The Daily Reporter articles from January 2008

The Daily Reporter archives from January 2008

Delavan mansion meets rough market.
January 2, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder The Allyn Mansion in Delavan will close its doors as a bed and breakfast Saturday after 22 years in the business. Its owners, Joe Johnson, 67, and Ron Markwell, 71, are putting the 123-year-old mansion up for sale,...

Portland hospital construction crew drops the ball for New Year's.
January 2, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan Larry Redlin and his crew called all around looking for a New Year's Eve ball like the one at Times Square in New York. None of the electrical or sheet-metal subcontractors he called had anything, or at least anything...

Sartori Foods: New cheese plant in Plymouth is 'Gouda' to go.
January 2, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder Peter Marsing is glad his company didn't decide to rush things. "We'd been kicking around the idea of building a new cheese plant for about a year but had been talking seriously about it for six months," said...

Winning bid soothes Wisconsin developer.
January 3, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder Paul Borsheim has cooled off a bit since November. Two months ago, the president of Northside Development LLC, La Crosse, was an angry man, and that anger was directed at the city of La Crosse. Borsheim, who's...

Ozaukee County in Wisconsin gets smart about growth.
January 3, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan Ozaukee County's residents and leaders realize they can't have it both ways. The county's pastoral ambiance attracts outsiders to the region. That's exactly what would be lost if those visitors are given permission...

WisDOT poised to partner with school districts.
January 3, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder The Wisconsin Department of Transportation might soon become a hired hand on school district projects. That doesn't mean school districts need the help, nor does it mean they would be required to ask for it. A...

Wisconsin's Grand Chute finds fill lacking.
January 3, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan There's some weird fill at the site of a proposed fire station in Grand Chute. As of Wednesday, no one associated with the project knew where it came from or who put it there. What they did know was that the fill had...

Recently deceased Ken Hendricks construction projects to carry on without him.(Obituary)
January 4, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder Ken Hendricks may be gone, but the work he started will continue. The founder, chairman and CEO of ABC Supply Co. Inc. and the founder and owner of Hendricks Development Group, both based in Beloit, was working on...

Milwaukee's Housing authority looks for developer to build assisted-living facility.
January 4, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan Milwaukee's housing authority is looking for a developer to help build its first assisted-living facility for seniors at Becher Court. "If we can keep people in place longer and give them the ability to live in a...

Energy crisis takes back seat to sidewalk heat in Wisconsin Legislature.
January 4, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder The country was in the throes of an energy crisis when Wisconsin banned heated sidewalks in the 1970s. Now, there's a movement in the state Legislature to repeal that ban. "We still are in an energy crisis,"...

Lafarge North America has 39,000 tons of cement stockpiled at the Port of Milwaukee.
January 4, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan Lafarge North America has roughly 39,000 tons of cement stockpiled at the Port of Milwaukee. Bruce Scott, Lafarge's senior terminal manager at the port, hopes that stockpile lasts until March. Every winter, the...

Duck Pond ballpark project in Madison comes in high and outside.
January 7, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder The price to renovate the Duck Pond ballpark in Madison isn't exactly peanuts or Cracker Jacks. A feasibility study and preliminary architectural plan that Eppstein Uhen Architects, Madison, presented to the city...

Gander Mountain takes a hike out of Madison.
January 7, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder Gander Mountain is pulling up stakes in Madison and setting up a new camp 23 miles away. But company executives are confident Madison-area shoppers will make the trek to the new store in the town of Burke, said...

I-94 pits passion against pragmatism in Wisconsin.
January 7, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan At least a few citizens commented that commenting is useless when given the chance to voice their opinions about the proposed reconstruction plan for Interstate 94. Wayne Veley of Greenfield called the Wisconsin...

Oconto laments road to nowhere.
January 8, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder The road through Oconto is killing the city's chances for future development. The Wisconsin Department of Transportation bought 160 acres in the city last year as part of WisDOT's Highway 41 expansion project....

Brewery developers embrace green mandate in Milwaukee.
January 8, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan Jim Haertel saw red when he was pushed to think green for his Pabst Brewery site projects. But the owner of three buildings at Pabst in Milwaukee said Monday he's come to favor mandating green-building techniques on...

Parking prices handicap Milwaukee development.
January 8, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan Parking is the only thing making renting office space in downtown Milwaukee more expensive than in the suburbs, where tenants get free parking on surface lots. Tenants can expect to pay about $4 or $5 more than in the...

Water worries in La Crosse work against residents.
January 8, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder Alex Skover has lived in his home on Cliffwood Lane in La Crosse for 40 years. If the city has its way, he won't be living there much longer. Skover's and six other homes are in an area classified as a flood...

Neighborhood in Madison has finally found some allies.
January 9, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder Madison Alderman Brian Solomon knows his district. "The residents here don't speak with one voice," he said. "There are a lot of different kinds of people here that care about a number of different things." ...

Garver Feed Mill in Madison proposals under scrutiny.
January 9, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder The questions that decide who gets to redevelop the Garver Feed Mill in Madison probably won't be answered by the end of the month, but they'll at least be asked. Dan Rolfs, community development project manager for...

Wisconsin developer heads for rehab and holds up progress on some projects.
January 9, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan Grandview Development Group is telling municipal officials in that it intends to proceed with two of its residential projects after part-owner Dennis Gritzmacher pled guilty to charges of tax evasion in July and was...

Milwaukee's neighborhood near Hartung Quarry gets its wish to bury history.
January 10, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan Back in the 1950s, when Carol Nerby's husband, Bob, was a blaster at the Hartung Quarry, the area was far away from Milwaukee's richer neighborhoods. "The quarry seemed like the boondocks out there," Carol Nerby...

University of Wisconsin-La Crosse wants to make it to the meet on time.
January 10, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse finally figured out how to pay for the construction of the Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex. The university will build it in phases, a solution so simple it begs the...

Eminent domain hangs over property dispute in Milwaukee.
January 10, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan Eminent domain is a tactic that generates a wide range of reactions, but it's not often that a city uses it to get two neighbors to negotiate. That's exactly what the city of Milwaukee is doing in its move to use...

Madison urban development group goes national.
January 10, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder Madison's Urban Open Space Foundation has a new name and is looking at a much bigger playing field. The group, which works with communities to preserve green space in downtowns, is now the Center for Resilient...

Armory building slated to land in Madison's hands.
January 11, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder A decision that might still be three years away from being made in Madison already has city officials talking. Due to a continuing consolidation effort and construction of a new building on the city's east side, the...

Pabst Farms Town Centre at a crossroads in the process.
January 11, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan The proposed Pabst Farms Town Centre would sit at the gateway into Oconomowoc from Interstate 94, and the city's Plan Commission wants to ensure it makes a good first impression. But Developers Diversified Realty's...

Lawsuit plugs We Energies' intake pipe.
January 11, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan Chances are good there will be more litigation no matter what the Department of Natural Resources decides in its second review of the Elm Road power plant's water intake pipe. Clean Wisconsin, which filed a lawsuit in...

Janesville proposes to bridge the gap in their sidewalk system.
January 11, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder Property owners in Janesville without a sidewalk in front of their home or building could find themselves on the hook to pay for one soon. The Janesville City Council is pursuing a citywide sidewalk plan that would...

Wales finally takes the plunge with new sewer system.
January 14, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan Dan "Doc" Dockendorf keeps moving his septic-pumping service west. He's been headed that direction for the last 25 years to stay ahead of the slow progress in sewer service. Dockendorf, the owner of Doc's Sewer...

College campuses in Wisconsin brace for building boom.
January 14, 2008... Byline: Dustin Block The University of Wisconsin-Parkside isn't the biggest school in the state, but it serves as an ideal example of what UW System campuses will experience in coming years. Work is ongoing on the campus' new $25...

State's rangers snare stately stations in Wisconsin.
January 14, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan As the trees in Wisconsin's state forests have grown larger, so have the fire trucks needed to protect them. And bigger trucks need larger garages, and many of the almost 80 ranger stations owned by the Wisconsin...

City books Onalaska Public Library for overdue renovations.
January 14, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder The long wait for renovations at Onalaska Public Library is drawing to a close. The Onalaska Common Council adopted its 2008 capital improvements budget, which includes the $2.69 million library renovation, and will...

"Crash course" in Pewaukee builds confidence and connections.
January 15, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder As an aspiring real estate investor, Cynthia Johnson knew there was one corner of the market she was missing. "In real estate," she said, "the ability to tap into new development is just huge. A friend of mine was...

Mental Health Center in Green Bay competes for LEED.
January 15, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan What's good for the environment is good for patients in a psychiatric ward. At least that's what the designers of the new Brown County Mental Health Center in Green Bay are banking on with their green-building...

Decade-old dispute has Franklin filing suit.
January 15, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan Steven Yttri, general manager of the Oak Creek Water and Sewer Utility, pointed to the word "or," in the order, and said the utility's legal dispute with Franklin isn't straightforward. Franklin is preparing to file...

Student housing in Madison stuck on stepbacks.
January 15, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder Richard Fritz won't have much opposition to getting rid of the old. But when it comes to bringing in the new, the Madison landlord will have to answer to the city. Fritz wants to tear down four houses he owns...

Argument between officials in Milwaukee leaves Coast Guard project adrift.
January 16, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan Milwaukee County officials bristled when a city commission on Monday withheld approval to demolish the Coast Guard station on Lake Michigan. County Supervisor Gerry Broderick said he expected the demolition plan to...

Milwaukee's Sewerage District lays it again.
January 16, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan Waste never takes a day off. It keeps flowing in the sewers no matter how badly the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District needs the waste to stop so the district can fix or inspect a pipe. It's a problem for a pipe...

Evansville heads off referendums at the pass.
January 16, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder No project in Evansville was ever delayed by a referendum. Mayor Sandy Decker wants to keep it that way. Decker and other Evansville officials want to establish an ordinance requiring referendums only for public...

Janesville residents stomp on sidewalk project.
January 16, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder Janesville residents don't want their city to mess with its sidewalk layout even though its incomplete. "If it doesn't need to be fixed, leave it alone," said resident Bill McCoy at a City Council meeting Monday....

Milwaukee Coast Guard Station leaves little to be desired.
January 17, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan Contractors walking out of the cracking and peeling Milwaukee Coast Guard station on Wednesday didn't see much they could salvage from the building. "I don't know if there's anything historic in there anyways," said...

Miron gambles on Milton referendum.
January 17, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder Members of the Milton School Board don't know when they'll run a referendum to build a new high school estimated at $60 million. But the School Board hired an architect and general contractor to help design the...

Wis. Department of Transportation secretary wants gas tax to fuel roadwork.
January 17, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder Maintaining the country's transportation system isn't good enough anymore. The National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Commission presented its report, "Transportation for Tomorrow," to Congress Tuesday,...

Developer returns to Milwaukee's East Side to build on past.
January 17, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan Salvatore J. Palmisano remembers helping his grandfather sell fruits and vegetables to the Italian families on Milwaukee's East Side in the years after World War II. Back then, it was a neighborhood full of families,...

Construction work blamed for Wausau blaze.
January 18, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder A heat gun and a bird's nest are to blame for a fire that damaged the roof and third floor of the historic Yawkey House in Wausau. "We're angry about it," said Gary Walters, the house's curator. "But what can you...

Waukesha County Technical College's auction offers oddball objects.
January 18, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan With students off campus and the online auction house open, it's the perfect time to get a deal on a Monkey Drop Experiment (monkey not included). For a starting bid of only $5, anyone can impress their friends by...

Milwaukee might trim its family trees.
January 18, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan Milwaukee resident John Gilligan argues that government should maintain the city's culture along with its infrastructure. So why, he asks, shouldn't it define what is or isn't a family? Gilligan supports Milwaukee's...

Duck Pond project in Madison short on cash.
January 18, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder Madison Ald. Michael Schumacher said he isn't sure how the Madison Mallards are going to have a $5.6 million stadium renovation done in time for the start of the 2009 season. "If you look at the time line they're...

Former Milwaukee property manager headed for prison.
January 21, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan Andrew Bandy, who pled guilt in February 2007 to defrauding banks while embezzling money from Mallory Properties, was sentenced to 15 months in prison on Thursday. Judge Lynn Adelman of the U.S. Eastern District Court...

Madison wants residents to soak up the sun.
January 21, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder Someone with enough knowledge of solar power to be a consultant could be looking at $90,000 job with the city of Madison for two years. The city is accepting proposals until Feb. 13 for consultation services, and...

Wait will soon be over for repairs to Soldiers Home Chapel in Milwaukee.
January 21, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan Wisconsin congressional delegates and officials at the Department of Veterans Affairs have cleared up a misunderstanding that was holding up the restoration of the Soldiers Home Chapel in Milwaukee. Claude Hutchison,...

Barron County budget bulges with misappropriated funds.
January 21, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan Barron County is investigating claims that former county highway officials scammed roughly $50,000 from the state Department of Transportation. The curious thing is that the employees who allegedly cheated the state...

Evansville's eager to draw more tourists.
January 22, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder The renovation of the historic Eager Building in Evansville came in at almost double its budget and a few weeks behind schedule. But that's OK with the architect, developers and the city. Original estimates...

Reiherzer cements his place in Wisconsin union's history.
January 22, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan Tom Reiherzer will retire at the age of 59 from his post as business manager of the Plasterers and Cement Masons Local 599 on Feb. 1. That's four years later than he planned, and the economic issues that delayed his...

Transmission project sparks coalition outcry in Madison.
January 22, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder Intervention, Kevin Unbehaun said, is the only option. The manager of manufacturing at Madison-based Sub-Zero Freezer Co. Inc. is part of the Coalition for an Underground Alternative, a group composed of a number of...

Recycled paper cuts out construction market share.
January 22, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan The paper wave started to roll when architects and engineers asked their printers to offer recycled paper for construction documents. The request rippled from the printers to their paper distributors and from the...

Recreation on the Root River being explored by Franklin mayor.
January 23, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan Franklin Mayor Tom Taylor wants to spearhead an effort to clean up the Root River so it can be used for recreational boating. The move drew applause from James Smith, former mayor of Racine, who saw condos and boat...

Woodman's bargains with Sun Prairie for plan approval.
January 23, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder Woodman's Food Markets may soon be building a 225,000-square-foot supermarket in Sun Prairie, but it won't be like any other store it's built in Wisconsin or Illinois. "This is definitely the most effort we've had...

Selling water in Wisconsin is all about location, location, location.
January 23, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan When it comes to the business of buying water, location is the most important thing. The cost of installing pipes to deliver the water from seller to buyer dwarfs the difference in cost-per-gallon between utilities,...

Madison steers Allied Drive to WHEDA's front door.
January 24, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder The proposed Allied Drive redevelopment in Madison has all of its city approvals, but that doesn't mean the long-awaited project is going to happen. Madison on Feb. 1 will submit its application for tax credits to...

Germantown developers get new road rules.
January 24, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan Germantown ran into a challenge when it created a minimum size of 5-acre lots for subdivided property on the north end of town. The move was intended to stop the village's population from ballooning, but it also meant...

Neenah mayor sets the time line for clock tower restoration.
January 24, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder Neenah Mayor George Schreck wants the city's clock tower restored. He wants it by July 4, and he wants city residents to cover the necessary repair and material costs. He also wants contractors to work on the...

Strange vibrations rattle Green Bay couple.
January 24, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan The buzzing and vibrations kept Leona Ehrfurth up all night Tuesday. They remind her, she said, of an idling semi truck with a mechanical type of engine sound accompanied by a tremor. It comes up from the floor of...

Wisconsin Gov. Doyle urges defiance in face of bad economy.
January 25, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder Julia Taylor saw promise in the details of Gov. Jim Doyle's State of the State speech. The president of the Greater Milwaukee Committee said it wasn't the big-ticket plans Doyle discussed Wednesday that caught her...

State of Wisconsin combs records for highway robbery.
January 25, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan While state auditors continued investigating Barron County's records for evidence of falsified highway invoices, Daniel Fedderly, executive director of the Wisconsin County Highway Association, said everyone should...

Mortgage crisis threatens Milwaukee County budget.
January 25, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan If the mortgage crisis keeps driving up delinquent taxes in Milwaukee County, it could force the county to either increase taxes or cut program spending. So Daniel Diliberti, the county's treasurer, has found himself...

Tight time line tests contractors' mettle for State Crime Laboratory in Madison.(Chronology)
January 25, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder Pete Szotkowski would prefer a little more time to draw up a bid. The director of business development for Madison-based Vogel Bros. Building Co. will join other contractors in entering a bid for a DNA lab expansion...

Madison-based Marshall Erdman merges with mirror image.
January 28, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder Scott Ransom and his colleagues at Madison-based Marshall Erdman & Associates earned their rest this weekend. "I've taken time out to talk to everyone here, and our other guys have flown out to our offices around...

North Shore Bank in Grafton withdraws demolition plan.
January 28, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan North Shore Bank learned that tearing down a beloved historic structure isn't the best way to make a good first impression in Grafton. The bank in December proposed tearing down an 1869 stone farmhouse at 4309...

Developers want welcome wall at Pabst Farms in Oconomowoc.
January 28, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan Responding to concerns that the Pabst Farms Town Centre should be an attractive gateway to Oconomowoc, the mall's developers proposed building a wall and storm-water pond at the high-traffic corner of the project. ...

Appleton Police Department investigates expansion.
January 29, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder The Appleton Police Department hasn't lost any evidence yet. But police officers are running out of places to put it. "County laws say that we have to keep evidence as long as a case is open," said Deputy Chief...

Rockport Pool in Janesville barely treads water.
January 29, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder Janesville won't sacrifice its dog park at Palmer Park to make room for a new pool. But that means the city still has to decide what to do with Rockport Pool. The City Council will make a call on the aging pool...

Inner-city contractors in Milwaukee can't catch the big ones.
January 29, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan Arthur Cureton is trying to find work for his 15 employees. But Cureton, who runs Community Development Contractors LLC in Milwaukee, is having trouble transitioning from residential projects for Milwaukee's...

Financing forces delays in Park East development in Milwaukee.
January 29, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan Rod Engel stood in a corner condo in his Flatiron building, the first to be completed in Milwaukee's Park East, and considered the future of the more than 16 acres of vacant land to his west. There's a lot of...

Twin Lakes wants water plan to grow development.
January 30, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan Twin Lakes is rolling out the welcome mat for developers by building a water system that helps builders satisfy the state's new sprinkler requirements. The village plans to build a $2.7 million system that pumps water...

Cost gap kills Sheboygan bridge plan.
January 30, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder A pedestrian bridge over the Sheboygan River doesn't stand a chance to be built anytime soon, but that doesn't mean the project's dead in the water. "Good ideas tend to stick around," said Paulette Enders,...

Wind farm tempest blows through Trempealeau.
January 30, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder Trempealeau County's wind farm ordinance hasn't yet generated a lawsuit, but that might be AgWind Energy Partners LLC's only choice. At least that's how Jordan Hemaidan of Madison-based Michael Best & Friedrich LLP...

Walker connects taxes to Milwaukee foreclosures.
January 30, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan Low property taxes are a strong defense against the rising tide of foreclosures in Milwaukee County. At least that's what Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker argued on Tuesday. "Lowering property taxes is a...

La Crosse studies $35M in school projects.
January 31, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder It's not that residents in the La Crosse School District don't understand that their school buildings need work, said Christine Clair. It's just that they can't afford to pay for it. "We put out a referendum...

Bridge on Milwaukee's lakefront survives station demolition.
January 31, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan An old bridge by the Coast Guard station on Milwaukee's lakefront avoided the wrecking ball thanks to some pressure from a city commission. The bridge crosses a small indentation in the Lake Michigan coastline that...

Beloit floats boat launch.
January 31, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder Terrence Monahan can see the reason not to build a canoe and kayak launch. "You can certainly just carry a canoe or kayak up to the water and put it in without a big, formal thing," the president of Beloit's City...