Border buildings: The next great opportunity

Border buildings are great as long as they are built by Wisconsin builders.

My definition of a border building is best summed up by what my brother-in-law, a Chicago native, thinks should really be the state’s brand platform: “Wisconsin. Illinois’ and Minnesota’s state park.”

This year, our Top Projects include four border buildings, or projects that appear to be the direct result of people who live on Wisconsin borders but work in Chicago or the Twin Cities. The projects include a $3 million church in Hudson, an $189,000 home renovation in Lake Geneva, a $38 million renovation and addition to a high school in Wilmot and, although it’s not technically on a Wisconsin border, a $6 million wave pool in Wisconsin Dells.

Statistics suggest there has been an influx of border buildings in the last 10 years and that border development will continue in years to come.

The Public Policy Forum, a nonpartisan research group based in Milwaukee, recently reported Walworth and Kenosha counties registered the most growth in property values during the last 10 years when compared to the other five counties of the Milwaukee 7.

Walworth County, which borders Illinois, saw a 121.4 percent gain in total property values in the last 10 years, a 21.4 percent leap beyond the rest of Wisconsin, which recorded a 100 percent gain during the same time.

“I see that trend continuing,” said Rob Henken, president of the Public Policy Forum.

Also, the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2006, tagged St. Croix County, which borders Minnesota, as one of the 100 fastest-growing counties in the nation.

Fortunately, all four of our border-building Top Projects were built by Wisconsin builders. But Mike Wallace, building inspector for Hudson, and Michael Cotter, who works with the Walworth Department of Land Use and Resource Management, said many border buildings are built by out-of-state construction firms.

Wallace said there’s a healthy mix of Wisconsin and Minnesota builders completing projects in Hudson, but in recent years, Minnesota builders seem to outnumber local folks.

Cotter said builders from both states finish jobs in his county, but that the biggest development, a 3,200-acre subdivision with churches, schools, bars and fire stations, is being proposed by an Illinois development and construction firm.

All is not lost though.

Wisconsin construction firms hoping to win bids with Illinois and Minnesota developers have at least one advantage over their out-of-state contemporaries, said Peter Scherrer, president and CEO of Burlington’s Scherrer Construction Co. Inc., the company that worked on the high school in Wilmot.

Wisconsin builders are ingrained in the community, he said, and considered team members by local government.

“A lot of approvals are needed for those projects,” Scherrer said. “Our teams are well received.”

Perhaps then, Wisconsin builders should come up with a brand platform of their own: “Wisconsin builders. Illinois’ and Minnesota’s state contractors.”

Tell us what you think Send letters to the editor to Lawrence Silver at lawrence.silver@dailyreporter.com or call 414-276-0273, Ext. 119