Walworth County action hugs the corridors

The development trend along the I-43 corridor is reaching Walworth County burgs including East Troy, Elkhorn and Genoa City. But leasable space and land are not being snapped up here as quickly as areas further to the northeast.
"In the new industrial park in East Troy, we have three buildings built and one under construction, MLG Commercial’s Barry Chavin said. "One was basically built with spec space available that has not filled yet."
Chavin said Walworth County still holds a lot of promise.
"It is a matter of the glass being half empty or half full," Bruce said. "There is available land and, to some extent, available buildings. Those are the opportunities for companies to relocate with affordable land prices and affordable buildings. As you get closer in, there are higher rents and land prices."
As residential patterns move further southwest and people commute into the Milwaukee and Waukesha areas from the hinterlands, commercial and industrial development will follow, according to Chavin.
"Many of the employees are moving further out from the metro areas for the more reasonably priced housing," Chavin said. "In some cases, the companies will follow them out. More and more, I-43 is becoming attractive for people to live and relocate their businesses. We are seeing interest in companies from New Berlin interested in the same corridor, but with more affordable buildings."
In Whitewater, two major projects in the city’s east side business park will put more than four acres under roof in a short period of time, according to city manager Gary Boden.
An initial phase of the relocation from Helenville of Universal Electric to an 11-acre site in the Whitewater park will encompass 86,917 square feet and employ 180 to 200 people.
The city still has about 175 turnkey acres available, according to Boden.
Boden said Whitewater’s downtown is also ripe for commercial activity. The city has spent several million dollars to tear down blighted properties in its downtown, replacing them with a park overlooking a millpond. A factory on Whitewater Creek has also been demolished to make way for a 42-unit housing project.
"This is generating interest in our commercial real estate," Boden said. "It will also add about $3 to $4 million to our tax base."

Elkhorn expands focus
In Elkhorn, the focus is shifting from industrial park development to pushing development wherever commercial- and industrial-zoned land is for sale.
"We started out with probably 157 acres for our business park," Elkhorn Development Corp. (EDC) director George Martin said. "We are down to about 25 or 26 acres of commercial and the same amount of industrial. We are TIFed out down there. Our focus is not on selling individual parcels in the industrial park. On a board level we have decided to work with anyone developing land in the city as a whole."
Recently annexed land to the north — brought into the city from the Town of Sugar Creek three years ago — will represent a significant opportunity for growth, Martin said. An existing business in the area — transportation contractors Mann Brothers — would help anchor future development.
"We are getting more involved in land to the north we have annexed in TIF #3," Martin said. "This is north of Highway 12 up to the Evergreen Golf Course. Part of the annexation had to be industrial property. That is where Mann Brothers, on the west side of 67, comes into play. We have been in contact with them and are starting to develop a program where we can act as a secondary salesman. What we are trying to do is work with people who already own the land."
The first parcel on the auction block consists of about 80 acres, according to Martin, and is zoned M2 industrial.
"On the south end of the annexation across Highway 67, we have a farm we annexed into the city under TIF #2 — a little better than 140 acres," Martin said. "The Immega Farm is also zoned M2. They have a very active broker — Harding Realty out of Woodstock, Ill. It looks like it is getting closer to fruition now. A national distributor of frozen foods is seriously interested."
Another parcel of land — the 100-plus acre Boegger Farm across Highway H from the city’s existing industrial park — is also up for sale, as are 47 acres owned by Buick/Chrysler dealer Jerry Horn off of Highway 67 to the west.

Lake Geneva gains tourist attractions
In Lake Geneva, major tourism and retail projects leave the tourism-related community better able to attract and serve visitors as well as residents.
George Hennerly of the Geneva Lake Development Corp. pointed to the completion of Timber Ridge — a Marcus Corp. facility on the east side of Highway 12 and Highway 50 — as a valuable new amenity.
The resort hotel, which is located next to the main entrance of Grand Geneva Resort, adds 300 hotel rooms and an indoor water park to the city’s recreation mix.
"That will be a nice boost and will appeal to a sector we have not typically been able to market to," Hennerly said.
The city also recently gained a 120,000-saquare-foot Home Depot near the same intersection. Across Highway 50, plans are under way to tear down an existing 14-year-old Walmart and replace it with a Super Walmart.
The condo hotel concept is making inroads in the Lake Geneva market, according to Hennerly. Delevan Lake Resort, a Keefe Development condo hotel, is selling off 47 units. The hotel is located west of Delavan on South Lake Shore Drive, a half mile south of Highway 50. A second condo hotel, Mill Creek, was completed at the end of the year. The hotel — with 35 units — is located one block south of Highway 50 and Center St. in Lake Geneva.
"It allows one to operate a significant property without the debt service you normally would have because you typically sell it off," Hennerly said. "From the traveling perspective, you don’t know it really isn’t what it appears to be."
Owners of each hotel room are not allowed to occupy the units for more than a small number of days per year, Hennerly said.

Corporate Ridge shoots south of the border
Further to the south, activity in Genoa City’s Corporate Ridge business park is churning along. Broker Scott Dixon of Prime Commercial, McHenry, Ill., said that things slowed down substantially in recent years, but 20 of the park’s 200 acres are sold. The development came online in 2000.
"At Corporate Ridge, we just completed a 25,000-square-foot manufacturing facility on three acres for Quality Panels of Spring Grove, Ill.," Dixon said. "Right now, we are working with a Bentonville company to move up there; we can’t say who they are yet. There is also a 150,000-square-foot start coming in spring, but I can’t divulge who that is."
The park’s proximity to the Illinois border is a key marketing device, according to Dixon.
"We are focusing on the Illinois company that is used to paying exorbitant prices for business park land and also needs inexpensive electrical power," Dixon said. "We also have a Johnson Wax subsidiary in our park. But we are right on the state line so there is easy access to the Chicago industrial market."

Februry 1, 2002 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

The AIS Group has established an affiliation with the Paul Arbinger Agency in West Bend. The AIS Group, a full-service insurance agency, has other offices in Menomonee Falls, Hartford and Beaver Dam. The Paul Arbinger Agency is at 246 S. 5th Ave. in West Bend.
The Milwaukee-based Davis & Kuelthau law firm has expanded its business and corporate practice group to its Sbeboygan office.
The expansion was made through the hiring of attorney Shawn G. Rice, who is now a shareholder in the firm. His work will complement that done by labor and litigation attorneys already at the firm’s Sheboygan, Oshkosh and Green Bay offices.
Davis & Kuelthau, with main offices at 111 E. Kilbourn Ave. in downtown Milwaukee, also has offices in Elm Grove and Madison.
The CPA firm of Piasecki, Strutz & Wojtycski, formerly located on Lincoln Avenue in West Allis, has undergone a name change to Freuck, Strutz & Wojtycski, and has moved its offices to 4811 S. 76th St. in the State Financial Bank building near Southridge Mall. Its new telephone number is 44-325-1040.
The group of companies initiated by the Kolb Lauwasser CPA firm in West Allis is now known at Kolb+Co. The companies include Kolb Lauwasser+Co. – Business Advisers/CPAs; Kolb+Co.-Financial Advisers; Kolb+Co. Medical Billing; Kolb+Co. Performance Advisers; Kolb+Co. Retirement Plan Services; and Kolb+Co. Technology Advisers.
The firms are located at 2400 S. 102nd St. Their new Web site is www.kolbco.com.
Professional Computer Solutions, Inc. has merged with SVA Consulting. PCSI was established in 1987 as a provider of Great Plains software. SVA Consulting is the information technology division of the SVA group of companies, which also includes Sub, Von Haden & Associates, a certified public accounting firm with offices in Brookfield, Madison and Rockford; and SVA Planners, Inc., Registered Investment Advisor.
Bryan K. Stutzki, CPA has created a new accounting firm named Neptune Financial and Management Services. Neptune provides three main services: income tax preparation for individuals and small businesses, year-around accounting services and consulting services for financial software and business creation. Stutzki has more than 10 years of experience in the accounting field. His previous experience has been in the real estate and investment fields and includes a recent position as a controller of a real estate development company. Neptune Financial and Management Services is located at 13105 W. Bluemound Rd., Suite 150, Brookfield.
HGA Architects & Engineers has added Jill Cody to its staff in Milwaukee, bringing lighting design to its offerings.
Chamness Consulting, Inc. (www.chamnessconsulting.com), a 13-year-old business-consulting firm, has moved into new office space. The firm now occupies three stories of a Historic Walker’s Point town house just south of downtown Milwaukee.
Owner Diane Chamness, who also lives in the 1855 cream city brick building, said the space was made available at exactly the right time. “We’ve added IT and creative services offerings to our suite of services, have acquired several new clients, and expanded our staff. A new space was part of our strategic plan to meet our vision for growth in 2002. It just worked out perfectly that we could move right next door, it’s an ideal space for us.”
Former Waukesha Freeman reporter Jenn Danko has launched a business, SparkleHouse Media, an independent, urban writing house based in downtown Milwaukee. She is providing feature and technical writing to corporations, businesses and publishing houses. Additional services include copyediting, overwriting, and proofreading.
Danko holds an honors degree in English-creative writing from Beloit College. More information can be found at www.sparklehousemedia.com.
An employee group has purchased the drugstore management division of a San Francisco company and has returned the company’s headquarters to Milwaukee, where it was founded in 1980. Ten managers were involved in the purchase of what they now call Hamacher Resource Group.
The company, formerly known as D.P. Hamacher & Associates, and more recently as the Hamacher Division of Nonstop Solutions, was originally established by David P. Hamacher, a graduate of the UW-Madison School of Pharmacy and longtime executive with the former Stein Drugs. At the time of his retirement in 2000, the company was sold to Nonstop Solutions, which focuses on the deployment of enterprise-level, demand chain management software for retailers, wholesalers and manufacturers. Nonstop kept the Milwaukee operation intact as a divison.
Leading the buyout were Dawn Vogelsang, who is now president of Hamacher Resource Group, and David Wendland, who is vice president. Vogelsang had been general manager of the Hamacher Division of Nonstop.
Other managers involved in the purchase include Julie Bonnell, production manager; Tom Boyer, national account manager; Steve Brester, IT manager; Kat Fronek, category research and analysis manager; Chris Hensel, client services coordinator; Gail Konrath, accounting and logistics coordinator; Cindy Lutz, manager, human resources and administration; and Craig Thompson, national account manager.
Vogelsand said Hamacher Resource Group will build on its heritage of developing and delivering merchandising, category management, marketing and productivity tools for independent and chain retail operations.
The firm operates from a 25,00-square-foot office building at 8801 W. Heather Ave. on Milwaukee’s northwest side and is on the Web at www.hamacher.com. It currently employs 45 people.
Milwaukee-based Haker-Zellmer Investment Management has changed its name to Northern Oak Capital Management, according to Mark Zellmer, company president. The name change was executed to reflect a new direction in company leadership. William Haker, who founded the company in 1986, remains as chairman. Zellmer joined the firm in 1989. All operations remain intact. It reports having more than $200 million in assets under management.
NAI MLG Commercial has launched a Madison office, in the Inacom building at 3001 W. Beltline Highway. The Brookfield-based company has been doing business in Madison for some time, but without a full-service Madison office. The firm gained a significant Madison presence last year when The Brewer Group was merged into NAI MLG Commercial.
Diversified Insurance Services of Waukesha is merging with Fringe Benefit Planning, Inc., of Milwaukee, an employee benefits firm owned by William A. Little.
According to James E. McCormack, chairman and CEO of Diversified, “The merger of the two firms will allow Bill Little and his team to remain intact, give his clients access to additional services provided by Diversified, and give us a downtown Milwaukee presence at 839 N. Jefferson on Cathedral Square.” Diversified also has an office in Oshkosh.
Little, a 40-year veteran of the insurance industry said, “This merger with Diversified is a natural progression of our company’s 25-year history of continuous service improvement for our clients. I have known Jim MeCormack for more than 25 years and am aware of his substantial investment in evolving and new services such as state-of-the-art health claims analysis, excellent employee communications tools, integrated payroll systems, human resource assistance, and a soon-to-be-announced advanced employee benefit software program.”
Towne Realty of Milwaukee has received trademark registration approval from the U.S. Patent and Trademark office for its Homes by Towne brand name, which is uses to market single-family homes throughout the country. “This registration will allow us to continue the consolidation of all of our single-family sales in the United States under a single brand name,” said Art Wigchers, president of Towne Realty.
Towne builds single-family homes in Arizona, California, Florida, Hawaii and Texas.
ScheerGame Sports Development of Milwaukee (www.sheergame.com) has been retained to create the development plan for a proposed bew multi-purpose sports and entertainment arena in the Augusta, Ga. area. “We intend to build a roadmao that shows where and why to build a new facility, what to build, and how best to pay for it,” said ScheerGame managing director Martin J. Greenberg.
Delafield State Bank has opened a branch in Madison, called Town Bank. The branch serves as a loan production office for residential mortgages and commercial real estate loans in the Dane County market.
Delafield State Bank was founded in 1998 and now has assets of more than $100 million.
The law firm of von Briesen, Purtell & Roper and the Madison-based consulting firm of Bright Consulting have formed an alliance. Bright Consulting, ranked as one of the top 10 lobbying firms in the state, offers clients public policy advocacy, grassroots, coalition, legislative and executive communication campaigns.
St. Nicholas Hospital in Sheboygan has partnered with the Medical College of Wisconsin to bring endocrinology services to the community. Three physicians from the college are now working with St. Nicholas to provide endocrinology care, both on site at the hospital and on a consulting basis.
Comstar (www.comstarllc.com) has expanded its office facilities, doubling its size at its current location in Waukesha. The additional space was needed to accommodate Comstar’s recent staff additions and growing business. In addition, Comstar has installed the latest in backup generator technology.
“At Comstar, we are committed to providing our clients with the best e-business services in southeastern Wisconsin,” said Jeffrey Kirk, president. “The additional space, in combination with the installation of the backup generator, further strengthens our ability to provide top quality services for all of our clients.”
CedarNet (www.cedar.net) has moved to a new, larger location in the heart of downtown Waukesha — 831 North Grand Ave. CedarNet has provided residential and business Internet services in the Milwaukee and Waukesha areas since 1994.
February 1, 2002 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

Annexations, redevelopment push the needle in Washington County

Action in Washington County appears to be driven more by annexations than expansion of local business.
Developers stressed that the steady activity seen in larger metropolitan areas such as Milwaukee seemed more driven by larger national players than by local businesses in an expansion mode. Washington County, which is more dependent on local players than, say, downtown Milwaukee, is gearing up for growth, if not being inundated by it.
Slinger is bracing for a spate of new development in a 40-acre business park encompassed in its Tax Incremental Financing District #3. Roads for the park were completed in November, and the targeted commercial/light industrial development has already begun.
Uptown Motors has already constructed a Chevrolet dealership on one nine-acre parcel. According to village clerk Dean Otte, materials-handling equipment manufacturer Villico has started work on a 20,000-square-foot facility on a three-acre plot.
Utilities for another portion of TIF #3 — on the northeast corner of highways 41 and 60 — are currently in the engineering stage. Otte said the improvements should be completed by the fall of 2002, opening the land for development.

Jackson looks at annexation
According to village of Jackson administrator Del Beaver, Jackson should see increased commercial and industrial development potential due to a pending annexation.
The village is currently working toward annexation of 100 acres from the town of Polk. The property is located along Highway 41 along Sherman Road.
"It is very possible that if the development occurs that we are expecting will occur, an additional 100 acres will be annexed in the village for a distribution center," Beaver said. "And in due course of supplying that center with wastewater and water, we will open up a like amount on the east side of Highway 41. The 41 corridor remains a hot property."
Beaver said he expected the annexation to be finalized this year.
"The new area along 41 would open up a tremendous amount of acreage across Highway 45 and along Sherman Road," Beaver said. "We would open up property to the west of the distribution facility and west of the Cedar Creek Business Park. The annexation should occur before April and developments would come on line in the fall. A lot depends on how fast these entities move. The village is not going to push sewer under 45 without viable users out there."
Velocity of development has slowed little in Jackson during the current recession, according to Beaver.
"In all truthfulness, we have seen a couple of decisions delayed a couple of months, but we haven’t seen any real falloff," Beaver said. "Yes, the whole world is a little more unstable, but the low interest rates make it more attractive to undertake projects."
The village of Jackson also in November of last year issued a $1.5 million industrial revenue bond for the Rytec Corp. Rytec manufactures high-speed rolling and folding doors for the industrial, commercial and cold-storage markets. Industrial Revenue Bonds are tax-free bonds issued by the state through local governments, and the proceeds are loaned to new or expanding businesses for development projects. The company will use the money to construct and equip a 29,000-square-foot addition to its existing plant. The project will retain 67 jobs and create seven jobs over the next three years. The total project cost is $2,558,000.
Beaver said there are about 100 acres left in the village’s Northwest Business Park, and that activity looks strong into 2002.
"We have three or four deals going in the park right now," Mark Schnoll of NAI MLG Commercial said. "It is not targeting the real high-end user. It still is an industrial park. They will still allow some outdoor storage if it is screened properly. They do not require complete masonry construction."

West Bend redevelops brownfields
West Bend is seeing major redevelopment activity adjacent to its downtown. The city is now in the process of purchasing properties in a seven-acre area east of the downtown on Wisconsin Street, and has closed on three properties, according to city administrator Dennis Melvin. The properties, owned by a half dozen private entities, had been in warehouse and industrial use.
Demolition of properties should begin in the spring, and Melvin said the city is currently discussing potential mixed uses on the site with developers.
Community development planner Julie Licht said the city would send out a request for proposals to developers this spring and hopes to see construction start in 2003.
The city is currently working with Canadian National — the owners of the Wisconsin Central railroad — to relocate a rail yard from the site.
"We anticipate it will be a combination of retail and residential," Melvin said. "Perhaps it will all be residential. We already have an anchor residential development downtown in the former Inger-Kress leather property."
The city is also seeking proposals from developers for 900,000 square feet of space vacated by West Bend Co. and its new owners, Illinois Tool Works (ITW).
"We are discussing possibilities with the owners and developers," Melvin said.
According to Melvin, most of the existing structures on the 20-plus-acre site, which is east of the Milwaukee River adjacent to the downtown, would remain intact and be redeveloped through adaptive reuse.
The city is also seeing the erection of the first building — a Piggly Wiggly grocery store — in its Wingate Creek business park, which is located east of the city adjacent to the airport. The project is part of the city’s TIF #3.
"It is mostly industrial — about 16 acres of commercial of which almost six of it is sold to the people putting up the Piggly Wiggly. There is an additional 10-acre site of commercial land still available," Schnoll said.
Schnoll said interest in the property felt solid despite a slow start.
"There are three potential deals brewing," Schnoll said. "One is looking pretty imminent. We started marketing this park in earnest in the fall when they got a lot of the issues in the park resolved with the DNR and the Army Corps [of Engineering] and the airport. Even though it has been on the market a little longer with another broker, it was really not a park — the roads weren’t in."
Schnoll said he was anticipating action with light manufacturers and distributors.

February 1, 2002 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

Direction of growth is northwest

Even as the last of the county’s prime greenfields disappear, Waukesha County will continue to see growth, according to The Polacheck Company’s Max Rasansky.
"The fastest growing county is Waukesha County," Rasansky said. "Growth has always gone west and northwest. So far, the biggest problem remains zoning."
It’s not surprising that Rasansky and others in the commercial real estate field identified the I-94 corridor as the hotspot, but Rasansky and Polacheck’s Peter Glaser stressed that activity keeps moving further west.
"Just when you thought development had gone as far as it could go, it goes further west," Glaser said. "Now we are seeing that it is expanding to Highway 67 — and then to Highway 83."
The two said activity in Johnson Creek, in Jefferson County, indicated that, eventually, the Milwaukee and Madison metro areas will meet in the middle. Johnson Creek has seen the development of a Menards, a Kohl’s and an outlet mall along I-94.
Polacheck is involved in numerous projects in the county, including a commercial development in New Berlin at Moorland and Janesville roads. The development will include a Kohl’s, a Jewel and a small amount of leasable space.

Mukwonago annexes to the south
While the city of Oconomowoc’s Pabst Farms development has been making headlines, the village of Mukwonago may turn out to be the real commercial development story in Waukesha County.
village administrator Bernard Kahl reports the potential for additional commercial and industrial land opening in the course of 2002. The amount of land to be opened for business use equals the amount of commercial and industrial-zoned land in the Pabst Farms development.
While Mukwonago’s existing business park — which was opened more than 18 years ago — is full, land on the south end of town across I-43 has been annexed into the village from the town of Vernon. Kahl said about 500 acres will be divided into a small commercial strip, a business park and some industrial parcels. One private entity has already purchased land from a farmer in the annexed area, and the village board could move on including the land in a tax incremental financing district as early as this spring.
"We have known for years that we were going to be a hot spot," Kahl said. "We have had some nice residential development come into the village. We are trying to take our commercial and industrial development and spread it out over a few years."

Waukesha sees 80-acre development
In the city of Waukesha, utilities and streets are being constructed for the Waukesha Corporate Center — on what could be the last plot of undeveloped appropriately-zoned land in the city.
The 80-acre business park will be located just off of Highway 59 on the south side of the city, and will be brokered by MLG Commercial, which purchased the land last year.
The city has zoned the parcel for office and light industrial use. The park will be a planned-unit development, which gives the city control over architectural and landscaping details. But according to Community Development director Steven Crandell, the city’s requirements are not overly stringent.
"We will require all masonry construction," Crandell said. "Parking areas and sites will have to be landscaped. We do allow outdoor storage amounting to 10% of the building’s size, but it has to be screened. We have three [similarly zoned] industrial parks; two are completely sold out and one has six remaining acres. The restrictions are not a hindrance to the sale of the property."

Brookfield nearly out of greenfields
While greenfield development continues in the city of Brookfield, availability of open land is getting tight. As early as 1998, the last time the city published its open land report, there were only 365 acres of buildable land left in the city. As a result, city planners are beginning to set their sights on redevelopment of old-growth commercial spaces.
"In October of 2001, the city approved the creation of a community redevelopment authority, which has not yet met," Economic Development coordinator Pat Drinan said. "The committee will identify priorities and most likely get involved in the redevelopment of the Brookfield Square shopping center and the creation of a main street mixed-use office area northwest of the existing mall. We have seen this in other communities — Glendale, Greendale — dealing with malls and shopping centers. A lot of those same concepts will be reflected here."
Development of open land along Capitol Drive will take place in well-defined nodes to prevent the sprawl and congestion seen along Bluemound Drive. Primary nodes include Capitol’s intersections with Brookfield Road and Lilly Road.
The most active of those nodes is the intersection of Capitol Drive and Brookfield Road — the site not only of VK Development’s Vincent Park Business Center, but of the Towne Center — 40-acre multi-use development anchored by a Sendik’s food store.
"The store is built in a non-traditional suburban style," director of Community Development Dan Ertl said. "It is more of an urban style with two-story buildings, main street atmosphere and design, on-street parking, underground parking and a mixture of uses within the same building."
Other businesses already located in the project include Brookfield Travel, a Cousin’s sub shop and Equitable Bank.
The plans for greenfield development along Capitol Drive and redevelopment merge at the intersection of 124th Street and Capitol.
"We envision activity to occur along 124th Street and Capitol Drive where we hope there is a reinvestment in older, tired properties," Dan Ertl said. "In the Towne Center, we are integrating mixed uses on the same site and maybe within the same building — and we are hoping to include that in the 124th and Capitol development."
Another city section targeted for redevelopment is known as the Village Area, which is located along Brookfield Road at the Canadian Pacific railroad crossing. "The original origins of our community were in that area," Ertl said. "There hasn’t been any reinvestment in that area." The city is planning to add curb, gutter and storm sewer to the area.
The intersection of Calhoun Road and Capitol Drive is also identified as in need of redevelopment, according to Drinan. The retail development on the site — Capitol Plaza — had been a Kohl’s Store, but the current tenant is a retailer of baby apparel and accessories.

Brookfield business parks successful
Ertl said careful business-park development has paid big dividends for the city. And he stressed that even in the absence of subsidies like tax incremental financing, land values are doing very well.
A case in point, according to Ertl, is Gateway West Commerce Center on the northwest side of the city at Springdale Road and Capitol Drive. The 115-acre park still has 79 acres available for development.
"Gateway West was developed without TIF or other subsidies," Ertl said. "It currently has approximately 20 buildings, equaling 60 businesses. It is capturing probably the most advantageous land sales in the city. I believe the most recent land sales are in the neighborhood of $100,000 an acre, which is pretty significant for land of that type."
Mega-developer Vincent Kuttemperoor has made his mark on Brookfield with his Vincent Park Center. In the course of 2001, VK Development completed the last two buildings in its Vincent Park Business Center at Capitol Drive and Brookfield Road.
The five Class A office buildings total approximately 135,000 square feet. Each building consists of approximately 26,000 square feet of leasable space.
According to Kuttemperoor, the last two buildings are not filling as quickly as those completed in previous years.
"We do have some vacancies in these two buildings," Kuttemperoor said. "Even office space has slowed down; but remember that one of these buildings is only three months old. In Brookfield, when the economy turns around, I am optimistic that the space will be filled. This is right on Capitol — and Capitol is the next Bluemound Road."
Kuttemperoor is interested in seeing a microbrewery pop up on property adjacent to Vincent Park. "I have one site set aside for a mircrobrewery," Kuttemperoor said. "I am looking for one. There is not yet a microbrewery in Brookfield."
For his next Brookfield project, Kuttemperoor said he is eyeing 10 acres on the corner of Capitol and Buford drives.

Pewaukee reaching maximum density
One, or possibly two office buildings could come to I-94 and Highway 164 in the city of Pewaukee once an anchor tenant is located.
William H. Bonifas of The Polacheck Co. called the 14 acres between 164 and J "one of the most highly visible sites in Waukesha County. It could be one or two buildings."
About 45,000 of 136,000 square feet in an initial building would have to be leased prior to construction.
The city of Pewaukee is almost completely built out with four square miles of industrial and commercial development, according to city administrator Harlan Clinkenbeard.
Like the village of Waterford to the south, Pewaukee has garnered interest of hotel developers. In 2001, the city sprouted two new hotels — a 300-guest room Marriott at Highway 164 and I-94 and a 100-bed Radisson at Highway J and I-94.
Even given a depressed travel market, Clinkenbeard did not seem surprised to see hotels being built.
"Obviously these people want to be in the suburbs but still be close enough to be driven by what is going on with conventions happening in the city," Clinkenbeard said. "We also have enough business, with 8,000 mostly white-collar employees in the area. And the hotels might be looking at serving that market as well."
The Boldt Group and Mega Construction President Norm Yerke, are teaming up on Parkridge II — an office development which is currently under construction. Boldt will occupy the second floor of the 22,000-square-foot building on Ridgeview Parkway in Waukesha. The remaining 11,000 square feet will be available for lease. Yerke also has 5,000 square feet for lease in the recently completed Parkridge Center I at N21 W23350 Ridgeview Pky.

Falls sees development in three parks
Meanwhile, in Menomonee Falls, the Woodland Prime business park at Good Hope Road and Highway 41 could see an additional 80,000-square-foot building break ground as early as this year. Two existing buildings owned by Weas Development of Milwaukee have been constructed since 2001. As the second building reaches 100% occupancy, Doug Weas will move on plans — which he has been sitting on for several months — for a third structure. Currently, the second building has a 20% vacancy rate, which means 40,000 square feet of Class A office space lying fallow.
"We would like to get another building off the ground in 2002," Weas said. "Unless a very large user came around, this building could be a little smaller — maybe 80,000 to 79,000 square feet."
Elsewhere in Menomonee Falls, sales in Burke Properties’ Westbrook Industrial Park’s initial phase are progressing. The development, at Highway 41/45 and 124th Street, came online in the summer of 2000. According to Burke President Paul Votto, 50 of the 71 acres are still available. A second phase at 55 acres is in the engineering phase, and parcels could be sold as early as this year, according to Votto. The addition of a new exit from 41/45 should speed development of that land, according to Votto.
The village is also rezoning land just west of the Silver Spring Corporate Park — near Good Hope and Pilgrim roads — for a technology development. The village recommended rezoning 20 acres next to the established 170-acre development from agricultural to commercial and light industrial. Roughly 30 acres of land remain in the existing park.

Oconomowoc braces for Pabst Farms activity
In the city of Oconomowoc, the 1,000-acre Pabst Farms development is beginning to bulge like a bud preparing to burst. The planned development, located at I-94 and State Highway 67, will include 200 acres of mixed use office/commercial space, 300 acres of business/industrial space, 50 acres of civic/institutional area, and 235 acres of open space in addition to acreage set aside for residential and public works purposes.
In the meantime, activity remained brisk in 2001 in the Oconomowoc Corporate Center. Corporate Center activity included:

Kevin J. Lyons has joined the Milwaukee office of Davis & Kuelthau as a shareholder in the Litigation Section. Prior to joining Davis & Kuelthau, Lyons was a shareholder at Cook & Franke, where he had served as president and managing partner for five years. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Notre Dame and his law degree from the University of Wisconsin.
Bill Lydon has been appointed to the newly created position of product manager, electronic products, at WAGO Corp. in Germantown. Lydon previously held positions with Johnson Controls, and co-founded an industrial controls software company.
Barb Haag-Heitman has been named director of Women’s Health Services at St. Francis Hospital in Milwaukee. Haag-Heitman holds a BSN degree from Alverno College, an MS degree from UW-Milwaukee, and is currently pursuing a doctorate in human and organizational development from The Fielding Institute. She was most recently with Aurora Health Care.
Ron Becher, a former General Motors Engineering Group manager, has joined the J.P. Cullen & Sons contractor firm as manager of its new Industrial Division. Becher holds a degree in mechanical engineering from UW-Platteville, and was with GM for 18 years.
Carrie Clements has been promoted to the position of operations manager of medical billing at the Milwaukee office of SVA Consulting. In addition, Sharon Wolf has been promoted to medical billing supervisor, also at the Milwaukee office, which is in Brookfield.
Jody Jozwowski has joined Octane, Inc., as art director. She had previously worked with BVK McDonald, and Bender, Browning, Dolby & Sanderson agencies. She holds a degree in fine arts from the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design.
Laurie Pung has been promoted to the position of senior branch office administrator at the West Allis office of the financial services firm Edward Jones. She has been with the firm for seven years.
Doug Schacht has joined J.H. Findorff & Son as business development director in its Milwaukee office. Schacht, a 1994 UW-Whitewater graduate, previously worked with Jens Construction and with Plunkett Raysich Architects.
Waukesha Electric Systems (WES), a unit of SPX Corp., announced that
Timothy J. Foley has joined the company as its new vice president of marketing and sales. Foley joined Waukesha Electric Systems from Rockwell Automation.
CedarNet, in Waukesha, has named Rob Martin as its chief technology officer. Martin brings 16 years of programming experience and a diverse background in technology to the CedarNet team. He specializes in Web application systems integration and recently designed CedarNet’s online shopping cart application for its Web site customers.
Debbie Dozer has joined Paving Mix and Construction Co. of Oak Creek as quality control manager. Dozer brings more than eight years of industry experience with her, including work for the Wisconsin Department of Transportation.
Michael P. Mervis has been named vice president for marketing and community relations at Towne Realty, Milwaukee. In conjunction with the announcement, Mervis & Company, which has served for many years as the Towne Group’s in-house advertising agency, will change its name to Mervis, Bratz & Koziol. The name change reflects the changes in Mervis’s responsibilities and the expanded roles of Terri Bratz and David Koziol, both vice presidents of Mervis & Co. Mervis joined Towne in 1974 and formed Mervis & Co. He had earlier been with Fromstein & Associates.
American Senior Living Centers has hired Debra J. Ashby as assistant director of marketing. She had been director of social services for Colonial Manor Health & Rehabilitation, an affiliate of Beverly Healthcare. She holds a liberal arts degree from Purdue University.
Jan. 18, 2002 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

Thomas Pogodzinski, of KPK Investments, Beulah Beach, Inc., has purchased a 31,469-square-foot medical office building in the Town of Brookfield. NAI MLG Commercial broker Charlotte D. Zurn represented the sellers, Ronald F. and Sandra J. Becker. The building is at 20611 Watertown Rd.
NAI MLG Commercial has also announced that Jeff Panosion, president of Waukesha Self Storage, has purchased the former Midwest Industrial Lumber property, consisting of four buildings with a total of 25,700 square feet of space on 8.5 acres at W271 S2885 Merrill Hills Rd. in the Town of Waukesha. Waukesha Self Storage will convert the property into a mini storage operation and lease out existing buildings and excess land to industrial and commercial tenants. Midwest Industrial Lumber has converted its operations to an existing facility in Darien. NAI MLG Commercial brokers Stephen Provancher and Mark Schnoll represented the buyer and the seller.
Jim Tarantino of Tarantino Co. has purchased a 130,000-square-foot vacant hospital facility at 4143 S. 13th St. in Milwaukee. NAI MLG Commercial broker Jack Jacobson represented the seller, Kindred Hospitals (formerly Vencor). Tarantino is demolishing the building and put up a new one for senior housing.

The James T. Barry Co. has announced that Tomas Rudig has purchased the 25,600-square-foot office and warehouse facility at 600-620 N. 108th Pl. in Wauwatosa from Mayfair Place, LLC. Kurt Van Dyke, a broker with the James T. Barry Co., handled the transaction. Rudig Trophy has moved into a portion of the facility, having moved from its downtown location at 118 S. 2nd St. The seller will lease a portion of the building for its architectural firm.
The Barry company has also announced that S. Duane Strobel has purchased the 35,000-square-foot industrial facility at 9041-9075 W. Heather Ave. in Milwaukee from Market Street Partners. Steve Traudt and Ben Quinette of the Barry company represented the buyer while Jack Price and Terry McMahon of the Boerke Co. represented the seller. The buyer is expanding his real estate holdings from multi-family, senior living and commercial to include multi-tenant industrial/office.
Kevin C. Barry of the Barry company represented Doral Dental USA in its purchase of a 37,000-square-foot building at 12121 N. Corporate Pkwy. In the East Mequon Corporate Center in Mequon. Irgens Development Partners represented the seller, East Mequon Business Park Limited Partnership. The facility will accommodate expansion of Doral Dental USA; the company is retaining its Port Washington Road facility, also in Mequon.
The James T. Barry Co. also announced the following sales:

Bill Panter has joined the Milwaukee advertising agency Octane as business development director. He previously held roles with Xerox, Dunn & Bradstreet, Johnson Controls and Kohnke Hanneken. Panter holds a bachelor of arts degree from Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo. The firm has also hired Jennifer Kuhn as its new art director. Kuhn, who holds a bachelor of arts degree from Concordia University of Wisconsin, in Mequon, had been art director and production artist at Core Creative.
Firstar Bank has made a number of promotions in its private client and trust services group, and in its mutual fund services group, as follows: in the private client and trust services group, Dale R. Smith, trust technical and support services manager, to executive vice president; trust account executives Elizabeth Boemer and Thomas Kender, to vice president; accountant Paul Jagielski and systems analyst Connie Michalski, to assistant vice president; and trust support service managers Jeremy Erikson, Donna Glidden, Scott Kosidowski and Scott Olson, to officer; in the mutual fund services group, Doug Hess, mutual funds compliance administrator, and Gail Zess, mutual fund relationship manager, to vice president; Thomas Gaudynski, quality and training manager, Andy Pottinger, project manager, Suzanne Riley, mutual funds compliance administrator, and Brian Smith, accounting manager, to assistant vice president; and
promoted to officer were compliance administrators Jessica Albrecht, Andrew Chica, Jason Hanson and Silviya Jordanove, and accounting manager Scott Stuempfig.
Gerry Edwards joined the staff of Spectrum Digital Services as vice president – sales and marketing. He will assume responsibility for all aspects of sales and marketing for the Hartland based manufacturer. Spectrum Digital Services is a full-service provider of quick turn CD-R and DVD-R screen printing, duplication, and multimedia development services. Edwards has more than 26 years of experience in sales and marketing for a variety of companies including Brady Corporation and Cutler-Hammer. He received a BSEE degree from Michigan Technological University and an MBA from Mercer University in Atlanta.
Jerry Arndy has been named director of sales for The Fish, 105.3 FM-radio, and The Word, 540 AM-Radio. He has held a similar position at Clear Channel Milwaukee radio and the Milwaukee Radio Alliance.
Jack Moneypenney has been promoted to the position of vice president of sales at the Greater Milwaukee Convention & Visitors Bureau. With 12 years of experience in the hotel industry, Moneypenney most recently was director of convention sales for the GMCVB, a position he held since 1997.
Natalie Scholberg has been named manager of the public relations division of Seroka & Associates in Waukesha. Scholberg, with more than 20 years of experience in PR, marketing and sales management, holds a bachelor’s degree in public relations and promotion from Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago. She is pursuing a graduate degree in integrated marketing communications from Roosevelt University in Schaumburg, Ill.
Sharon Wilcox has been hired as director of personnel services at SelectStaff, Inc., a geriatric care management firm based in Shorewood. She most recently was with Hatch Plus.
Joseph D. Bansemer has joined the firm of Fitzgerald, Clayton, James & Kasten in Milwaukee as loss control manager.
Paul G. Starkey has joined Amerihome Mortgage, of Brookfield, as national operations manager, a new position at the firm. He had been a vice president of underwriting, quality control and secondary marketing in mortgage and consumer lending at another firm in the Milwaukee area, and has 26 years of experience in the banking industry. The firm has also hired Tara M. Pfeifer as corporate operations coordinator. She is a recent graduate of Carroll College in Waukesha.
Dean Smith has been named vice president of sales at Metal Forms Corp., based in Milwaukee. Smith, who moved here from Minneapolis, has experience in building distributor networks within the construction industry.
Jan. 4, 2002 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

The following loan guarantees for ventures in southeastern Wisconsin have been approved by the U.S. Small Business Administration during November:

Automated Circuit Technology I, N90 W14739 Commerce Dr., Menomonee Falls 53051, $412,000, InvestorsBank;
Butzen/Durbe, Welding & Fabrication, 3838 Enterprise Dr., Sheboygan 53083, $415,000, Community Bank & Trust;
Camelot Shores, 3101 Eagle Rd., Union Grove 53182, $293,000, Wisconsin Business Development Finance Corp.;
Casey Chiropractic Clinic, 147000 W. National Ave., New Berlin 53151, $389,000, Citizens Bank of Mukwonago;
Lana L. Cernicka and Larry’s Auto, N56 W13920 Silver Spring Dr., Menomonee Falls 53051, $630,000, Wisconsin Community Bank;
Clerc’s Pine Street Café, 150 W. Pine St., Burlington 53105, $30,000, First Banking Center;
EPM, 1213 N. Glenwood Circle,
West Bend 53090, $76,688, St. Francis Capital Corp.;
Falls Pit Stop Pizza, 1000 Fond du Lac Ave., Sheboygan Falls 53085, $31,000 Community Bank & Trust;
Johnny’s, 1129 S. 8th St.,
Sheboygan 53081, $217,000,
Community Bank & Trust;
Johnson Wood Products, W2795 Hwy. N. Plymouth 53073, $50,000, M&I Marshall & Ilsley Bank;
Kaps Siding Service, 710 Union Ave., Sheboygan 53081, $80,000,
Associated Bank;
Kirkwood Holdings, 616 W.
Oakwood Rd., Oak Creek 53154, $300,000, Milwaukee Western Bank;
Quizno’s-Moorland, Moorland Commons, New Berlin 53151, $150,000, Community Bank & Trust;
RILC, 1400 S. Grand Ave., Waukesha 53186, $600,000, Waukesha State Bank;
Serpro of Milwaukee North, N114 W18605 Clinton Dr.,
Germantown 53022, $150,000, M&I Marshall & Ilsley Bank;
Seven Stones Center for Wellness, 1910 & 1924 N. Farwell Ave., Milwaukee 53202, $90,000, Park Bank;
Sheila’s Town Fryer Restaurant, 116 N. Main St., Burlington 53105, $150,000, First Banking Center;
Roger Stevens Corp., 428 E.
Wisconsin Ave., Milwaukee 53202, $138,500, Bank One;
Stockade Restaurant & Pub,
I-94, Delafield 53018, $538,000, Wisconsin Business Development Finance Corp.;
Sussex General Rental Center, N70 W25156 Indian Grass Ln.,
Sussex 53089, $70,000, First Bank
Financial Centre;
TNS Transmissions, 4004 S.
Kinnickinnic Ave., St. Francis 53225, $65,000, State Financial Bank;
Triumph Transport, 5005 S. 6th St., Milwaukee 53221, $150,000, Citizens Bank of Mukwonago;
Williamson Family Dentistry, 119 S. Silver Lake St., Oconomowoc 53066, $402,865, Fist Bank
Financial Centre;
Wisconsin Towing And Auto Service, 223 W. Grand Ave., Port Washington 53080, $22,000, Port
Washington State Bank;
Wood By Design, 5139 W. Clinton Ave., Milwaukee 53233, $162,000,
Wells Fargo Bank.
Industrial Revenue Bonding
Three southeastern Wisconsin companies are planning expansions that will partly
be financed through Industrial Revenue Bonding, according to the state Department of Commerce. The expansions are expected to lead to the creation of 59
new jobs. The projects are:
Badger Color Concentrates, Inc., Mukwonago, $2.3 million –
The company produces color concentrates for the plastics industry. It will construct and equip a 49,960-square-foot manufacturing facility. The project is expected to retain 25 jobs and create 42 jobs over the next three years at an average wage of $13.71/hour. The total project cost is $4.1 million.
Cost of Wisconsin, Inc., Town of Polk, Washington County, $3.5 million – This design/builder specializes in the fabrication, manufacturing and field installation of a variety of simulated environments in venues such as casinos, zoos, and museums. The company will acquire and equip a vacant 100,000-square-foot manufacturing facility. The project is expected to retain 51 jobs and create 10 jobs over the next three years at an average wage of $16.38/hour. The total project cost is $4,025,000.
Rytec Corp., Jackson, $1. 5 million – Rytec Corp. manufactures high-speed rolling and folding doors for the industrial, commercial and cold storage markets. Made of a flexible, durable fabric, these doors are available in a variety of roll-up or folding styles. The company will construct and equip a 29,000-square-foot addition to its existing plant. The project will retain 67 jobs and create seven jobs over the next three years at an average wage of $15.00/hour. The total project cost is $2,558,000.

Jan. 4, 2002 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

Brad Fierst has been promoted from project engineer to assistant project manager at CG Schmidt in Milwaukee. Fierst is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Platteville with a bachelor’s degree in construction management and a minor in occupational safety. He has been with the company for three years.
Ron Luskin has been promoted to the position of senior associate, business development, at HGA Architects & Engineers in Milwaukee. He has been with the firm since 1999. The firm has also promoted David Janous to the position of senior associate.
Mary Denis has been promoted to the newly created position of vice president of marketing for the Greater Milwaukee Convention & Visitors Bureau, where she had been vice president of tourism sales & marketing. The new position will focus on leisure travel, cultural tourism, Web site and e-commerce marketing, and visitor information services. Denis has been with the bureau for more than 10 years, having been hired as tourism promotion manager in February 1991.
Jeff White has been hired as regional sales manager for Minnesota, Iowa and South Dakota for St. Francis-based Wixon Fontarome. He has been in the food industry for six years, and was previously employed by another large ingredients company.
The Rev. Christopher Irelan has been named director of planned giving at Concordia University of Wisconsin, in Mequon. The university has also hired Brian Prochnow as financial analyst.
Veronica Mone and James J. Povlich have been promoted to the position of senior vice president in the Milwaukee office of Marsh, a risk and insurance services firm. Mone has been with Marsh for 14 years. Povlich joined Marsch in 1985. The firm has also named Steven J. Kolter as a senior vice president. He joined Marsh in 1989.
Renee Dudley has been appointed president and chief executive officer of the Walker’s Point Development Corp. Since August 2000, he had been the organization’s senior vice president of finance.
Tracy Nolan has been named president of the Wisconsin/Illinois region, Midwest area, for Verizon Wireless. She had been president of the Upstate New York region, assuming that position in 2000 when Frontier Cellular in Rochester, N.Y., joined Verizon. Nolan holds a degree in market research/management from Clarkson University in Potsdam, N.Y.
Robert L. Sowinski has joined the management team at Diversified Insurance Services, an independent agency in Waukesha. Sowinski has assumed the role of president of the firm. Jim McCormick, meanwhile, becomes chairman and CEO of Diversified., and will remain as president of the LLC. Sowinski, a graduate of Marquette University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Pharmacy, has started and built a number of Milwaukee-area companies during his career. Those include Vision Insurance Plan of America, and Stein Optical Centers. Most recently, Sowinski served as president of Milwaukee-based Substance Abuse Management, Inc.
Laurie Maduscha has been named the new vice president-support, of the corporate banking division of North Shore Bank, based in Brookfield, while Jim Andritsch has been named assistant vice president-business banking officer. Maduscha joined North Shore with more than 12 years’ of banking experience, including positions at Firstar, Bank One and Associated Bank. Andritsch has been with North Shore for nearly two years.
Audra Levy has been named assistant news director at Today’s TMJ4 television station. Levy joined the WTMJ TV in 1998.
Paula Carlo has been hired as director of sales and business development at Home Care Medical in New Berlin. With six years in health-care-related management and sales, she most recently worked for VCM/Gateway.
December 7, 2001 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

New products, new services new locations, new businesses
Link Community Financial Services, a cooperative venture of Community BANCGROUP and a leading local investment firm, has opened a new office on the premises of Lincoln State Bank at 14000 W. National Ave. at the corner of Sunnyslope Road in New Berlin. Link opened its first office in the Franklin State Bank building at 7000 S. 76th St. in Franklin, earlier this year.
According to Edward H. Cichurski, president of Community BANCGROUP Financial Services, “Link Community Financial Services has been so successful in assisting investors during these volatile times that we have opened an additional office in New Berlin, an area vital to the expansion of our services. Our customers can come to us for something as simple as a single stock transaction or as complex as a multi-faceted retirement program. As opposed to many brokerage houses or other investment firms, we partner with a variety of providers with a demonstrated capability in offering such services as brokerage transactions, mutual funds, advanced investment tools, insurance and individualized financial strategies.”
Richard Finco, a Link representative, will be located at the New Berlin office. He holds an MBA and is a Certified Long-Term Care Consultant (CLTC.
In addition to the Franklin and New Berlin offices, Link is planning to open several more centers in the next two years.
Andrew Automotive Group has enhanced its technology and has added square footage at its facility at 1500 W. Silver Spring Dr. in Glendale. The upgrade includes auto robots that computerize measurements for repairs within a new 14,000-square-foot collision-repair facility.
“The computerized system allows us to measure within two millimeters of factory specs for extensive repairs, which ultimately saves time and money while enhancing accuracy,” said body shop director Steve Marek.
The auto group includes Chevrolet, Nissan and Toyota dealerships. The collision-repair center accommodates all makes and models of vehicles, said president and owner Andy Schlesinger. The addition of the facility makes the company a full-service operation. Previously, the business sent its body work to other companies.
Big Systems has moved to a new location, purchasing a building of approximately 6,000 square feet at 12599 W. Lancaster Ave. in Butler. Company President Dave Thornton said the new facility provides expanded warehouse and shipping facilities. It previously rented space in Brookfield.
Big Systems was founded in 1994 as a dealer of digital printing equipment.
The business service firm Schenck & Associates has changed its name to Schenck Business Solutions – introducing a new brand identity, and has consolidated its Milwaukee facilities in a 16,000-square-foot office space at 11414 W. Park Pl. on Milwaukee’s far northwest side. Schenck consolidated offices in Brookfield and Fox Point at the Liberty One at Park Place location, in a move handled by Wangard Partners of Wauwatosa.
The name change “better represents who we are and all of the services we offer,” said Kermit Ellefson, president of Schenck Business Solutions, which has its headquarters in Appleton. The firm, founded more than 70 years ago, now has 12 offices in Wisconsin and more than 550 employees.
Along with the name change, the company has introduced a new, elliptical-shaped logo that Ellefson says “illustrates the firm’s business direction – forward, it’s range of services – sweeping, and its innovative solutions – unbound.” The logo features a contemporary “person” with arching limbs “that personifies the fluid and constant flow of unique ideas the firm produces in this ever-changing world,” he added. The logo goes along with a new tag line, “Better People. Better Results.”
Menomonee Falls-based Cousins Subs has opened a new store at 3815 N. Brookfield Rd. in the Towne Centre shopping center in Brookfield. The new location will be operated by Bill Specht Jr., son of Cousins co-founders Bill and Sandy Specht, and by Nick and Kim Gierach, friends of the Specht family. The new operators have extensive experience within the Cousins system, Specht Jr. with 14 years and Nick Gierach with nine years of sandwich making and store managing, and Kim Gierach with experience in the corporate office.
Cousins William Specht and James Sheppard started the sandwich restaurant in Milwaukee in 1972; there are now 38 company stores. In addition, the company has 128 franchise locations in 10 states. The company has three company stores and 200 franchise stores under development. Its newest markets are Los Angeles and San Diego.
With the promotion of Mark Widmann, the CPA firm Sitzberger & Co. is now known as Sitzberger, Widmann & Co. Widmann has been a shareholder with the firm since last year, and has more than 20 years’ of public accounting experience.
A business featuring upscale cat and dog beds – The Barking Cat — has opened in Wauwatosa. Brothers John and Chad Reimer have founded the business, which is currently being operated out of John’s home but which will eventually be expanded to store-front operation with a variety of upscale pet products, John said. Manufacturing is being contracted out to area woodcrafting firms.
Business has been good so far, John said, with publicity generated at a July show in Los Angeles, and with mention in the current issue of Dog Fancy magazine as one of the most innovative pet products of the year, the Barking Cat is also marketing products off its Web site, www.thebarkingcat.net. Products are being shipped throughout the US, John said.
Along with the beds, the firm is also offering the Kitty Kabinet – a litter box is enclosed in a cat-accessible cabinet. The firm also has feeding stations as well as fish tank stands and hoods.
Wireless telephone industry veteran Tim Dunne has returned to the industry with the opening of Dunne’s Digital City, with locations at 3815 N. Brookfield Rd. in Brookfield and at 6734 W. North Ave. in Wauwatosa. The stores offer telephone services and products from a variety of digital companies, such as VoiceStream, Nextel and SunCom.
Dunne intends to open two or three more stores in the coming year.
He was a former owner of Carphones Plus.
The certified public accounting firm of Bray & Co. has moved to 11707 W. North Ave. in Wauwatosa, 10 blocks west of its former location.
KeleMarie Lyons, formerly a principal of H2D, a Milwaukee-based corporate image management firm, has launched Pinnacle XL. The firm is a full-service consultancy offering strategy and implementation planning for sales, marketing, operations and finance areas.
Pinnacle XL is located at 1915 N. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. in Milwaukee.
Beamee and Creative Media Works have formed a partnership.
Beamee is an interactive new-media company that offers Web design and development, e-commerce, CD-ROM, corporate identification, and print-material services. Most recently, the company added mobile Internet services for cell phones, pagers and PDAs.
Creative Media Works is a marketing communications firm specializing in brand building, public relations, Internet strategy, promotions, copywriting and collateral design.
“We feel the partnership is unique for this market where few local Web companies combine traditional marketing strategies with these evolving technologies,” said Todd Dunsirn, president of Beamee.
The two companies share office space at 301 N. Water St. in Milwaukee.
Dec. 7, 2001 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

HIPAA requirements concern small health-plan CEO
By Charles Rathmann, SBT Reporter
Large and small HMOs alike are preparing for the regulatory onslaught represented by the privacy and security provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
Small HMOs, however, just may feel more of a hit than larger ones — at least that is the suspicion of Pat Jerominski, president and CEO of Independent Care, Inc. (iCare) — a Milwaukee-based health plan for the disabled.
“I am surprised that there hasn’t been more reaction by the insurance community related to these new requirements,” Jerominski said. “A lot of them are right now kind of stunned and evaluating the impact. The idea behind it is probably a positive one. But I am not quite sure that there was a lot of thought given to the economic impact of this and the civil rights impact with confidentiality.”
iCare is a comprehensive Medicaid health care and social services program for Milwaukee County residents who receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits. The organization provides medical, behavioral health, dental, vision and prescription drug insurance coverage to its 4,500 members through a care coordination model. Case management and intervention on the part of iCare helps Medicaid helps eliminate problems associated with duplication of or conflicting medical treatments — and hopefully achieves some cost savings as well.
The HMO was initiated as the result of a 1994 research project that suggested that the disabled poor would do well under managed care. At that point iCare — unique in the nation according to Jerominski — could be formed only by jumping through several legal and regulatory hoops. Partnerships had to be formed with both a nonprofit — Milwaukee Center for Independent Living — and a for-profit licensed HMO — in this case, Humana.
“We started out as shared risk,” Jerominski said. “If we had 2% profit, anything above that would be shared with the state — same thing for losses. This was in effect since 1997.”
Shared risk refers to a system of insurance where the administrator of a plan receives compensation based on reduced cost and usage of services by patients. Part of the money not used goes into a shared risk pool.
However, over time, iCare demonstrated stable-enough fiscal returns to convince the state to allow it to operate as a more traditional HMO.
“We now receive a per-member per-month fee for all state-provided services excluding chiropractic,” Jerominski said. “We are the only one with full-risk capitation.”
Ensuring quality care and black-ink fiscal results has been a challenge, Jerominski said, because of the nature of the population served.
“The population is different than we supposed,” Jerominski said. “In addition to physical problems, 42% have chronic mental illness. There are also co-morbid illnesses like diabetes, hypertension and musculo-skeletal issues. Of our premium revenue, over 25% goes to pharmacy costs. In traditional settings, pharmacy costs are rising but of premium revenue, it is still only 10% to 15%.”
So Jerominski has enough on her hands even before she starts worrying about the privacy and security provisions of HIPAA.
HIPAA headaches
Jerominski said iCare hired a consultant to analyze the impact the privacy and security requirements of HIPAA would have on our operations.
“We will be bearing significant administrative loads,” Jerominski said. “This will significantly affect all our internal systems — including our network infrastructure — one of our core assets. The security and the documentation standards that need to be developed and followed are significant. We are beginning the process of the cost analysis. We need to identify the budget impact.”
To complicate matters further, iCare used to outsource many of the functions that would be regulated under the HIPAA security rule, but recently opted to take on those functions themselves.
“We made a system conversion as of March 1 — we had subcontracted with the Humana network — but pulled it in-house,” Jerominski said. “We now have more control, but we only have 15 employees. In the meantime, we have the same standards as a Humana, which has thousands of employees.”
But there is an upside, according to Jerominski. HIPAA will also require health-care organizations — providers, insurance carriers and others — to utilize a standard format for information interchange. Jerominski said iCare will probably benefit from this requirement.
“Up front, there will be a lot of cost,” Jerominski said. “But because we are in the regulatory environment and we deal with Medicare and Medicaid … Medicare has different requirements than Medicaid. Right now, the identifiers for services rendered can be different and the documentation can be different. One reason the feds did this was to bring these two programs together. But still, consultants will have a field day with this.”
While efficiencies should be gained by streamlining documentation between Medicare and Medicaid, substantial work must be done on the federal and state levels to make those efficiencies a reality.
I called the Department of Health and Human Services, and when we ask them about this — that say ‘we don’t know yet.’ They are not even preparing for it yet,” Jerominski said. “Provider files and codes are not up to date yet for Medicaid.”
Apart from the IT and aspects of the privacy and security rules that affect hardware and software, another challenge will be re-educating iCare’s wetware — the people.
“We have situations — because of the clients we serve — where we have care coordinators and case managers that talk in the hallways about a certain case,” Jerominski said. “How do we train people to understand you can not talk in an elevator or outside your cubicle? People with this privacy act might focus on the systems side — but they also have to concentrate on their personnel issues.”
Nov. 9, 2001 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

Employee needs to be self-disciplined; manager needs to offer constant feedback
By Daniel Schroeder, for SBT
Question: We are a recruiting firm for computer professionals. About four years ago, one of our employees, a man in his 30s, decided he wanted to operate out of his home. Part of his reasoning was that his productivity would increase if he saved time commuting and avoided all of the distractions in the office. After four years of this, he has decided he wants to come back inside. He tells us that he’s gotten tired of ducking into the laundry room to field phone calls while his babies are screaming in the background. Wasn’t telecommuting going to solve his productivity problems? What are the keys to productivity that he evidently is missing?
Answer: While some people adapt well to working from home, telecommuting isn’t for everyone. Still, more and more people are working from home – the Bureau of National Affairs tells us that at least 15 million Americans do so everyday. Being self-starting and self-disciplined is the foundation for being successful working from home. Absent these attributes, people can really struggle with the lack of structure offered by a home-based office. Additionally, as your question points out, home is not always the most professional setting. Conducting telephone conversations or interviews with crying babies in the background simply does not send the right message.
How could this employee have been more successful? Five suggestions come to mind:
Act as if you work in a traditional office: Establish a regular work routine in terms of starting time, break time, lunch time, quitting time, etc. Get dressed and establish a part of your home as your workspace.
Stay in touch with your traditional office: Maintain communication with your colleagues and attend meetings on-site, as needed. Don’t wait for the phone to ring – initiate contact with your teammates.
Separate your personal life from your professional life: Babysitting, watching Oprah, visiting with neighbors, etc., should be done outside of work hours. Make time for your personal life – it’s very important- but recognize that it normally doesn’t lend to staying productive.
Take regular breaks: One of the traps of working at home is to simply be “on” from morning until evening. Unless you’re careful, you can become a prisoner of your home office. Schedule times to get up and get away from the task at-hand.
Use information technology to stay in the loop: You can make use of software programs and Internet search skills to access and use a variety of information. Working at home does not mean that you have to be isolated.
All employees, whether they work at home or in the office, can benefit from reflecting on the techniques they are (and are not) employing to be productive. Think about it. What if you could get even 15 minutes more productive work done each day of the week? Simple math tells us that would bring a gain of 75 minutes each week and five hours each month. That’s a significant improvement. What if each of your colleagues realized the same gains?
Undoubtedly, you’d be setting performance standards for the rest of the company.
To become more productive, here are some factors for employees to consider:
Begin each day with a distinct sense of purpose: Each day when you enter the office, decide what must be accomplished. What’s the goal for today? How does it impact tomorrow? The next day?
Work as efficiently as possible: Rather than simply plunging into your work, spend a few minutes planning the approach you will use and making sure that you have the necessary tools and resources.
Keep your workspace clean: At the risk of stating the obvious, clutter is unproductive. Time spent looking for misplaced items is simply wasted time. At the end of each workday, clean up your workspace. You’ll feel better in the morning confronting “clean” rather than “chaos.”
Be on time: Another simple truth – you cannot be productive if you are not present. Joining the meeting after it has started slows everyone down and beginning your day late means that you have less time to accomplish the day’s work. Rule number one for personal productivity should be, “Be on time.”
Avoid procrastination: This is an obvious suggestion. You can’t be productive if you don’t get started. To avoid falling into this trap, start with the worst task first. In this way, subsequent tasks will serve as rewards.
Avoid workaholism: Just as obvious is the suggestion to avoid having work become the focus of your life. While some workaholics can be high achieving, productive, and healthy, over time, for most people the outcome of a steady diet of work and more work will be stress and burnout. Learn to balance your personal and professional lives.
Prioritize: Focus on what’s important by attaching a level of significance to each task with which you are confronted. Is it important? How important is it compared with what else is on my desk? Must I take care of this now? What happens if I wait until later? Learn to realize that not everything that comes across your desk needs to be attended to now.
Stay in control of your desk: Check your mail box/in-basket twice per day. Handle each document only one time – take action on it, file it, or pitch it. Do not create stacks (remember the suggestion to keep your desk clean?). Same thing for e-mail. Check it twice per day and scan what requires action and what can be put in the trash. Permanently delete messages that you will not refer to in the future – they are nothing more than clutter-the electronic equivalent of stacks of paper on your desk.
In order for your employee to become as productive as possible, he will need to incorporate these (and other) strategies into his behavioral repertoire. To do so, will require him to receive feedback and coaching about how he is doing. That is an important role that you can play. From my way of thinking, this is one of the most important things a manager can do: Offer feedback about the processes employees are using, as well as the outcomes they are achieving. By focusing on both the how and the what of their functions, employees can become more productive regardless of where they carry out their work.
Daniel Schroeder, Ph.D. of Organization Development Consultants, Inc. (ODC), in Brookfield provides HR Connection. Small Business Times readers who would like to see an issue addressed in a future column may reach him at 262-827-1901, via fax at 262-827-8383, or via e-mail at schroeder@odcons.com.
November 9, 2001 Small Business Times, Milwaukee