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Park Towne Development: News & Notes

Madison and Middleton are facing off about TIF. Madison has declared that changing the TIF legislation would make it unfair for Madison (see article below). Madison is still mad that Spectrum Brands is moving from Madison to Middleton, even though Madison declined to talk with the consultant hired by Spectrum because Spectrum wanted to remain anonymous. I wonder how many other companies Madison has declined to talk with because they wanted to remain anonymous.

My sense is that the State Legislators will probably change the TIF despite the objections of Madison but time will tell.

Have a great week!

Joe

 

Development News for the Week of:    2/4/2012 -  2/10/2012  

MADISON OFFICALS SAY PROPOSED TIF CHANGE WOULD GIVE MIDDLETON 'UNFAIR' EDGE

 

Madison and Middleton are at odds over state legislation introduced this week that would help Middleton deliver financial support to help four companies - including Spectrum Brands - expand there. The bill would loosen restrictions on tax incremental financing in Middleton.

 

CITY APPROVES ORDINANCE PROVIDING EQUAL BENEFITS TO EMPLOYEES IN DOMESTIC PARTNERSHIPS

 

The Board of Public Works approved an ordinance requiring employers receiving city contracts to provide equal benefits to employees in domestic partnerships at a public meeting Wednesday. Madison does not presently require employers to provide equal benefits to married couples and individuals in domestic partnerships.

 

NERAD UNVEILS $12.4 MILLION PLAN TO CLOSE SCHOOL ACHIEVEMENT GAP

 

Madison Superintendent Dan Nerad's plan for closing the School District's persistent racial and socioeconomic achievement gaps calls for spending an estimated $105.6 million over the next five years on a mix of new and existing strategies.

  

COUNTY PARKS COMMISSION VOTES TO ACCEPT GRANT DESPITE PROTESTERS

 

Despite a large turnout of trapping protesters, the Dane County Parks Commission voted Wednesday night to accept $162,500 from the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Fund to help pay for a 25-acre addition to the McCarthy County Park near Sun Prairie.

 

 WILL THE BLOCK 100 PLAN BE DROPPED IF COMMISSION OBJECTS TO RAZING BUILDINGS?

 

In an apparent effort to force the city's hand, the Rowland-Frautschi family sent the chairman of the Urban Design Commission a letter Wednesday threatening to abandon a $10 million project to redevelop the 100 block of State Street if the commission does not support its plans to raze two buildings, including a landmark, on West Mifflin Street.

 

FINDORFF AND SON WIN CENTRAL LIBRARY BID AGAIN

 

The company that won a bidding war for the Central Library project the first time was chosen again, making J.H. Findorff and Son the likely contractor to handle the $29.7 million reconstruction.

 

STATE MAKES PROGRESS ON $75 MILIION JOINT MUSEUM PROJECT

 

After a decade of anticipation, the state is moving forward to develop a $75 million joint Wisconsin Historical and Veterans museum that could be part of a larger private project with private offices, retail space and parking in Downtown Madison.

 

THRIVE HOPES TO LEARN WHAT YOUNG PROFESSIONALS LIKE AND DON'T LIKE ABOUT MADISON

 

Thrive is calling together a group of UW-Madison graduate students and young professionals to find out what they think the Madison area offers them - and what it lacks. The UW is putting a number of resources into these people, training them in truly world-class programs. So if we can get their input about what would make them stay in the Madison region, that would be a big return on our investment," said Jenn Post Tyler, interim executive vice president of Thrive, the eight-county economic development group that includes Madison.

 

OVERTURE CENTER NAMES TED DEDEE PRESIDENT & CEO

 

Overture Center Foundation (OCF), the private nonprofit organization that took over management of Overture Center for the Arts on January 1, has named longtime performing arts executive Ted DeDee as the new President and CEO of the 200,000 square-foot, seven-venue performing arts center in downtown Madison.

 

SPECIAL MEETING OF CITY COUNCIL AVOIDS POWER STRUGGLE WITH MAYOR

 

Turns out that the alder revolt that was not a revolt really wasn't a revolt. Last weekend's special meeting of the City Council ended up being quite a"snooze," reports prolific community blogger and former Ald. Brenda Konkel, the only reporter to sit through the entire four-hour meeting.

 

UNION LIKELY TO TWEAK CONTRACT TO HELP MATC PLUG BUDGET HOLE

 

The union representing most of Madison Area Technical College's full-time workers has tentatively agreed to amend its contract in order to mitigate layoffs and to help the school plug a budget hole heading into 2012-13

 

PROGRAM WOULD MATCH JOBLESS AND COMPANIES NEEDING WORKERS

 

In a rare show of cooperation, state lawmakers are advancing a plan to encourage private companies to offer on-the-job training to people receiving unemployment benefits.

 

CITY BOARD OK'S PLAN FOR MORE CHANGES TO MALLARDS' STADIUM

 

The Madison Board of Parks Commissioners on Wednesday recommended approval of a plan that would allow the Madison Mallards to make major changes to Warner Park stadium for the second year in a row.

  

STATE'S BUDGET CONDITION WORSENS; $143 MILLION SHORTFALL IN 2013 FORESEEN

 

The cost of new legislation, a substantial reduction in tax revenues and a series of outstanding debts have the state facing a budget shortfall of more than $143 million in 2013.

 

 

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 Around the State and Points Elsewhere
 

 

SCHLITZ PARK DEVELOPERS HAVE BIG FUTURE PLANS

 

The Brewery Works Inc., the ownership group of Schlitz Park, is working on a $30 million renovation project for the downtown Milwaukee office complex. However, the group has even bigger plans for further development of Schlitz Park. The group's boldest vision is a four-story, 160,000-square-foot class A office space addition that would be built on top of the 450,000-square-foot RiverCenter building, the largest building in the complex, located along the Milwaukee River.

 

SHINE TIF EXPANSION, ANNEXATION PROPOSAL GETS COMMISSION OK

 

No members of the public attended or spoke at the Janesville Plan Commission's two public hearings Monday night on proposed TIF district expansion and annexation for the SHINE Medical Technologies development.

 

NIAGRA PUTS HOPES IN REDEVELOPMENT

 

Standing in ankle-deep snow on a bluff overlooking infrastructure that once supported the Niagara paper mill, Nick Ghere talks about the future of the property.

 

COUNCIL TO ADDRESS LAND SALE FOR POTENTIAL CASINO

 

The Sheboygan Common Council will take up both the sale of land for a future casino and the creation of a combined police dispatch system. On Thursday, the city's Redevelopment Authority voted to enter into a contract with a northern Wisconsin Indian tribe and the owner of the Blue Harbor Resort to negotiate a development agreement in the South Pier district.

 

 

  

STATE TO RECEIVE $140 MILLION TO SETTLE MORTGAGE CLAIMS

 

Wisconsin would receive $140 million from the country's five largest mortgage servicers as part of a proposed $25 billion, federal-state agreement over foreclosure abuses, fraud and unacceptable mortgage servicing practices nationwide, state officials said Thursday.

 

SUBURBAN TECHNOLOGY COMPANY TO MOVE TO SCHLITZ PARK

 

A suburban firm that provides technology to the financial services industry will be moving to downtown Milwaukee's Schlitz Park. The firm, which wasn't named in the Wednesday announcement from Schlitz Park developer Gary Grunau, plans to move 50 employees to 18,000 square feet at Schlitz Park's Bottlehouse A building, 1610 N. 2nd St. That move will occur June 1.

 

MSOE PARKING STRUCTURE, SOCCER FIELD GAINS ANOTHER OK

 

The Milwaukee School of Engineering's proposed 780-space parking structure, topped with a collegiate soccer field, has won another approval. The city Plan Commission is recommending zoning approval for the project. It would be the first development within the county-owned strip of vacant land made available after the Park East Freeway stub was torn down.

 

PLAN COMMISSION OPPOSES STUDENT APARTMENTS IN RIVERWEST

 

A $35 million development that would bring 275 student apartments to Milwaukee's Riverwest neighborhood has run into strong opposition at the city Plan Commission. The commission Monday unanimously recommended against rezoning a site, now occupied by a warehouse at 634 E. Keefe Ave., to accommodate the apartments.

 

SHOREWOOD CONSIDERS PROSPECTS AT EX-CATHOLIC LIFE BUILDING

 

The former headquarters of Catholic Family Life Insurance is among possible future development sites in Shorewood, according to village officials. The 50,200-square-foot office building, at 1572 E. Capitol Drive, was left vacant after Catholic Family was merged into the larger Catholic Knights, based at 1100 W. Wells St., in Milwaukee. 

 

HEAD OF STATE'S NEW ECONOMIC DEVELOMENT GROUP TOUTS AGGRESSICE AGENDA
 

 The state's economic development arm is working on plans to boost Wisconsin exports, to help companies locate in Wisconsin and to provide funds for promising young companies, said Paul Jadin, chief executive of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp.


STATE'S AIR NATIONAL GUARD WOULD LOSE PLANES UNDER PROPOSAL

 

As part of the plan to cut $487 billion from the U.S. defense budget over the next decade, the Wisconsin Air National Guard would lose planes. If Congress approves the Air Force's budget cutting, the 128th Air Refueling Wing based in Milwaukee would shrink from 12 to 10 KC-135 Stratotankers.

 

U.S. NEEDS $300B IN SWERE, WATER WORK, EPA SAYS

 

A federal study shows municipalities nationwide need more than $300 billion worth of essential upgrades to long overlooked water and sewer systems over the next 20 years.

The need is acute in Northeastern states with older systems such as New York, which needs $29.7 billion worth of improvements, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer said Wednesday.

                

REPORT: STUDENT LOAN DEBT LOOMS AS NEXT MORTGAGE-STYLE CRISIS

 

Student loan debt may pose the next mortgage-style economic crisis, according to a report by the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys. Four out of five U.S. bankruptcy attorneys in a new national survey said potential clients with student loan debt have increased "significantly" or "somewhat" in the last three or four years. About half (48%) of the 860 bankruptcy attornies surveyed reported "significant" increases in such potential clients.


BERNANKE STICKS WITH LOW-RATE POLICY AT HEARING

 

Ben Bernanke on Tuesday reiterated the Federal Reserve's plan to hold interest rates near record lows until at least late 2014. The Fed chairman stuck with the three-year time line at a Senate Budget Committee hearing, even after the government last week reported a surge in January hiring that drove the unemployment rate down to a three-year low.