Top Projects by District

District 1

  • Madison Downtown Arts District - The Overture Project promises to be one of the biggest projects in Madison for the upcoming year. Madison hired renowned Argentinean architect Cesar Pelli to design the downtown arts district, which will cost about $100 million. It will cover an entire block on State Street and will include a new theater with about 2,300 seats, three smaller performance halls, art exhibition areas and the renovation of the neighboring Madison Civic Center. Madison-based J.H. Findorff & Son Inc. will manage the project, scheduled for ground breaking in June 2001.

  • Findorff Office Building - J.H. Findorff & Son Inc. is moving from its home on Wilson Street in Madison and building a new $5.5 million headquarters on North Shore Drive. Potter Lawson Inc. in Madison and Kallmann, McKinnell & Wood of Boston designed the three-story, 38,000-square-foot office building with an underground parking level. Findorff is the project’s general contractor.

    The headquarters is part of a bigger development called Findorff Yards that will include the building of 10 residential condominiums over the next several years on adjacent properties. The first phase of Findorff Yards will include the renovation of one former tobacco warehouse into apartment and condominium units and demolition of a second warehouse to make room for a new building.

  • Biostar Biotechnology Building - The University of Wisconsin-Mad-ison will build a 47,300-square-foot addition to its Genetics/Biotechnology Building on University Avenue. The $27 million project will include a number of research laboratories for the university’s Biostar biotechnology program. Madison’s Potter Lawson Inc. was hired last October to do the design work.

District 2

  • Raze the Park East Freeway Spur - Milwaukee County will spend $8 million to raze the Park East Freeway Spur and relocate the on/off ramps to free 20 acres of land for a Harley-Davidson museum and other developments. The city will also spend $17 million on a new bridge to cross the Milwaukee River nearby.

  • Harley-Davidson Museum - Harley-Davidson Inc. will build the Harley-Davidson Experience Center in a vacant Schlitz Park brew house. It will cost about $30 million to construct the five-story, 110,000-square-foot museum. The project includes an outdoor special events arena, a restaurant, exhibit areas for vintage vehicles and specialty shops. Harley also will build a parking lot with space for 400 motorcycles and 1,000 cars. It will build a 300-seat restaurant across the Milwaukee River from the museum and is considering construction of a 70,000-square-foot hotel with 70 rooms alongside the restaurant.

  • Cudahy Downtown Redevelopment Plan - Burke Properties in Milwaukee has unveiled a plan to redevelop downtown Cudahy by constructing a 72-unit condominium to connect with a new 30,000-square-foot library. The plan also includes 22 townhouse condominiums across from the library and two 18,000-square-foot retail buildings nearby. The Cudahy Library Board will oversee construction of the $4 million library. The city will also do infrastructure work in the area.

  • Walworth County Courthouse - Walworth County is in the process of purchasing 77 acres of land on the outskirts of Elkhorn for the construction of a new courthouse. The county has not decided on a design for the facility.

  • Johnson Creek Development - A 76-acre site along I-94 will be developed for retail use. The first phase will include 14 acres for a 162,000-square-foot Menard’s store. Project managers for Menard’s said it’s too early to say when the project will be bid out.

  • St. Francis Lakeside Condominiums - The St. Francis Common Council approved plans by Illinois developer Kimball Hill Homes to build 322 condominium units along Lake Michigan. The units would be from 1,100 to 2,500 square feet and will cover 86 acres. The first phase will include 191 units, and work on it will begin in the spring.

  • St. Francis Lakeside Apartments - The St. Francis Plan Commission approved plans by the Thomson Corporation of Brookfield to develop five-story apartment complexes on Lake Michigan south of the Kimball Hill Homes condominiums. The plans for the apartment units have not been finalized, but Thomson plans to begin work in the spring.

  • Milwaukee Luxury Condominium Tower - Developer Burke Properties is conducting a feasibility and market study to determine the size of a condominium to be built in a parking lot adjacent to the University Club, the project’s co-developer. There will be no cost estimates until the studies are completed at the end of the year. Burke is considering Santiago Calatrava, the Swiss architect who designed the Milwaukee Art Museum addition, to design the building. Construction is scheduled to begin sometime in 2001.

  • State Fair Park Expo Building - An 85,000-square-foot exposition hall will be built on the State Fair Park grounds. The building will cost about $18 million and will replace the existing Youth Expo Building and Family Living Center Building and East, West, North and South exhibition buildings. J.H. Findorff & Son Inc. will manage the project, which could be finished by November 2001.

  • New Oconomowoc YMCA - The YMCA has chosen its own Oliver Construction Company as the general contractor for this $6 million, 60,000-square-foot building. The building is scheduled to open next October.

  • Park Place Technology Center - Inland Companies is developing three office buildings in Milwaukee with a combined area of 173,475 square feet. The first construction phase, a 67,700-square-foot office building, will begin in late fall 2000 with a June 2001 completion. The buildings are designed for high-tech tenants and businesses involved with telecommunications.

  • Delafield Hotel and Conference Center - The Weissgerber family, which owns the Gasthaus restaurant, is developing a 165-room Hilton Hotel with a 30,000-square-foot conference center north of the Nagawaukee Center. The family will consider building a restaurant and office building nearby. Construction will begin in the spring of 2001.

  • Redevelop West Allis Six Points/ Farmer’s Market - The city of West Allis is considering plans to build a 65,500-square-foot supermarket on land that is currently used by Pressed Steel Tank, the Farmer’s Market and Six Points. The city is planning to purchase the land for about $4.7 million to clean up and resell it to an unnamed developer for $3.2 million. The value of the redeveloped property is estimated at $16 million.

  • Johnson International Office Building - M. A. Mortenson Co. in Brookfield is the general contractor for this 185,000-square-foot office building in Racine that will be the new Johnson International Inc. headquarters. The $22.5 million project is being bid out in four phases. Mortenson is scheduled to release the third and biggest bid package, for actual building construction, in late December or early January. The city of Racine will do about $6.2 million in street improvements to accommodate the new building.

District 3

  • Fox Cities Performing Arts Center - The city of Appleton is building a 2,400-seat theater downtown for $32 million. Oscar J. Boldt Construction, the project’s general contractor, is already doing some concrete work, but bid packages will not be released until the architectural and engineering work is finished, which may take a few months.

  • Wausau Regional Arts Center - The city of Wausau is creating an arts center of its own by combining three neighboring theaters into one building. The project will cost anywhere from $11 million to $12.5 million and includes the construction of restrooms, food service amenities, a rehearsal hall and a gallery connecting the three theaters. Bidding for the ArtsBlock is limited to invited contractors and won’t be accepted until a design is complete.

  • Lambeau Field Renovation and Expansion - The Green Bay Packers gave the Hammes Company Sports and Entertainment L.L.C. project managing duties for the $295 million Lambeau Field renovation plan. The renovation will add more than 10,000 seats to the stadium, including 167 luxury boxes. It also calls for widening public concourses, adding elevators, increasing restroom capacities and updating handicap facilities. The work will increase Lambeau Field’s size from 600,000 square feet to 1.63 million square feet. About 300,000 square feet will include an atrium on the stadium’s east side to house team offices, locker rooms, a pro shop, the Packers Hall of Fame and a stadium club. The project will be bid out in three packages. The first package, for demolition, electrical work and earthwork, closes on Jan. 4. The second package, for structural steel and superstructure concrete work, has a bid period of Dec. 22 to Jan. 18. The third package, for metal paneling, curtain walls and architectural precast work, has a bid period of Feb. 19 to March 15.

  • Redevelopment of Downtown Oshkosh - The Oshkosh Common Council approved a multiyear redevelopment plan incorporating scores of different projects drawn up by Maryland architect LDR International Inc. last October. The redevelopment will be approved on a project-to-project basis beginning with areas along Oshkosh’s Main Street. The plan outlines public projects including replacing a Walgreen’s with a public park, renewing infrastructure, creating additional parking, expanding Riverside Park and forging a promenade to connect the park with the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh campus. A number of private projects are also in the plan, such as a $4 million office building and construction of shops and restaurants along Park Plaza’s riverfront. Bid dates for the different projects were unavailable.

  • Huber Work-Release Facility - Outagamie County will decide whether to convert its County Health Center into a 300-bed jail or build a new correctional facility nearby. Converting the County Health Center would cost $6.5 million, and building a new 325-bed facility to house the work-release program would cost $13 million. The project won’t move forward until Venture Architects in Milwaukee analyzes the long-term costs involved in each plan.

District 4

  • Oconto Memorial Hospital and Clinic - A 25-bed hospital with an adjoining clinic for about seven physicians is in the works along Highway 41. The total project cost is $17 million, with $13 million for construction and $4 million for hospital equipment. The Oconto Memorial Hospital Citizen’s Foundation is raising money for the project and plans to break ground next spring.

  • Bayfield County Jail Construction - Three different plans to construct a new jail in Washburn have been presented to the Bayfield County Board. The project is awaiting a ruling, which may come sometime in January. The three proposals are for a 100-bed facility with estimated costs ranging from $4.8 million to $7.2 million. The new facility would be built next to the existing Bayfield County Jail and would contain both dormitory-style and maximum-security housing.

  • Merrill Jail, Court System and Administration Building Addition - The $10 million to $13 million plan to construct a new 48,000-square-foot office building, remodel the courthouse and construct a new jail was approved Oct. 31. The three buildings will be completed in separate phases, and county officials haven’t determined whether to bid it as a package or as individual projects. The administrative office building will go up first, followed by courthouse renovation and the construction of a jail.

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