickinnic that include a vacant lot and the former Bella’s Fat Cat building, which has sat empty ever since the restaurant closed in 2010. But instead of being excited about a major development replacing a long-vacant building and a desolate lot on the neighborhood’s main commercial street, several of the dozens of residents who attended the meeting to learn about the project booed when it was presented. One called the project a “monstrosity.” Located along Lake Michigan on Milwaukee’s south side, Bay View has long been known for its attractive, historic single-family homes. It’s a 56 / BizTimes Milwaukee NOVEMBER 12, 2018

highly desirable neighborhood where houses put up for sale don’t sit on the market for long. But the neighborhood is now experiencing significant change, all because it’s such an attractive place where lots of people want to live. In recent years, a handful of apartment developments have cropped up on or near Kinnickinnic Avenue. Alderman Tony Zielinski, who represents Bay View, has supported dense residential development along KK, but has insisted that the rest of the neighborhood maintain its single-family character. The surge of development has boosted the businesses along Kinnickinnic, which obviously benefit from increased population density within walking distance. Yet some residents oppose the changes coming to Bay View, concerned about increased traffic and a shift in the character of the neighborhood. Sure, two new six-story buildings will stand out on KK, but not dramatically so, especially with other similar projects nearby. It’s just not the drastic change that some of the neighborhood’s residents fear. By comparison, look at the 30-story residential tower planned in Bayside, a village in northeastern Milwaukee County, as part of Cobalt Partners’ OneNorth project. Now that would stand out!

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Molly Lawrence molly.lawrence@biztimes.com ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE David Pinkus david.pinkus@biztimes.com ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Maggie Pinnt maggie.pinnt@biztimes.com ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Christie Ubl christie.ubl@biztimes.com INSIDE ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Amanda Bruening amanda.bruening@biztimes.com SALES INTERN Tess Romans tess.romans@biztimes.com

ADMINISTRATION ADMINISTRATIVE COORDINATOR Sue Herzog sue.herzog@biztimes.com

Whitnall Park This photo, taken circa 1934 by S.J. Majorowski, shows Whitnall Park in Hales Corners. The park contains Boerner Botanical Gardens, Wehr Nature Center and Whitnall Park Golf Course. The gardens and park are named after Charles Whitnall and Alfred Boerner, who were integral in the acquisition and design of much of the Milwaukee County Parks system.

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

PRODUCTION & DESIGN GRAPHIC DESIGNER Alex Schneider alex.schneider@biztimes.com

Independent & Locally Owned

ART DIRECTOR Shelly Tabor shelly.tabor@biztimes.com

— Founded 1995 —

Yes, another apartment development will add some traffic along Kinnickinnic Avenue, but that’s a good thing. There is no way the addition of 230 residences is going to create total gridlock on the street. More traffic means more customers for every restaurant, bar and store along KK. Would neighborhood residents really prefer a dead street with no traffic and vacant buildings, like the former Bella’s Fat Cat? Bay View is a big success story for Milwaukee and the city needs to find ways for more neighborhoods to thrive similarly. The neighborhood’s residents should embrace the economic development and increased vibrancy that is coming to Bay View. Yes, growth comes with challenges, but the positives far outweigh the negatives. Other neighborhoods in Milwaukee that are struggling with crime and poverty would love to have Bay View’s “problems.” n

ANDREW WEILAND EDITOR

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

AROUND TOWN Safe & Sound’s A Night to Unite Safe & Sound recently celebrated its 20th anniversary during “A Night to Unite: Celebrating Neighborhood Champions” at the Italian Community Center in Milwaukee’s Historic Third Ward.

FRANCESCA WEGNER of Sojourner Family Peace Center; MOLLY SCHWEIGER of PNC Financial Services Group; and AMANDA GARRY ALIPERTA of Safe & Sound.

JAMES LINDSEY of Amani United; OCTAVIA PARKER of Dominican Center; IYANURA IVORY-LINDSEY of Amani United; and BARBARA SMITH of Amani United.

JADA POLLARD and JADA PETERSON, both of the Milwaukee Bucks.

T.J. SAGEN and TONYA IDEL, both of the Milwaukee Bucks.

MARCUS WHITE of the Greater Milwaukee Foundation and GRADY CROSBY of Johnson Controls.

HEATH WHALEN and JAKE PAULY, both of Reilly, Penner & Benton LLP.

HYACINTH NEMBHARDT of Wells Fargo, ARIN NGUYEN, and AMBER MCPHAIL of Wells Fargo. Photos by Lauren Anderson

2018 Ovation Awards Cocktail Reception The Kenosha Area Business Alliance hosted its annual Ovation Awards Cocktail Reception on Oct. 18 at the Colerget Conference Center in Kenosha.

JOHN MIELKE of University of Wisconsin-Parkside and NAT COFFMAN of The Prairie School.

MARY WAID of UW-Parkside; TONY, NICK, LORI and FRED CHIAPPETTA, all of Chiappetta Shoes; and JOHN MIELKE of UW-Parkside.

10. ASH NOBLE of Johnson Financial Group and STEVE MILLER of Frontida Assisted Living. 11. KEN RILEY and JENNIFER CHARPENTIER, both of Gateway Technical College, and CRYSTAL MILLER of Frontida Assisted Living.

12. MICHAEL PEER and NICOLE MIDDLETON, both of CliftonLarsonAllen, and MOLLY LOFQUIST JOHNSON of The Prairie School. 13. KYLE VITKUS of Johnson Financial Group, SCOTT SYRJALA and JOHN STAEHLER, both of Vrakas CPAs. 14. LISA FELTSON of KABA, ADAM GROSZ of Twin Lakes Police, and HEATHER WESSLING GROSZ, BECKY NOBLE and JEANNE GEIGER, all of KABA.

15. NAT COFFMAN of The Prairie School, MARY WAID of UW-Parkside and MOLLY LOFQUIST JOHNSON of The Prairie School. Photos by Maredithe Meyer biztimes.com / 57

BizConnections

my TOUGHEST

Challenge

JERRY JENDUSA Position: Co-founder and partner Company: Stuck LLC What it does: Business coaching Career: Jendusa founded Emteq Inc. in 1995 and grew it to a $100 million company based in New Berlin. He sold Emteq in 2014, and the same year co-founded Stuck with Jim Harasha and Paul Schulls.

THE CHALLENGE In 2008, the Great Recession hit the aviation market hard. More than 50 percent of Jerry Jendusa’s New Berlin-based aerospace manufacturing firm Emteq Inc.’s business was in corporate aviation, and those aircraft came to be seen as an unnecessary extravagance. The shift was amplified when a number of CEOs were criticized for flying to Washington, D.C. on corporate jets for a meeting with the federal government on a bailout for the auto industry. “With this bad publicity, the business aviation industry in and of itself was crashing. Just listening to customers, they literally went overnight where people were just canceling orders,” Jendusa said. “In a matter of a week we had to reduce (our) budget from $92 million down to $65 million.” THE RESOLUTION It ended up being one of the most satisfying times in his career, Jendusa said, because Emteq became focused on continuous improvement and gainsharing. “We worked with the salespeople on redoing our budget and our forecast,” Jendusa said. “We communicated to staff: form teams and get their teams generating shared financials as to how we could cut expenses. I moved my corner office to a cubicle right near the sales staff so I could help, I could listen to what was going on.” Fringe benefits were eliminated, top executives took pay cuts and Emteq focused on a thematic goal of “capturing our unfair share.”

LILA ARYAN PHOTOGRAPHY

THE TAKEAWAY

58 / BizTimes Milwaukee NOVEMBER 12, 2018

Among the learnings from the experience were that Jendusa had to be more transparent and visible with his employees, follow a process, engage people, have a consistent message, and work on must-do, can’tmiss items such as innovation and continuous improvement. “We can’t be fat, dumb and happy,” he said. “It led us to get more involved in (manufacturers) promoting corporate aircraft as offices in the sky.” Emteq came out of the downturn stronger and hit the ground running because it had continued to invest in research and development. Its processes were streamlined, inventory costs were lower and efficiencies had been gained. “It’s amazing what you can do when the going gets tough if you involve people, and I think staff ended up appreciating more what we did and our genuine concern about getting them involved, getting their input,” Jendusa said. n

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