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

LaLonde Contractors

–The LaLonde name is familiar to southeastern Wisconsin residents because it is stamped in thousands of sidewalk and road sections throughout the region.

— The company was founded in 1984 by Jerome LaLonde, a construction veteran with experience with a major contracting firm and with the cities of West Allis and Milwaukee.
— Currently operated by 32-year-old identical twins Mike and Mark LaLonde. Mark, the older of the two twins by several minutes, handles bidding and administration operations. Mike manages projects in the field. The brothers first assumed an ownership interest in their father’s company in 1996, but took on majority ownership last year. Jerome has maintained a minority stake in the company.
— The company accrued $11 million in gross sales in 2002. It employs up to 100 on a seasonal basis.
— Major recent projects include reconstruction and streetscaping of Main Street in downtown Racine. This year, LaLonde Contractors’ 2003 project roster includes reconstruction of Howell Avenue from Oklahoma Avenue to Wilbur Avenue on Milwaukee’s south side. The job will entail constructing 20,000 square yards of concrete pavement. LaLonde Contractors works extensively in Milwaukee, Racine, Kenosha, Waukesha and Ozaukee counties.
— The company works on both asphalt and concrete roadways, but maintains staff and equipment for concrete-related projects, opting to subcontract out asphalt work.

May 2, 2003 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

Teweles complex going residential

By David Niles, of SBT

Redevelopment of the Teweles Seed Co. towers south of downtown Milwaukee into apartments is expected to begin this summer with the help of a Minnesota company that provides affordable housing.
CommonBond Communities, based in St. Paul, has been working with New Berlin-based developer Robert Schultz to convert the Teweles building, at 222 S. 3rd St., into apartments, with a mix of market-rate and subsidized rents, said Brian Dusek, a housing development manager at CommonBond Communities. Of the 115 apartment units to be developed, 73 would be for people who have household earnings of $54,000 or less.
CommonBond and Schultz, operating through his 3rd Coast Design Concepts, hold equal interests in the development, according to Dusek.
McCloud Construction, of New Berlin, will handle the work of converting the long-shuttered seed company into apartments, retaining much of the industrial look of the buildings, which date back to 1917. The buildings, which have nearly 155,000 square feet of space, have been vacant for more than 10 years.
The $16.1 million project will retrofit the Teweles facility, which consists of two towers, into the 115 apartment units, three floors of parking for 100 vehicles, and a host of additional amenities for residents, such as a fitness center, a private theater room, a roof-top clubroom and private roof-top terrace.
The 100 parking spaces would be reserved for tenants while 18 surface spaces would be unreserved.
Two levels will be added to the current 12-story tower which, according to city records, was built in 1918. The seven-story tower, which was built in 1928, will remain at that height, Dusek said.
The exterior masonry facade will be restored, and existing pre-cast parapets and poured concrete lintels will be repaired.
Window heights will be lowered to residential standards, Dusek said. He was impressed with the views from the building when he visited Milwaukee last week. "The views are incredible, even from the seven-story tower," he said, noting that the building offers panoramic views of the lakefront, downtown, the south side and the west side. When the two floors are added to the 12-story tower, the structure will be the second-highest building in the area, after nearby Rockwell International’s Allen-Bradley clock tower.
The structures are in excellent shape, Dusek added, noting they had been constructed for seed storage and see repackaging. "The structures are in great shape. They were built solid to bear incredible loads; it’s a fortress."
He also praised the original design of the buildings, saying "they have a sleek industrial look that was pretty ahead of its time for."
Addition of the two floors to the 12-story tower will make the project financially feasible, Dusek said. Along with conventional mortgage financing and other funding, the project will benefit from approximately $6.2 million in tax credits, he said.
The apartments will be a mix of studio and one-, two- and three-bedroom units. The three-bedroom units and the penthouse suites will have private outdoor decks.
The building will become a small community, Dusek said, serving a variety of sub-markets which CommonBond defines as:

MEDC loans include Culvers project

The owner of two Culver’s restaurants will receive financing from the Milwaukee Economic Development Corp. (MEDC) to open a Culver’s in the new Midtown Center shopping area in Milwaukee.

The loan, for $233,200, was approved April 17 by MEDC Loan Committee. Legacy Bank is providing and additional $349,800 toward the restaurant development.
Culver’s franchise owner Gregory P. Howe will use the money to develop a restaurant at 5501 N. Fond du Lac Ave. in the Midtown Center. The center was developed on the site of the former Capitol Court mall.
Howe, who operates Culver’s in Pewaukee and Middleton, expects to hire 11 full-time and 20 part-time employees for the Milwaukee restaurant, which is incorporated at GH Midtown.
In other action April 17, the MEDC Loan Committee authorized a $750,000 loan for MWM LLC, which will use the proceeds for a new building being constructed for the V. Marchese produce distribution company.
Salvatore Marchese, Jack E. Marchese and Jack R. Wertz are the officers of MWM and of V. Marchese Inc. They are building a 37,200-square-foot distribution facility on a 5.9-acre site at 300 E. National Ave., in the Florida Yards Industrial Park in Milwaukee.
The facility will replace the rented space the company now occupies at 613 S. 2nd St., just west of the site of the new building.
V. Marchese employs 62 people full time and expects to hire an additional 20 full-time employees based on business development related to the new building. That will include the addition of prepared and packaged produce items.
Park Bank is also participating in financing of the $3.5 million project via a loan of $2,750,000.
The MEDC Loan Committee also approved a $240,000 loan for New Paradise Realty Corp. for the Paradise Memorial Funeral Home at 7625 W. Appleton Ave. in Milwaukee. The funds would be used to buy equipment and the real estate at the property, including the three-story, 14,560-square-foot building.
North Milwaukee State Bank is providing an additional $510,000 of financing for the project.
New Paradise Realty is co-owned by William R. Stark, Maddie Turner, Camelia L. Jones, Ava N. Carter and Harold D. Turner, while the funeral home is owned by Jones and Carter.

May 2, 2003 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

Delafield State Bank raises $4.7 million in private offering
Name change to Town Bank also on order
Town Bankshares Ltd., which operates Delafield State Bank, announced that its late 2002 private stock offering exceeded its original goal by more than 50% and raised more than $4.7 million in gross investment funds to finance future growth for the bank.
The offering was initiated in September and expired in December. The company’s original goal was to raise $3 million.
“We are pleasantly surprised by the strong demand for our stock,” said Jay Mack, president of Town Bankshares and Delafield State Bank. “We are very pleased that we exceeded our goal and can now focus our efforts on how to best use this capital for the bank’s continued growth.”
The private stock offering was open to current Town Bankshares stockholders and new investors qualified to participate. Each share was sold for $60, and more than 79,000 shares were sold to approximately 80 investors.
“Our stockholders, many of whom are local entrepreneurs, have demonstrated a strong vote of confidence in the management of the bank,” Mack said.
The bank, which is locally owned and managed, is not publicly traded.
“We have a diverse group of clients and investors, and we are looking to grow that base. These investment funds will allow us to increase our legal lending limit and look at other areas of expansion,” Mack said, adding that the bank has not finalized any of its expansion plans.

Foley & Lardner ponders move to new office tower

By Steve Jagler, of SBT

The Foley & Lardner law firm is considering moving its headquarters across downtown Milwaukee to a new office tower that is being proposed at the current site of the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts parking garage.
Real estate sources said Foley & Lardner has agreed in principle to relocate to the proposed new building, which is being planned for the northwest corner at the intersection of Water and State streets.
However, Nancy Sennett, managing partner of Foley & Lardner’s Milwaukee office, denied that an agreement had been reached. Sennett said the law firm likely will not make a decision until this summer on whether it will remain in the US Bank Center or move to another location.
Sennett confirmed that Foley & Lardner had requested a proposal from the developers of the proposed new office tower. She estimated that Foley & Lardner had made seven requests for proposals, all of which were for sites in downtown Milwaukee.
"We are in the process of exploring all of our options," Sennett said. "The renewal of our lease is being considered. We need to renew or relocate, probably downtown, and one of the alternatives is that building (at the Marcus Center)"
Jackie Walsh, a principal at Irgens Development Partners, which is recruiting tenants for the proposed building, said, "We did respond to a request for proposal from Foley," Walsh said. "We are of the understanding that they are considering it as an alternative. We’ve got an offer on the table.
"But we have responded to many (RFPs). We don’t get too excited until that lease is signed, and we don’t have anything in writing," Walsh said.
Walsh said Irgens and the Marcus Center continue to "test the market" to determine the feasibility of the new tower.
The proposed new building has been tentatively named the Ovation Center, Walsh said.
Small Business Times first reported in January that the new tower was being proposed for the site. At that time, Walsh said a commitment from a significant anchor tenant would be needed to launch the project.
Foley & Lardner would be such a tenant. The law firm’s lease for 232,000 square feet at the US Bank Center, 777 E. Wisconsin Ave., will expire in February 2005, Sennett said.
With its new lease, the law firm will be seeking a comparable amount of space, she said.
Keeping Foley & Lardner’s headquarters in Milwaukee would be a coup for the downtown, as top officials of the law firm previously said the company could consider relocating to Chicago, sources said.
Foley & Lardner does not plan to move its headquarters out of downtown Milwaukee, Sennett said. The company maintains significant offices in 16 US cities, including Chicago, she said.
As proposed, the $100 million Ovation Center would span 22 stories and would be connected to the Marcus Center at 929 N. Water St. by a skywalk over State Street.
The Ovation Center would include a mixed use of offices, retail, housing and parking, Walsh said.
The Marcus Center’s board of directors believes the current parking structure is not the best use of the property, which is located in the Water Street entertainment district, Walsh said.
Irgens has had discussions with several smaller firms interested in relocating to the Ovation Center, but those commitments will not be sought until an anchor tenant is signed, Walsh said.

May 2, 2003 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

Health-care industry confronting its ‘second curve’

By Thomasn Mosgaller, for SBT

There’s a quiet revolution going on in health care – an upheaval promising benefits to consumers and purchasers of health-care services. It’s a development of great interest to small businesses, which, for a change, won’t have to feel as if they’re left on the sidelines.
All too often, health care "reform" has amounted to exercises in cost-shifting to see which 800-pound gorilla would end up paying less than everyone else; tinkering at the margins trying to fine-tune a system when what’s really needed is major systematic overhaul; and endless finger-pointing as costs continue to skyrocket while quality fails to improve.
For many small businesses, that has meant reducing health-care coverage for their employees or eliminating it altogether.
What’s coming is a new era of patient-centered health care based on the importation of quality management methods and heretofore-unprecedented levels of collaboration among provider organizations, physicians and employers.
The new approaches start from the premise that increasing quality and patient safety will lead to reduced cost. It’s a win-win situation for everyone, including those who have traditionally lacked clout within the health-care system.
The Milwaukee-based American Society for Quality has been bringing together some of the influential thought leaders of this revolution and showcasing some of the more promising Wisconsin-based initiatives.
The most recent effort was a series of meetings in Milwaukee that featured health policy expert Dr. Martin Merry and offered an initial look at the work of the newly formed Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality.
Dr. Merry believes that health care has reached the end of the line of what he calls its first curve and must now make a major leap onto the second curve. This new phase incorporates the best of the healing/caring arts and medical technologies with the disciplines of the management and quality sciences.
The current system is not only collapsing under the weight of its size and complexity, but it also tends to be designed around the needs and demands of the system rather than the genuine needs of patients.
In the parlance of current thinking on quality, the system is capable of performing at a 3-sigma or perhaps 4-sigma quality level, not at the 6-sigma level sought by the world’s smartest businesses. That’s why we see reports form the Institute of Medicine describing thousands of deaths annually caused by errors in the health-care system.
"Trying won’t work," says Merry. "We can’t ‘try’ our way to 6-sigma quality levels. We need the wholesale importation of the ideas of [quality gurus] Deming and Juran, human factors, 6 sigma, ISO 9000 and Baldrige."
The seeds of the second-curve revolution in health care have already begun to take root. "It’s the kind of things we’re doing in our communities, not by a bunch of smart people in Washington making policy," according to Merry.
That’s where the Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality comes in. The Collaborative is a voluntary statewide consortium of some of the state’s premier quality-focused health-care organizations. In addition to its nine provider members – Bellin Health (Green Bay), Dean Health System (Madison), Froedtert Hospital (Wauwatosa), Gundersen Lutheran (La Crosse), Marshfield Clinic (Marshfield), Medical College of Wisconsin (Wauwatosa), St. Mary’s Hospital Medical Center (Madison), St. Joseph’s Hospital (Marshfield) and ThedaCare (Appleton) – the Collaborative is endorsed by participating members representing employers, employees and labor unions and businesses.
These groups are working together to develop measures of health-care quality that are verifiable by independent third parties. They intend to share and refine best practices among themselves and to publicly report the performance of collaborative members using these measures. That’s a sizable task, given that the current health-care system contains tremendous built-in disincentives against sharing information among providers and with the public.
The aim is the freer flow of information about the quality of health care in order to make health-care consumers more informed and more powerful in their choice of providers that are both low cost and high quality. In turn, providers will have powerful incentives to improve quality and patient safety.
And that’s good news not only for patients but for the employers who pay for their care – regardless of their size.
To learn more about the Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality or the Wisconsin health care summit, visit the ASQ Web site, www.asq.org/news/interest/040403hcmeeting.html.

Thomas Mosgaller is the organizational development director and human resources officer at Marshall Erdman & Associates in Madison.

May 2, 2003 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

Facilities projects

Beyer Construction, New Berlin, completed construction of a 20,600-square-foot addition for Divine Savior Lutheran Church at 3200 Hwy. K South in Hartford. Construction of the addition includes a finished basement. The upper level now includes a new 480-seat sanctuary with balcony, a new gathering space, kitchenette, bathrooms, elevator and storage areas.

The lower level of the project includes 10 new classrooms, a youth room and gathering space, children’s education office, kitchenette, bathrooms, storage and mechanical rooms. Renovation of selected existing areas, site work and development of new parking areas was included in the scope of services.

KVG Building of Pewaukee has completed work on a Cousin’s Subs shop at 206 S. Pine St., Burlington. The company also has been awarded the contract for a Cousin’s at 437 W. Paradise Dr. in West Bend.

Jens Construction, Pewaukee, has completed construction of the First Weber Group offices in Glendale. The 9,000-square-foot offices are located at 4650 N. Port Washington Rd. in the Barnabas Business Center.
The company also has completed the removal and replacement of 25,000 square feet of concrete floor slab within an operating food processing plant for CHR Hansen Inc., New Berlin. Jens simultaneously constructed an ammonia cooling system in the same building.

Briohn Building, Pewaukee, has been contracted to construct retail and office spaces in Waukesha and Milwaukee counties.
The company will design and build a 30,000-square-foot retail store for Always 99 Cents at 3600 S. Moorland Rd., New Berlin. Briohn will also design and build a 2,400-square-foot office expansion for Union Transport at 5120 International Dr., Cudahy.

Selzer-Onrst Co., Wauwatosa, has announced its selection for several projects It will act as project manager for the Harambee Early Learning Center on Auer Avenue, Milwaukee. The 17,214-square-foot brick building will feature two octagonal towers and several dormers. It was designed by BHS Architects, Milwaukee.
Selzer-Ornst has also been selected as construction manager for the Summit Office Place I project on the site of the former Allis-Chalmers complex in West Allis. Selzer-Ornst will manage construction of the 44,000-square-foot office building along with tenant improvements. The project was designed by Renner Architects, Milwaukee, and is scheduled for completion in the fall.
The company also has been retained to expand and renovate the Boelter Company Food Service Showroom, including expansion of the food preparation/demonstration area and renovation of existing storage spaces into showroom space.
Selzer Ornst will complete the design/build renovation of an autobody shop – Marshall Services of Waukesha, and construction of a loading dock for Action Metals, Milwaukee.

KPH Construction, Milwaukee, is working with St. Michael Hospital in Milwaukee to upgrade its fire damper system. The project is in the first of a five-phase process scheduled for completion in 2005.

May 2, 2003 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

Concrete plans
LaLonde Contractors moves into Pelton Casteel plant

By Charles Rathmann, of SBT

The rehabilitation and renewal of Milwaukee’s south side will continue when the vacant Pelton Casteel building soon becomes the new headquarters for LaLonde Contractors.
LaLonde Contractors, a Milwaukee road construction firm, took occupancy of the foundry site at 2929 S. Chase Ave. April 1.
The company will finance a total of $1.5 million for the purchase of the property and the cost of rehabilitating the site, which includes the 180,000-square-foot foundry building.
The firm will occupy about 30,000 square feet of space in the former foundry as its headquarters and will lease a significant amount of the remaining indoor and outdoor space to construction-related tenants.
LaLonde Contractors purchased the eight-acre site in June 2002 from Mallory Properties, the real estate entity owned by Milwaukee crane magnates Frank and Dominic Giuffre.
The Giuffres had purchased the property in July 2001.
Mike and Mark LaLonde, twin brothers and co-owner vice presidents of the road building firm, said they had been shopping for much smaller properties.
"We looked at sites in St. Francis, Oak Creek and West Allis," Mark said.
"We actually looked at the Pelton building and discounted it," Mike said.
In the end, the sheer potential of the property – and encouragement from the twins’ father, company president Jerome LaLonde – led them to the decision to buy the foundry.
Jerome, in semi-retirement in Florida, will serve as president of the firm until his death, according to the twins.
"He was behind buying Pelton after he thought it all out," Mark said of his father, who started the company 19 years ago at age 55. "Mike and I owe him a great deal of gratitude. We are not doing anything different than what he would have done."
"We wanted desperately to stay in the city of Milwaukee," Mike said. "The size and location were too good to pass up."
The rehabilitation of the Pelton Casteel site is among several projects gaining momentum on the city’s south side. Golden Marina Causeway LLC, a partnership that includes developer Thomas Short, recently purchased the long-abandoned Milwaukee Solvay Coke & Gas Co. site at 311 E. Greenfield Ave. and is making plans for an ambitious project that could ultimately include office towers, a marina and a hotel.
In addition, plans are being made for the redevelopment of the former Teweles Seed Co. site and the former National Warehouse Corp. site on the south side. Also, a planned high-speed ferry is expected to fuel further redevelopment when it begins operating in 2004.
Finding a location within the city limits was a priority for LaLonde Contractors, which, according to Mark, has historically done about 70% of the City of Milwaukee’s street construction work. About half of LaLonde Contractors’ employees are also city residents, according to the twins.
Access to the freeway – with an onramp just a few blocks south at Holt Avenue – also was a factor in the decision.
LaLonde Contractors, which had gross sales of about $11 million in 2002, has grown its revenues by about 30% since the twins took a majority interest in the company early last year, according to Mark.
"That growth is attributable to a lot of the personnel we had here," Mike said. "We promote from within and empower people. Of course, further growth completely depends on the market."
With aggressive growth, LaLonde Contractors would have quickly outgrown its 10,000 square feet of leased space at 1701 W. Mount Vernon Ave. in the Menomonee River Valley.
The changing nature of the Menomonee Valley, with increased emphasis on property appearances, also caused the twins to be concerned – given the amount of equipment the company stores outdoors.
The LaLondes will base the company’s 50 employees and store about 100 pieces of construction equipment at the site.
In addition to indoor space, about four acres of outdoor space will be available to lease.
Mark, who is handling leasing arrangements himself, said lease deals are pending with a general contractor, a contracting supply outfit and a minority-owned ready-mixed concrete producer.
Some indoor space might also be devoted to an aggregate crushing operation, Mark said.
"My goal is for us to ultimately have more than 100 people working in this building every day for various construction-related companies," Mark said, stressing that wages associated with Wisconsin Department of Transportation road-building projects are mandated by law.
Jobs with LaLonde Contractors pay $20 to $30 per hour, plus benefits, according to Mark.
However, for more than two years, the Pelton Casteel plant generated no jobs. It sat empty and unguarded since the foundry company closed its doors in early 2001, idling the remnants of what had at one time been a workforce of about 250.

May 2, 2003 Small Business Times, Milwaukee