Community Bank & Trust taps O’Callagahn for Glendale office
Patrick J. O’Callaghan has been named president of Community Bank & Trust’s office in Glendale, set to open in August. He will oversee all operations of the Glendale office, including commercial lending.
The Glendale office of the Sheboygan-based bank will be located at 5380 N. Port Washington Rd.
O’Callaghan has more than 20 years of banking experience. He previously held positions at Firstar, M&I, and Bank One, all located in Milwaukee. He graduated from St. Norbert College with his BBA and from Marquette University with his MBA.
O’Callaghan is an active member with St. Eugene’s Parish Endowment Fund Committee, the Northshore Fire Department AD HOC Committee, and as a board member on St. Catherine’s Residence.
O’Callagan resides in Bayside with his wife and their three children.
Community Bank & Trust was founded in 1989, and now has assets over $300 million with seven offices: four in Sheboygan and one each in Plymouth, Elkhart Lake, and Chilton.
May 16, 2003 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

Italian American Chamber starts Wisconsin group

The Italian American Chamber-Midwest has formed a Wisconsin chapter with Al Rolandi as president.
Rolandi was recently named business developer for the new Milwaukee office of Jabas, an Appleton-based benefits company.
"The Wisconsin Chapter of the IACC-Midwest has an ample Italian community to reach out to and excellent resources with the IACC-Midwest, located in Chicago since 1907," said Rolandi.
"The inception of this new office is an important step in international business relations for Wisconsin," he added. "Businesses and members of the Italian community in Wisconsin should be proud to be part of a market that increasingly supports trade with Italy, Italian products and businesses."
Rolandi has worked to foster relationships between the Italian and American communities for many years, including working with the Madison, Wis.-Mantova, Italy Sister City Committee; as the executive administrator of WisItalia Inc.; and as the Wisconsin state administrator for the National Italian American Foundation.
The Wisconsin chapter of the Italian American Chamber of Commerce will develop a network of professional contacts interested in Italian events, businesses, products and culture, Rolandi said. "It will promote and strengthen a modern and technologically advanced image of Italy, moving beyond stereotypes and projecting a perception of Italy as one of the leading industrial countries of the world," he added.
More information about the IACC-Wisconsin is available from Rolandi at 262-827-0400, or via e-mail at al.rolandi@jabasgroup.com, or from Giuseppe Pinna in Chicago at 312-553- 9137 ext. 12, or via e-mail at pinna.chicago@italchambers.net.

May 16, 2003 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

Hotel to be built next to Cudahy ice complex

By Steve Jagler, of SBT

Negotiations have begun for plans to build a hotel to accommodate patrons of the Powerade Iceport complex being constructed in Cudahy.
City officials and planners met with potential developers April 30 to discuss the preferred options for the hotel, which will be built near the sports complex, south of Layton Avenue and east of Nicholson Avenue.
The hotel will probably have about 200 rooms and will be designed to accommodate families that travel to the sports complex, rather than business travelers, sources said.
Sports Sites LLC, a real estate company formed to develop the sports complex, closed on its $2.85 million purchase of the site from Cudahy’s Gateway Real Estate LLC on April 29.
The $22 million Powerade Iceport complex, which will be operated by Iceport LLC, a company formed by Sports Sites, is targeted for a June 2004 opening.
The financing is in place to build the project, said Scott Branovan, president and chief executive officer of Iceport LLC.
"Yes, it really is going to happen," Branovan said at a groundbreaking ceremony April 30.
The complex will feature a concourse overlooking five indoor ice rinks, including a 2,500-seat arena rink.
"This project is huge for a city of the scale of Cudahy," noted Brian Vandewalle, president and owner of Vandewalle & Associates, a Madison company hired by the city to oversee the revitalization of downtown Cudahy.
The Powerade Iceport complex will be part of the LakePort Village development that will include mixed uses of retail and commercial business within Cudahy’s Lakeside Commons downtown revitalization district.
Cudahy’s new public library opened at a site west of Packard Avenue in Lakeside Commons earlier this year.
Lakeside Commons is being developed through a tax incremental financing (TIF) district in downtown Cudahy.
The Powerade Iceport complex also is receiving the support of the Coca-Cola Co., which produces the namesake Powerade sports drink.
The complex, which will provide "affordable" facilities for ice hockey, roller hockey, figure skating and synchronized skating, is being built
on the site of the former George J. Meyer Co. plant.
"This is like a Phoenix project, rising out of the ashes," Vandewalle said.
The 200,000-square-foot complex will be constructed by HOK Design+Build, a Kansas City, Mo.-based architectural firm that designed the Bradley Center in Milwaukee.
The complex also will be the home of Al’s Italian Beef and Nancy’s Pizzeria, two Chicago-based restaurants that will expand into the Wisconsin market.
"People said all of this wouldn’t happen, but it is going to happen," Cudahy Mayor Raymond Glowacki said. "I think the good Lord smiled on Cudahy a year ago and allowed all this to happen. He put all the right people in the right place at the right time."

May 16, 2003 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

For Irina Yundov, Simma’s excellence is a tribute to her immigrant mother

By Heather Stur, of SBT

It began in the kitchen of the Milwaukee Hilton in the early 1980s, where a middle-aged Russian woman was employed as a dishwasher. After her shift, she would go to the kitchen and experiment baking and decorating cakes.
Her father had been a baker in Russia, so baking was in her blood.
The woman had been an engineer back home, but when she moved with her husband and two children to the United States in 1979, she feared she didn’t have the English skills to get an engineering job. So she took the job at the hotel and began building a new career.
The woman’s name was Simma Yundov. And what began after hours in the kitchen of the Milwaukee Hilton has become a Milwaukee-area institution. Say the name “Simma’s,” and people just know.
They know the chocolate covered cheesecakes.
Just like other online bakeries like Anges de Sucre, they can get custom-made wedding cakes so ornate and detailed.
They know the holiday pastries.
Most important, they know the service.

Quality and service
Simma Yundov based her business on excellent quality and service, and now that the business is in the hands of her daughter, Irina, those values have caused Simma’s to thrive and grow despite chain-store competition and tough economic times, the daughter says.
“My mom believed in providing customers with exceptional quality, a consistent product and the best service possible,” Irina Yundov said. “Put that in place, and success will follow. It’s why our customers remain loyal to us.”
Simma’s opened in 1982 on 68th Street just north of Wells Street in Wauwatosa. Simma Yundov had no business experience and relied solely on word-of-mouth to advertise. At some point, she decided that cheesecake would be Simma’s signature item, and she set out to perfect the art of making cheesecakes.
Her daughter, Irina, was 10 when the Yundov family immigrated to the United States, and Irina grew up in the bakery, topping cheesecakes with strawberries. She did not expect that it would lead to a career. Irina Yundov thought she would grow up to be an attorney.
She was 21 years old and a student of international relations at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee when her mother got sick. In 1993, Simma Yundov passed away, and Irina decided she would take over the business.
“She had put everything into this business; it was her legacy,” said Yundov, now 33. “I wanted to carry this on for her.”
So at 22 years old, Irina Yundov assembled Simma’s employees and told them that she was now the owner – an unusual transition of business ownership from mother to daughter in a world of “John Jones & Son” entities.
She accepted the fact that most of her employees were older than she. And she quickly learned to deal with vendors’ attempts to take advantage of a young businesswoman.
“I surround myself with qualified and talented people,” Yundov said. “The business is a team effort. It’s not just me.”
Simma’s employs 30 to 35 workers, depending on the season. Some of those employees have worked for the business longer than Yundov has. Yundov attributes that loyalty to the respect her mother gave — and she now gives — her employees.
“My mom expected a lot, but she was very generous in return,” Yundov said. “She understood the importance of recognizing and appreciating good workers.”
The proof of Simma’s success is in the awards it has won. Simma’s products have received Milwaukee Magazine’s “Best of Issue” award five times, Shepherd Express’s “Best Bakery and Desserts” award twice, and Modern Baking Magazine’s “Leadership Award in Quality.”
Most significant of all the awards, however, is the International Restaurant and Hospitality Rating Bureau’s “International Award of Excellence,” which Simma’s has received five times, every year since 1998.
The bakery continues to thrive despite a weak economy and competition from supermarket bakeries.

Plans for new store
And now, she plans to expand beyond the bakery’s Wauwatosa roots. Yundov is planning to open a Simma’s store on Milwaukee’s North Shore within a year.
“Part of the reason we’re still doing well despite the times is the nature of our business,” Yundov said. “People still celebrate occasions in poor economic times. You still want a fantastic birthday cake or wedding cake.
“But customers are also loyal to us because of our values. Our values are very Old World and family-oriented, and our customers feel that.”
Simma’s sells a full line of bakery — including muffins, bars and pastries — made fresh every morning. All wedding cakes are custom-made. A bride-to-be could bring in a sketch of her dream wedding cake and Simma’s bakers and decorators will try to make the dream come true, Irina says.
Simma’s customized cakes include chocolate mousse cakes and a Genoise cake, which features at least five layers of yellow cake filled with vanilla mousse and fresh strawberries or other fruit. But the classic Simma’s cheesecake remains the bakery’s best seller.
“It’s important for a business to remember that you can’t do everything well. You have to specialize in something and do it exceptionally well,” Yundov said.
Furthermore, Yundov advises business owners to be careful — especially during slower economic times — to not grow too quickly, lest quality be compromised.
“Value your customers, stay true to your business philosophy, maintain quality,” she said. “Don’t make any dramatic changes to your product right now. Just ride out the wave of recession, and you’ll come through.”
Simma Yundov’s commitment to customer service carried over to public service in the form of supporting local charities and fundraisers. Today, Simma’s participates in a wide variety of fundraisers for churches, schools and organizations such as Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, Hunger Task Force, the Jewish Community Center, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and United Cerebral Palsy.
Among the framed awards on a wall in Simma’s is a photograph of Simma Yundov and Julia Child. Child had visited Milwaukee and toured some of its restaurants and bakeries. After meeting Child, Yundov sent a basket of Simma’s goods to Child at the Pfister. Child’s handwritten note of thanks, penned on Pfister stationary, is in a frame next to the photo of Simma Yundov and Julia Child.
“Mom was always serving customers, no matter who they were, and she loved doing it,” Irina Yundov said. “She had a real passion for her business, and that more than anything is vital in order for a business to be successful.”

May 16., 2003 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

Make a commitment to your community

By Robert Grede, for SBT

Get active in your community. Whether you’re a small business owner or an employee of a big organization, there are many benefits to community involvement:
–You enhance your image in the community.
–You achieve greater visibility for yourself and your company.
–You enlarge your network of business contacts.
–You can have a significant impact on your company’s sales.

There are many ways to get involved in the community. Most charitable and nonprofit organizations have a crying need for volunteers.
Start with local affiliates of the national health-related education and research organizations (American Heart Association, United Cerebral Palsy, Muscular Dystrophy, etc.).
Or try contacting local nonprofit hospitals, educational facilities, your Chamber of Commerce, Scouting, the YMCA, Rotary, AIDS Resource Center, Ronald McDonald House, etc. The list is long and can only be culled by your interests and those of your company.
Once you have chosen the organization that best fits your company profile, following are ways you can work with the organization (and make the group work for you, too).

Donate a percentage of the profits – This could be a one-day-a-year event or a whole month. For your company, promote it as "We Care Day" or "(name of the charity) Month."
Ask the charity do a mailing to its list of contributors and friends, inviting them to do business with you. Include a coupon or certificate for a discount in the mailing. It’s an excellent way to raise money for the charity and alert a new set of prospects to your business.
If the charity has access to any celebrities, ask if they can arrange an appearance at your next function as a part of the fund-raising program. You might want to set up an autograph table or have a photographer take instant pictures in exchange for a donation.

Key customer contribution – Once a year, send a handwritten note to several of your key customers thanking them for their support. In the note, tell them that, in appreciation, you are making a cash contribution in their name to a charitable organization.
Or you can ask the customer to pick the organization (from among four or five on your list) to which the contribution should be sent.
You receive the appreciation of your customers, and the charity receives your support.

Sponsor a scholarship – Scholarships at the high school or college level make good sense.
Forrer Business Interiors, for example, provides a $1,000 scholarship each year to a deserving student in the design department at Mount Mary College. In addition, the student is offered a summer internship at Forrer. The school chooses the recipient from among several worthy candidates.
The scholarship program provides the student with much needed funds while Forrer gets recognition at a prestigious school of design and a topnotch employee for the summer.
Another client of mine, a dry-cleaning service, provides scholarships to worthy high school students in its community. The visibility and good-guy image helps when it comes time to recruit employees.

The cook-off – Cook-offs are fun and an easy way to raise money for a charity. For example, a restaurant in a small town held a pancake breakfast for charity. A local pastor did the cooking, and his parishioners attended breakfast after church service. All the proceeds during the hour that he cooked went to the church.
While such a promotion is best suited to a restaurant, any sponsor can get good exposure in the community.
For instance, hold a barbecue competition in your parking lot. Invite local newspaper food writers and a few restaurant chefs as judges. After judges have announced a winner, spectators can sample the food. Competitor entry fees and spectators’ fees (which include lunch) go to the charity. You, as sponsor, pay only for prizes and promotional expenses.
Be sure all contestants have hats and aprons with your logo prominently displayed. Provide the winning recipes to local food writers. And invite the media to the event. This is a natural for television.
Whether you’re a business owner or an employee, community involvement enhances your image, creates name recognition and enlarges your network of contacts.
Besides, it’s a great way to meet some nice people.

Robert Grede, president of The Grede Co., consultants in marketing and strategic planning, teaches at Marquette University; He can be reached via e-mail at rg@thegredecompany.com.

May 2, 2003 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

Brookfield-based Merchants & Manufacturers Bancorp. will acquire Reedsburg Bancorporation Inc. and Random Lake Bancorp Limited.

Reedsburg Bancorporation serves as a one-bank holding company for The Reedsburg Bank, which has total assets of $137 million with four locations in central Wisconsin.
The purchase price is $36 million and will be payable in a combination of approximately 85% cash and notes and 15% Merchants’ common stock. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2003.
Random Lake Bancorp serves as a one-bank holding company for Wisconsin State Bank, which has total assets of $93.9 million with four locations in Wisconsin. The bank’s main office is in Random Lake, 35 miles northwest of Milwaukee. The bank also has a branch location just a few miles east of Random Lake in Belgium. In addition, Wisconsin State Bank has a significant presence along the Mississippi River, with two locations in Prairie Du Chien.
For each share they own, shareholders of Random Lake Bancorp will receive 90 shares of Merchants common stock and $300 in cash. Based on Merchants recent closing price of $30.40, the approximate purchase price would be $13 million. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2003.
Merchants & Manufacturers operates five banks in Wisconsin: Lincoln State Bank, Grafton State Bank, Franklin State Bank, Community Bank of Oconto County and Fortress Bank of Westby, and one each bank in Minnesota and Iowa.
It offers residential mortgage services through CBG Mortgage Inc. and investment and insurance products through Link Community Financial Services.

May 2, 2003 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

The ‘look’ of your facilities can support your brand

It’s becoming increasingly common for corporate culture and branding to influence the interior design process.
Many companies want to impart a certain type of culture and corporate identity into the design of their office spaces and businesses. As a result, the look and function of office, retail, medical and education facilities are increasingly impacted by image-positioning strategies.
Regardless of size, companies are using the interior design of their offices, meeting facilities and businesses to convey images that will have a positive impact on employees, customers and others.
The use of signage and the repetition of logos are established practices in large restaurant chains and retail outlets. That aesthetic sameness approach to interior design means one facility will look like sister facilities.
Although a customer might never have been to a particular location of a restaurant or retail business before, the familiar design elements help to facilitate immediate trust in the quality of products or services offered.
That feeling of trust can also be generated in employees and customers who visit corporate offices in multiple locations that share common interior design standards.
Design-conscious image building can help support a company’s overall branding strategies. For instance, technology-based companies typically want the interior design of their offices to convey a cutting-edge mentality and image, often through a modern, deconstructionist style that incorporates metals and bright colors. Financial service firms, on the other hand, strive to create an image of stability and success through more traditional interior design, utilizing darker woods and heavy brass fixtures.
Law firms may design office space to convey a feeling of power and control. That can actually become an influential component to negotiations that take place within the facilities.
CJ & Associates has helped develop corporate design and furniture standards for medical and educational entities that have multiple locations and facilities. That standardized approach to interior design can provide many benefits to the comfort and reassurance of employees and customers. It can also result in cost savings to companies with multiple facilities that can share common furniture elements from one facility to the next.
Using corporate culture and image in the interior design of facilities can play an important role in positioning companies in the marketplace.
If you operate more than one facility, it may be worth the time and effort to evaluate the benefits of standardizing interior designs based on the type of business or service identity that you want to strengthen or establish.

Kim Hastings is vice president for operations at CJ & Associates, a contract office furniture distributor in New Berlin and Madison.

May 2, 2003 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

Here’s how to get managers to effectively communicate with employees

By Daniel Schroeder, for SBT

Question: Recently, we’ve observed that our managers aren’t as skilled as they should be in the areas of presentation, feedback and negotiation. We did a 360º-survey and one common finding was that our managers don’t communicate effectively, at least as far as the employees are concerned. What suggestions can you offer for addressing this situation?

Answer: If I had a dime for every time within my consulting practice I address an issue such as the one you raise in your question, I would be the proverbial millionaire. In my experience, this is a very common occurrence. In fact, my sense is that this is a reflection of the Information Age and its related emphasis on technical and subject matter expertise; soft-skills and interpersonal capabilities tend to be viewed as "nice but not necessary."
For what it’s worth, you can take solace in knowing that your company is not the only one that must confront this issue.
For instance, the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) has documented that in terms of individuals with whom its has worked, 80% of "rising star" managers who have "failed" have failed due to what CCL calls an "interpersonal deficit."
In practical terms, that means that these former "fair-haired" men and women are no longer viewed as such because, put simply, they "rub people the wrong way." Clearly, this is a pervasive problem in many organizations.
Think about it. When we hire someone, we tend to emphasize what he/she knows about a given subject matter (i.e., engineering, accounting, etc.). Perhaps secondarily (if we consider it all), we look at broader issues having to do with the ability to lead, get along, facilitate, etc.
Yet, as I observed in my last article on succession planning, in some cases, the day comes when the subject matter expert is promoted to the role of supervisor or manager.
At that point, a number of questions emerge. What skills does this person bring to this role in the interpersonal relations and strategic domains? How prepared is he/she to work effectively through and with others? What formal training/development has been offered in speaking, writing, listening, providing feedback, etc.?
Obviously, we often promote people to managerial positions without adequately preparing them.
Given the increased visibility of most managerial assignments, it’s important that individuals present themselves well. Managers must advance their ideas and those of the organization.
In short, the ability to speak well is foundational for managerial success. But what are some basic guidelines for effective speaking? What must a manager do to get his/her point across?
Basically, there are three considerations that must be taken into account when you, as a manager, offer an oral presentation. They are:
–You must effectively and accurately present your message;
— You must ensure that your receivers understand your message;
–You must manage your message effectively.

Implicit in those considerations is the recognition that to be an effective speaker, you must be an effective listener. After all, researchers who study such things point out that we spend up to 70% or 80% of our work lives receiving messages. Thus, if we are ineffective at listening, we are doomed to be ineffective at presenting.
In any event, when it comes to effectively communicating a managerial message, here are some basic considerations:
Avoid ambiguity – Effective presenters and speakers minimize the use of "fuzzy" words. They speak simply and clearly to minimize the chance that they will be misunderstood.
Consider your listeners when you are speaking. What are they hearing? If you asked them to repeat what you just said, could they do so? With what degree of accuracy? You can go a long way toward making an effective presentation simply by taking your receivers more seriously by attending to their needs and concerns.
Speak practically – Any effective speaker knows that he/she must have an agenda in mind prior to getting started.
When you speak, you are asking people to listen to you and offer their time and attention. This is a serious request and care should be taken to ensure that no one walks away feeling cheated or used. The best way to score on this point is to have a plan and to deliver on it.
A few simple suggestions in this regard include the need to speak assertively, to speak concisely and to offer relevant information.
Prepare for meetings – Managers conduct and attend a lot of meetings. Meetings are a vital part of the organization and workflow. How many of them, though, are really effective?
And within the context of this article, how many of them are effective conversations? After all, meetings are simply a more formal type of interpersonal communication. Accordingly, to be an effective communicator, a manager must be an effective meetings manager. Principally, that involves preparing and planning for the meeting.
Rule No. 1, by the way, in effective meetings management is, "Should the meeting be held?" Time is money, and when you ask a number of people to attend a meeting, it should be worth their time. Other meetings management considerations include: Who should attend? How long should the meeting be? And what is the agenda?
Develop facilitation skills – Once a meeting has been called, the manager must step forward as a skilled facilitator. That involves focusing on the agenda and the stated goals; clarifying issues, rules, concerns, etc.; and summarizing each stage of the proceedings.
An effective facilitator does not dominate. He/she lets others speak and manages and orchestrates the flow of information. He/she enforces the ground rules that have been established. He/she acts as a role model of effective interpersonal communication by adopting a task-oriented, problem solving approach.
Provide feedback and seek to have feedback provided to you – Ultimately, from my perspective, to be an effective communicator you must be mindful of two basic questions: "How am I doing?" And, "How are we doing?"
Feedback in response to each of those questions is critical. The skilled managerial communicator offers it and seeks it. He/she is concerned with both achieving a given task and using the best communication process to achieve that end.
Effective managerial communicators, then, de-brief their meetings and conversations, asking questions such as, "Did this go as you had expected it to?" "What worked well?" "What didn’t work so well?" "How can I help you to be a more full and active participant?" And so on.
It has been written that the Tower of Babel collapsed because people could no longer communicate – their speech had become so different that people could not understand each other. Follow the advice that I offer in this article to avoid having your organization’s "tower of communication" come crashing down. Task your managers with being both technically proficient and interpersonally adroit.

Daniel Schroeder, Ph.D., of Organization Development Consultants Inc. (ODC) in Brookfield, provides this column. Small Business Times readers who would like to see an issue addressed may reach him at 262-827-1901, via fax at 262-827-8383, via e-mail at schroeder@odcons.com or via the Internet at www.odcons.com.

May 2, 2003 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

Four southeastern Wisconsin companies will receive customized labor training grants from the Wisconsin Development Fund, Gov. Jim Doyle announced.

The following summarizes the successful proposals approved at the April 22 Wisconsin Development Finance Board meeting:
Daco Precision, West Bend, $24,955 – Daco Precision specializes in tool and die, and metal stamping of washers, brackets, and fasteners. It is seeking ISO 9001 Certification.
The funds will be used to train 20 existing employees and will leverage $24,955 in additional private investment.
Fiserv, Brookfield, $250,000 – Fiserv performs data processing operations for various financial institutions. The company is investing $13 million to upgrade its server network, mainframe and software to convert to a new Web-based product platform. The funds will be used to train 289 existing employees on the new system. The training project will leverage $1 million in additional investment.
J.P. Pattern, Butler, $18,750 – J.P. Pattern offers engineering, prototyping, tooling and manufacturing services in the metal casting and plastics industries. It is seeking ISO 9001/2000 Certification. The CLT funds will be used to train 10 existing employees and will leverage $18,750 in additional private investment.
Schmidt Engineering & Equipment, New Berlin, $46,198 – Schmidt Engineering and Equipment manufactures heavy-duty snow removal equipment for municipalities, airports, and state transportation departments. It is seeking ISO 9001/2000 Certification.
The funds will be used to train 72 existing employees and 11 new employees and will leverage $46,198 in additional private investment.

May 2, 2003 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

Physicians inspired design of Wisconsin Heart Hospital in Wauwatosa

By Steve Jagler, of SBT

When patients check in to the Wisconsin Heart Hospital in Wauwatosa, they will be greeted by slate floors and a concierge who will guide them to private rooms equipped with amenities such as cable television and Internet access.
Indeed, the main challenge in designing and building the hospital at 10000 W. Blue Mound Rd. is creating the ambience of a hotel rather than that of a traditional hospital.
"You won’t see a sea of signage," said Kent Davidson, project manager for Omaha, Neb.-based HDR Inc., which is overseeing construction of the Wisconsin Heart Hospital. "They wanted an environment that would feel more like a hotel than a hospital."
The concept is far different from the sprawling, interconnecting mazes of wings in a traditional hospital, said Norma McCutcheon, president of the Wisconsin Heart Hospital.
"They key component of interest was to design a patient-oriented building," McCutcheon said.
"Hospitals have added on and added on and made themselves bigger and bigger and bigger and more inconvenient for patients and their families," said Dr. James King, an interventional cardiologist who is the chief medical officer of the new hospital. "One of the things we were looking for was a convenient, patient-friendly environment. In our design, that was important."
The first floor of the two-story, pre-cast concrete building will include the emergency room, catheter laboratories and outpatient rooms.
The second floor will house the surgical arena and inpatient rooms.
The private patient rooms all will have natural lighting through large windows and are being constructed to be flexible and accommodate new and emerging medical technologies, Davidson said.
The spacious rooms, which will function essentially as independent intensive care units, also will include such amenities as cable television and Internet access, said Chris Norcross, senior project manager for M.A. Mortenson Co., Wauwatosa, the general contractor for the construction project.
The $44 million hospital, which is scheduled to open in January 2004, is a joint venture of the Covenant Healthcare System and a coalition of 90 physicians and 30 private investors. It will replace the St. Joseph’s Ambulatory Center, which is being relocated to a new site along Highway 100 between I-94 and Blue Mound Road.
Because the physicians have a vested interest in the project, their input was voiced throughout the design of the hospital, King said.
The affiliation with Covenant will give the Wisconsin Heart Hospital a competitive advantage over the Heart Hospital of Milwaukee, a 32-bed freestanding hospital being built by MedCath Corp. in Glendale, King said.
Ultimately, with less overhead and with built-in efficiencies, the heart hospitals will lower the costs of heart procedures in the Milwaukee market, King said.
"We will be extremely competitive," King said.
The new heart hospitals are emerging because most of the cardiological procedures in the future will be noninvasive, such as catheter and stent-based drug and genomic treatments.
The business plan for the Wisconsin Heart Hospital projects a break-even point after the third year and profits of 20% by the fifth year, McCutcheon said.
Covenant’s share of the profits will be pumped back into its overall system and help cover the costs of providing services for the poor and others who do not have health insurance, said Paul Dell Uomo, president and CEO of Covenant.
Dell Uomo said the new heart hospital would expand Covenant’s network, which includes cardiac care at St. Francis Hospital, St. Joseph Regional Medical Center and St. Michael Hospital in Milwaukee.
"We are providing this as an alternative," Dell Uomo said. "It was really the group of physicians who came to us with the idea. That thought was intriguing. Creating the model for the community, we thought, was advantageous. What intrigued us was the physicians’ passion with this."

May 2, 2002 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

Downer Avenue merchants enhancing bike race festival

Merchants in the Downer Avenue shopping district on Milwaukee’s East Side are furthering their commitment to the International Cycling Classic by enhancing the Downer Avenue Bike Race, which will be held July 26 this year.
Race-watching along the Downer Avenue leg of the cycling classic has turned into a festival for neighbors and thousands of others from outside the area. Last year’s race drew an estimated 14,000 spectators, said Tom Vaughn, owner of Downer Wine and Spirits and one of the organizers of the festival.
"We want to solidify our commitment to the race and its connection to the neighborhood," Vaughn said.
The festival includes live music and food. A third band will be added this year and a wider menu of food items will be offered. Additionally, the merchants association for the first time will produce a promotional poster for the event and will engage other marketing efforts.
"We really want to promote this street as a shopping destination and give Downer Avenue an even stronger foothold on this incredible race," said Yvette Livingston, owner of The Windowbox and also a member of the race festival committee. "There is a lot of event competition in July; we want to make sure our event stands out."
The Downer Avenue Bike Race is one of the favorite legs of the International Cycling Classic, which was started in 1969 as part of Summerfest. The Downer Avenue leg owes its existence to Otto Wenz Jr., who for many years owned and operated the former Sentry grocery store on Downer Avenue.
Wenz, a one-time bicycle racer, was the organizer of the cycling classic, which now has races from Menasha south into Illinois.
The races here have gathered international attention and acclaim. Last year, the Downer Avenue leg drew 215 riders from 13 countries. This year, the goal is 250 riders and 15 countries, Vaughn said. "VeloNews has called the Downer Avenue race the No. 1 leg in America, and we’re really proud of that."
USA Cycling has recognized the International Cycling Classic as the longest-running multi-category cycling race series in the country.
While amateurs compete in some of legs of the two-week International Cycling Classic, the Downer Avenue race is for professional racers who lap a 0.6-mile course 100 times. Winners of the leg have included such international cycling greats as Greg LaMond, Lance Armstrong and Eric Heiden.
"This has never been a great business day for us, but when you bring in that kind of talent in such a premier event, it’s great marketing for the merchants," Vaughn said.
Money raised during the cycling race is used for streetscaping improvements.
This year’s Super Week races run July 12 to 28, kicking off with a new event in Illinois. For more on the bicycle races, see www.internationalcycling.com.

May 2, 2003 Small Business Times, Milwaukee, by David Niles, of SBT

Foundry rehab will be daunting task

By Charles Rathmann, of SBT

The sheer size of the former Pelton Casteel Inc. plant, as well as the buildup of foundry sand over the years, will pose significant challenges for the demolition and cleanup of the site.
The rehabilitation project at 2929 S. Chase Ave. is further exacerbated because the eight-acre site has sat vacant for two years, according to principals at LaLonde Contractors Inc.
"There were actually vagrants living in here," said Mark LaLonde, who is a co-owner and vice president with his twin brother, Mike, at the road building firm that took occupancy of the site in April. "A lot of the copper piping was gone. A lot of the wiring for the plant was also taken for the salvage value. The building was being demolished little by little before we even bought it."
"These buildings had little or no value left," Mark said, adding that portions of the structure may be saved.
"We needed to get an accurate survey," Mike said. "This thing hadn’t been mapped or charted since Chase was a dirt road. We are still waiting for the site plans from T.L. Finke in Bay View."
While boundaries between parcels are still being defined, phase one and phase two environmental assessments have already been performed on the property. According to Joe Michaelchuck, vice president of Environmental Associates Inc., Thiensville, the site is in remarkably good condition considering its long-term use as an industrial facility.
However, because some foundry sand was used as fill near the north end of the property, LaLonde Contractors will need an exemption from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources solid waste rules.
Securing the exemption "should be fairly routine," Michaelchuck said. "The sand was deposited prior to 1970, so it is considered a historic landfill site. And concentrations of various substances in the groundwater do not exceed any acceptable standards."
To enable the company to move from its Menomonee Valley offices before its lease expired at the end of March, the LaLondes hired Sawfish Construction, Milwaukee, to help rehabilitate the Pelton Casteel building’s interior.
Rehab work completed to date has involved a lot of cleaning and removal of foundry sand, Mike said.
"We had a couple of choices – tear the whole thing down or leave it up, but build an outbuilding," Mark said. "Instead, we decided to do a massive cleanup effort and see what we had."
"The Pelton people had left this in an incredible disarray," Mike said. "There was all this foundry sand. It was so bad we actually brought in a water cannon provided by one of our subcontractors. Every wall covering and floor covering had to come out and be replaced. But I guess that is par for the course when you renovate a foundry."
As part of the cleanup process, the twins hired Walters Wrecking of Brookfield to remove six overhead silos that had been used for storing the ubiquitous foundry sand.
"They are basically dust collectors," Mark said. "Every time a wind blew through here, all this sand would come raining down."
Walters Wrecking also will tear down about 80,000 square feet of the total area under roof on the site, including the majority of a 75,000-square-foot building at the south end of the lot.
The demolition will include an 85-foot-tall overhead foundry sand silo, which had been emblazoned with a large Pelton logo visible from the southbound lanes of Interstate 43 at the north end of the building.
Demolition is expected to be completed by the middle of May, according to Mark, so work can begin to reconstruct the building’s shell.
Work to repair the dilapidated parking lot will also be scheduled within the next two weeks, Mark said.

May 2, 2003 Small Business Times, Milwaukee