Cudahy-based C R Industries, a full-service metal design and fabrication shop, has merged with Modular Power and Data, an electrical equipment provider based in Dane, Wisconsin.
The merger officially closed on Jan. 1. The financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.
“This merger brings together a team of over 70 talented employees, combining our expertise and resources to deliver even greater value to our clients,” according to an announcement from C R Industries. “As one unified company, we are now better equipped to provide innovative, cutting-edge solutions in the evolving energy and thermal management sectors.”
Rich Ballenger and co-owner Erik Thompson acquired C R Industries in 2022. Both men were former leaders at Lucas-Milhaupt Inc. before buying the company. Ballenger and Thompson have been working to transform the company into a full-service metal design and fabricating shop with welding, powder coating and packaging capabilities.
Since 2022, C R Industries has also grown through the acquisition of Nashotah-based Mod-U-Dock, a manufacturer of modular marine dock systems.
Following the merger with Modular Power and Data, Ballenger has also been named chief operating officer of the company.
“With this merger, we are positioned to meet the growing demands of the market while continuing to deliver high-quality solutions that drive success for our clients and partners,” reads the announcement from C R Industries. “We are excited for the future and look forward to leading the way in delivering outstanding results for all stakeholders.”
A 130-unit apartment complex, which would be called Harris Highlands, is planned west of Harris Highland Drive and West St. Paul Avenue in Waukesha.
The proposal will be brought in front of Waukesha’s Plan Commission on Wednesday for consultative review, according to city documents.
Three, 3-story buildings are planned for the 5-acre property, each with just over 40 units per building. The buildings will be about 100,000 square feet collectively and will offer studio apartments as well as one-, two-, and three-bedroom units. A fitness center and several common rooms are also planned for the development.
Hales Corners-based PLC Properties is leading the project with Brookfield-based Pinnacle Engineering Group and Madison-based JLA Architects.
The development will cost roughly $25 million and will be privately funded, according to Michael AmRhein, representing PLC Properties.
If approved, the project would break ground in early 2026 and take about 11 months to complete, according to PLC Properties owner Patrick Thompson.
This project proposal comes shortly after Menomonee Falls-based development firm Continental Properties announced the opening of a 320-unit apartment complex just over three miles north of the Harris Highlands site.
Waukesha-based First Federal Bank of Wisconsin announced that Steve Wierschem has been promoted to president and has been named to the bank’s board of directors.
“First Federal Bank of Wisconsin has always stood apart through its commitment to exceptional customer experience, quick local decision-making, and deep community engagement,” said Wierschem. “I am honored to lead this outstanding team as we continue to strengthen these commitments while embracing innovation to better serve our customers and communities.”
Wierschem previously served as chief financial officer of First Federal Bank of Wisconsin and joined the bank in 2020.
“Steve has done a fantastic job developing the necessary skills to help lead our bank,” said Edward Schaefer, CEO of First Federal Bank of Wisconsin. “Over the last few years, we have expanded his responsibilities, and we continue to add to his duties now with Steve’s promotion to bank president.”
Prior to joining the First Federal Bank of Wisconsin, Wierschem was a director at PricewaterhouseCoopers.
First Federal Bank of Wisconsin reported total assets of $300 million at the end of September. The bank has six branch locations, including three in Milwaukee, two in Waukesha and one in Brookfield.
Becoming one of the Wisconsin 275, BizTimes Media’s picks for the most influential business leaders in the state, does not come without making some tough decisions in the course of a professional career.
In hindsight, however, some decisions become more a lesson learned than a step in the right direction.
Among the several questions we asked of the Wisconsin 275, nearly 60 recipients responded to the question: What is one decision you wish you didn’t make, and what did you learn from it?
Due to space limitations in the BizTimes’ print edition, we could only include a small collection of responses to the questionnaire sent to all recipients. This story is part of a series focusing on each of the questions in the survey.
Several participants noted the importance of proper hiring tactics after sometimes learning the hard way.
“I always regret when the wrong hire is made,” said Christine Specht, CEO of Cousins Subs. “To minimize this risk, I’ve learned the importance of asking deeper questions and taking the time to truly understand the candidate.”
“There have been a few occasions where I have settled when making hiring decisions due to constraints in the talent market or urgency,” said Lyle Landowski, president And CEO of Colliers | Wisconsin. “I would take a couple of those back now. I am at the point where I’d rather wait longer or give up more to get a high quality and high character person who I am excited to work with instead of settling.”
Chris Baichoo, executive director and CEO of WMEP Manufacturing Solutions said he regretted, “Hiring an HR leader for skill set rather than for cultural fit. I learned that it is best to hire for cultural fit first, then skills after.”
Some participants shared advise on what not to do to.
“Promoting a person who was not respected within the organization,” said Mark Murphy, president, chairman and CEO of the Green Bay Packers. “I learned that when you make a mistake, correct it, don’t try to force it.”
“We reduced incentive payouts one year during a financial challenge, which resulted in long-lasting resentment,” said Dr. John R. Raymond Sr., president, CEO and professor of medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin. “The rationale for the decision was sound, but it was not adequately socialized. I learned that people feel institutional decisions at a very personal level, and that we did not adequately connect the financial intervention to preserving the essential work of those who were affected.”
A few said they turned down the opportunity for other careers, some in professional sports.
“I had just been cut from the Chicago Bears,” said Jim Popp, CEO of Johnson Financial Group. “I was young and still had the opportunity to hook on with another team, but I was banged up and a little frustrated, so I decided to get a ‘real job’ instead. It obviously worked out fine, but looking back I wish I had taken a minute – or a few months – to let things settle before giving up on that dream. Playing football has a small window. Working at a bank you can do anytime!”
“After my time on the basketball team at Butler University, I passed on pursuing an overseas basketball career and took a safer path in the corporate world,” said Chris Miskel, president and CEO of Versiti. “In retrospect, it would have been great to delay that by a couple of years and try to make it as a professional athlete.”
A few participants shared some life lessons beyond the scope of business.
“We have found out in the last couple of years that we were actually sorry that we didn’t have a dog when we raised our children,” said David Gruber, founder and CEO of Gruber Law Offices. “Both my wife, Nancy, and I grew up with a dog. A pet is a wonderful addition to a family. We consider our grand-dog, Wilson, to be part of our family. We try to ‘steal’ him whenever possible.”
“I worked full time when I had young children at home,” said Shelly Stayer, owner and board chair at Johnsonville, Inc. “I’d probably change that if I could now. You don’t listen to people when they say, ‘it goes so fast before they are gone.’”
“I regret quitting piano lessons,” said philanthropist Donna Baumgartner. “I learned that patience and tenacity are good values to cultivate.”
Some said they don’t have a decision that they regret.
“I can’t think of things I regret,” said Jane Blain Gilbertson, owner and executive chair of Blain Supply, Inc., the holding company for Blain’s Farm & Fleet. “I was meant to learn from every decision and I’m grateful for each one.”
Marty Brooks, president and CEO of the Wisconsin Center District agrees, “Honestly, I do not dwell on past decisions I would have made differently. Every decision impacts where you are today, which is a place I am very happy to be.”
“You learn something from every decision you either make or don’t make,” said Mike Daniels, chairman, president and CEO of Nicolet National Bank. “To truly be a leader, I don’t think you can regret any of the decisions you are required to make.”
Craft beer has been making headlines over the past few months, and not necessarily in the way consumers have been accustomed to.
A flurry of activity within Wisconsin’s craft beer scene, ranging from closures to acquisitions, has beer lovers questioning the state of the industry.
Well-known Milwaukee businesses, including MobCraft and Enlightened Brewing, have shuttered their doors while others, like Explorium Brewpub and Gathering Place Brewing are expanding their operations through acquisition.
Large craft beer brands are not immune from the industry’s changing landscape. Last November, Molson Coors announced the closure of the historic Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Co. brewery in Chippewa Falls, along with its craft beer brewery in downtown Milwaukee.
This isn’t just a local or Wisconsin trend. Preliminary national data from the Brewers Association shows that for the first time in years, 2024 recorded more independent breweries closing than opening. The organization tracked 335 openings versus 399 closings.
Despite several well-established local breweries shutting down within months of each other, Matt Gacioch, staff economist at the Brewers Association, said by no means proves craft beer is dying, rather that the industry is stabilizing after an unsustainable period of rapid growth.
“We’re seeing signs of a maturing market, and that the sort of explosive growth that happened in the mid-2010s is certainly not the case now,” said Gacioch.
There are numerous headwinds facing craft brewers in 2025, including the rising costs of simply doing business. Input costs continue to outpace the price craft brewers feel they can charge for their products, which means margins are always tightening, according to Gacioch.
This, coupled with what the Brewers Association estimates is a 33% increase in labor costs, had made it difficult for craft breweries to stay in business.
These costs are only made trickier by the fact that countless breweries took on sizable amounts of debt during the craft beer boom of the 2010s to invest in additional equipment and expansions.
“There were some big investments that happened in the mid to late, 2010s and, after the pandemic, production never ramped up,” said Gacioch.
The changing brewery model For Dan Katt, co-founder ofGood City Brewing, the recent decision to sell the brewery’s operations to The Explorium Brewpub stemmed from a fundamental change in how Good City conducted business and where its revenue came from.
Dan Katt
The Explorium Brewpub officially took over operations of all four Good City locations earlier this year.
The years following the COVID-19 pandemic were when Katt and his team noticed drastic changes in consumer habits. Good City began focusing more on suburban markets like Mequon and Wauwatosa and began the process of “right-sizing” its footprint in Milwaukee.
“In 2019, we had these two really big locations in (Milwaukee), and we would pack them to the brim. That’s just not the world anymore,” said Katt. “This year, we felt like from our footprint, our overhead, and our business we were really in a position where we could either reinvest now or work towards what the Good City brand of the future would be.”
In recent years, between 80% and 90% of Good City’s revenue stemmed from leaning into the taproom/brewpub format. This is a complete turnaround from the company’s early years, when distribution was more of a focus.
“We had to think, are we the best restaurant operators to move this forward, or would we benefit from bringing in an operating partner, or selling the whole thing to someone who is fully entrenched as a restaurant and brewpub operator,” said Katt.
Good City selling to The Explorium Brewpub is just one example of the growing popularity of the brewpub concept.
Milwaukee’s Lakefront Brewery, which has a restaurant component, expanded last summer with the acquisition of Public Craft Brewing in Kenosha. Public Craft Brewing also has a large restaurant/hospitality area, complete with a stage.
Russ Klisch
Low margins have led to increased popularity in the brewpub and taproom models, said Russ Klisch, owner of Lakefront Brewery. Taprooms allow consumers to spend a few extra dollars on a bite to eat and business owners don’t need to rely as much on distribution.
The one caveat to this format is for breweries with packaging operations, said Klisch. For them, distribution is as important as ever.
Klisch is speaking with several Wisconsin-based distributors who are interested in selling Public Craft Brewing products. The distribution process is anticipated to begin this spring.
“With a packaging operation, margins are low and you have to achieve a certain amount of sales to break even,” he said. “A lot of breweries, back when things were booming around 2017, invested a lot of money in packaging. It’s expensive equipment.”
Klisch thinks if there is a common thread between some of the local breweries shutting down, it’s that they had both small packaging operations and a taproom/brewpub concept.
“It’s kind of hard to do both (concepts) with limited resources,” he said.
Community roots Joe Yeado, founder and president of Milwaukee-based Gathering Place Brewing, believes emphasizing a taproom model is simply a good business strategy.
Joe Yeado
Yeado hopes to provide consumers with a memorable experience, whether that be a positive interaction with staff or hosting a private event. Brewing is becoming even more localized, and Yeado believes it’s the job of craft breweries to make sure they’re giving customers what they want.
“Evolving is important but so is having an understanding of what you provide consumers,” he said.
Gathering Place, founded in 2016, opened during the craft brewery boom of the 2010s. A large chunk of the company’s success, particularly in the early years, was due to distribution to bars and restaurants. The business started packaging beers into cans in 2019.
“We were already on shelves when COVID hit and honestly that’s the only reason we’re still in business,” said Yeado.
Gathering Place expanded with its Wauwatosa taproom in early 2022. Plans for a Bay View taproom fell through after plans for a food hall concept never came to fruition.
This winter, Gathering Place is expanding once again with the acquisitionof Sahale Ale Works in Grafton. Yeado has nearly doubled his workforce to 21 people and added 2,700 square feet of taproom space, non-inclusive of Sahale’s sizable outdoor patio that can seat 100 people.
Sahale beers are still brewed in Grafton. Production of some year-round beers will be shifted to Milwaukee to increase production capacity. Having additional product on hand will allow Yeado to secure distribution deals for the Sahale brand, something that wasn’t possible before because the business went through so much beer at its Grafton taproom.
“People were willing to buy (Sahale) beer, but there just wasn’t a product to give them,” said Yeado.
What stood out to him about the opportunity to acquire Sahale Ale Works was a similar ethos within the two businesses. Both Gathering Place and Sahale have a history of supporting philanthropic causes, and both breweries are rooted in the idea of being a community gathering space.
Nurturing a community-first relationship will be key to how craft breweries survive in the coming years, according to the Brewers Association.
“Small taprooms and brewpubs are looking at other ways they could get additional foot traffic and engagement with their consumers through the hospitality experience,” said Gacioch.
Doubling down While consumers are spreading their dollars across more and more different alcoholic product categories, there are some categories of craft beer that are seeing growth.
Lakefront Brewery, 1872 N. Commerce St. Image courtesy of Lakefront Brewery.
Gluten-free beverages and beers with lower alcohol percentages are among Lakefront Brewery’s quickest growing categories, according to Klisch.
Lakefront’s sales are up 3% largely due to the sale of non-alcoholic beers.
Lakefront is also looking to introduce THC-infused beverages, but Klisch said he’s taking his time with that concept.
“You have to pay attention to what’s happening and roll with the changes,” he said. “It’s tough. You feel like you’re a rock band from the ’60s and you have to make a hit every few months to stay relevant.”
Smaller breweries have limited resources to keep up with consumer trends, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. At Gathering Place, Yeado is also looking to get in on the TCH-infused beverage trend.
The breakneck speed of innovation many craft breweries have adopted may have harmed the industry in the long run, Katt said.
“Once you’ve given (consumers) everything and they’ve tried everything, then the consumer says, ‘Well, what have I tried?'” he said.
Still, Katt and many others believe craft beer has certainly not seen its downfall. Depending on your business model and location, starting a craft brewery can make a lot of sense, especially in underserved counties of Wisconsin.
“There is a finite amount of (craft breweries) that Milwaukee can support, but there are also underserved areas of the metro area,” said Yeado. “It’s very possible for existing and new breweries to find support. Will everyone grow to the size of Lakefront? No, that won’t happen, nor should it.”
A vacant site in West Allis could be developed with 60 townhomes under a new proposal from a local developer.
Nabil Salous, who previously developed a 14-unit building and 24-unit building on Milwaukee’s south side, purchased the 5-acre property northwest of South 108th Street and West Oklahoma Avenue in West Allis in September.
Located behind several commercial buildings including a Home Depot, and a church, Salous plans to invest about $9 million into the property to build five buildings.
Built as townhomes with private entries and garages, the units would vary from one- to three-bedroom units, plans submitted to the City of West Allis show.
Prior to the current development proposal, this property was formerly occupied by Griffin’s Hub Chrysler Jeep Dodge dealership until the dealership moved in 2008. The property was then sold in 2012 to Milwaukee-based Joseph Property Development and Boulder Venture, who demolished the vacant dealership buildings to make way for future retail development, according to city documents
That ownership subdivided the then 8-acre property into three lots and developed an Auto Zone and retail strip center along South 108th Street.
“The city also received a number of other development proposals over the past decade including self-storage, vehicle storage yards, vehicle repair and sales, industrial contractor garages, and thrift organization related but none considered appropriate from either a zoning and/or future land use perspective, nor in alignment with the Highway 100 corridor plan,” city staff said in a memo to the Plan Commission, which will review the proposal next week.
Two key inflation numbers were reported this week. CPI increases were driven by higher energy costs, but the markets liked what they saw. Annex Wealth Management’s Brian Jacobsen and Danny Clayton discuss.
Plans to transform the Fox-Bay Theater building in Whitefish bay into a multi-use gathering space have been submitted to the village for review. Under those plans the former theater at 334 E. Silver Spring Drive, which closed in 2020, would house a new event space called Argo, which would have a bar and restaurant and space for live music and small to medium-sized events, according to village documents.
The 18,000-square-foot building would maintain its exterior façade but would undergo a $7.5 million interior transformation with updates including the addition of windows on the second floor, a complete kitchen remodel, the addition of a mezzanine level and an outdoor patio, and a complete remodel of the main venue space to accommodate multiple uses including live entertainment, event hosting, and the occasional movie, according to village documents.
The event space would have capacity for roughly 200 people, the entertainment space will have capacity for 500 people, and the bar and restaurant will have seating for 75 people with an additional 16 on the outdoor patio.
The building is owned by Milwaukee-based real estate development company New Land Enterprises. New Land would lease the building to Argo, which is lead by Adam Powers, senior brand manager at Pabst Brewing Company; Andrew Coate, product marketing and operations lead at Meta; and Josh Bryant, principal solutions consultant at Demandbase. Milwaukee-based engineering, planning and design firm GRAEF is working with New Land and Argo to conduct a parking study to mitigate parking concerns for events.
New Land and Argo are asking for $1 million in tax incremental district (TIF) funding from the village to support the development.
Argo will hire roughly 30 people to manage the venue, including event employees, security and bar and restaurant employees.
If approved, construction is expected to start in early March and will finish in mid-August. The space is expected to open in December of 2025.
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Argo's main stage. Credit: New Land Enterprises
Rendering of the mezzanine level at Argo. Credit: New Land Enterprises
Rendering of the entertainment floor at Argo. Credit: New Land Enterprises
Rendering of the Bar & Restaurant at Argo. Credit: New Land Enterprises
Rendering of Argo's venue space. Credit: New Land Enterprises
A sprawling data center planned in Port Washington, proposed by a Houston-based, private equity-backed company taking an innovative approach to data center development, is the company’s first publicly discussed project.
Discussions on the project continued this week with the Town of Port Washington meeting regarding the project on Thursday and the City of Port Washington scheduled to do so next week, according to meeting agendas.
The proposal comes from Cloverleaf Infrastructure, whose strategy includes buying land for data center companies and working with utility companies to upgrade power infrastructure needed for such facilities. The company “follows the power,” as Cloverleaf chief development officer Aaron Bilyeu told the City of Port Washington Common Council last week.
Aaron Bilyeu
“We really create sustainable, scalable sites that support the largest electrical load customers out there,” Bilyeu said. “…but rather than saying, ‘Hey, here’s a really good data center site, but how do we get power there?’ The power is the real driver for us.”
Cloverleaf’s business model entails acquiring land, securing municipal approvals, getting sites shovel-ready and working with local utility companies on the power needs for such projects.
Cloverleaf, founded in early 2024, then intends to sell the property to a data center user.
The proposal in Port Washington is an early case of this business model. The Port Washington project is the first project the company has gone public with, according to BizTimes research and data center trade publication Datacenter Dynamics.
Cloverleaf did not respond to requests for an interview.
The company has not disclosed a potential buyer for the Port Washington site, but said that users such as Microsoft, Meta or Amazon are possibilities, though a Microsoft spokesperson said the company is not currently considering the Port Washington site. Bilyeu said they will not be selling the site to a China-based company.
Many of Cloverleaf’s executives have experience working in either the renewable energy industry or the data center industry, with several of its executives working at Microsoft and Meta (the parent company of Facebook and Instagram).
“We’ve come from that industry, and we have the connections in that industry to be able to make projects like this successful,” Bilyeu said.
One of the company’s vice president’s, Nur Bernhardt, helped negotiate the energy agreements for Microsoft’s data center project in Mount Pleasant, according to Bilyeu.
In July 2024, Cloverleaf announced raising $300 million in private equity from NGP Sustainable Infrastructure, which primarily invests in energy, oil and natural resource startups, and Sandbrook Capital, which primarily invests in renewable energy startups.
“The rapidly increasing demand for data centers across the country represents a substantial opportunity for municipalities that have the right site, the right resources and forward-thinking leaders who understand how a data center can benefit residents and their economy,” Bilyeu said. “Port Washington has all of those attributes in place, giving it a distinct advantage that will be attractive to the kinds of companies that make major investments to build and operate data centers.”
Details of Port Washington data center
Cloverleaf is trying to assemble a site located generally east of the Interurban Trail, west of I-43 and south of Dixie Road in the Town of Port Washington, which would be annexed into the City of Port Washington.
The data center concept comes after much of the same land was under consideration for a semiconductor manufacturing plant last spring. Those plans were dropped last year, and M7, WEDC, WE Energies and the City of Port Washington brought the site to Cloverleaf for consideration, according to city officials.
The company has declined to share a specific acreage for the project, but said it has “quite a bit of land under contract,” and City of Port Washington officials said the site could include more than 1,000 acres.
The exact size of the data center — including job numbers, investment amount and energy consumption — would be dependent on the end user, Bilyeu said. Typically, a data center building for a large user can cost up to $1 billion and create between 50 and 80 permanent jobs, Bilyeu said.
Cloverleaf has reached an agreement with We Energies to bring additional “energy assets” to the area, agreeing to pay for this power generation so other ratepayers won’t have to. Further, Bilyeu said that modern data centers do not require the large amounts of water that they once did, so significant accommodations will not need to be made for the project, though the company has been in discussions with the Department of Natural Resources about how the project’s use of Lake Michigan water would impact the environment.
Oconomowoc-based MyPath, a provider of specialized education, therapeutic and community support services, announced Thursday that Dorothy Buckhanan Wilson has been named president of the organization.
Buckhanan Wilson has served on the MyPath board of directors since 2020 and has held several positions supporting MyPath operations, including Long-Term Services and Supports and T.C. Harris School and Academy.
Buckhanan Wilson previously held executive leadership roles at Goodwill Industries of Southeastern Wisconsin and Metropolitan Chicago, Inc. and the Private Industry Council of Milwaukee.
“After serving on MyPath’s board for the past four years and assisting in company operations, I am excited to continue advocating for our employee-owners and those we serve,” said Buckhanan Wilson. “I look forward to taking on a larger leadership role within the organization and continuing MyPath’s mission of transforming lives.”
As part of MyPath’s succession plan, Buckhanan Wilson will serve as president over the next year, working closely with CEO Terry Leahy before transitioning to the CEO role.
“We are thrilled that MyPath has attracted a professional of Dorothy’s distinction to serve as president,” said Leahy. “She is a dynamic and experienced leader whose commitment to community, mission, and employee ownership makes her an ideal fit to lead MyPath into the future.”
MyPath offers services in more than 150 program locations and 41 communities across Wisconsin and Indiana, supporting almost 2,000 individuals and families. MyPath is an ESOP 100% owned by its employee-owners.
Wausau-based custom sign manufacturing company Graphic House, Inc. announced Thursday that it has acquired the intellectual property of Poblocki Sign Co., including its name, website, phone numbers, and branding.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
West Allis-based Poblocki ceased operations in May after more than 90 years in business, leaving 91 employees out of a job.
Graphic House was founded in 1976.
“We are honored to continue serving Poblocki’s loyal customers while introducing our expanded capabilities to new clients,” Graphic House said in its announcement.
Graphic Sign Inc. headquarters in Wausau. Image from Google.
Southeast Wisconsin’s industrial real estate market softened slightly in the fourth quarter of 2024, but still closed out the year with millions of square feet of absorption and an overall healthy vacancy rate.
That’s according to the latest report from the Commercial Association of Realtors Wisconsin (CARW), which found the region’s industrial vacancy rate at 5.6%, which is around what the rate held at for all of 2024. The rate was 5.5% in Q3 and 5.7% in Q2.
In a sign of softening at the end of the year, the market had about 177,000 square feet of negative absorption, compared to the previous two quarters that posted significant positive absorption.
Overall in 2024, the market absorbed more than 2.7 million square feet of space, mostly driven by activity in warehouse distribution facilities in Racine and Kenosha Counties, the report shows.
Racine County absorbed more than 324,000 square feet of warehouse distribution space and Kenosha County absorbed more than 2.4 million square feet of warehouse distribution space.
Consistent with previous quarters, Kenosha County has the region’s highest vacancy rate at 12.5%, mostly driven by the delivery of large speculative facilities along the I-94 corridor that have yet to lease up. Racine County follows with a 7.9% vacancy rate for the fourth quarter.
Elsewhere, vacancy rates have remained below a healthy rate—which industry experts generally say is around 5%, post-pandemic.
