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Milwaukee Business Journal
Anime-themed Japanese restaurant coming to Walker's Point
Cute Robot Japanese Kitchen's opening this summer in Milwaukee's Walker Point neighborhood will provide a menu of items that the restaurant's owners said are not often found in the city.<\p> "What we're going to be opening is not your typical Japanese sushi restaurant. There won't be any sushi," said Janet Boettner, who will own the restaurant with her husband, Marc Boettner, when it opens in July at 704 S. Second St. The space was previously occupied by The Noble, which closed in August of 2023.<\p>
A Covid-era option for bankruptcy filings is about to expire
Small businesses will be left without a useful Covid-era bankruptcy tool when it expires in the coming weeks — a development occurring just as bankruptcies are on the rise.<\p> The program, called Subchapter V, was created to enable businesses with less than $2.75 million in debt to go through the Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization process in a streamlined way. In March 2020, as the pandemic took hold across the country and worldwide, Congress raised that benchmark to $7.5 million, allowing many more businesses to use the Subchapter V option. <\p>
Brookfield hotel debuts millions of dollars in renovations
Milwaukee's largest hotel outside of downtown has completed its multimillion-dollar renovations, essentially redoing its entire interior from guest rooms to ballrooms.<\p> The Sheraton Milwaukee Brookfield, located at 375 S. Moorland Road, Brookfield, began construction of all 386 guest rooms in 2022, replacing all fixtures, furnishings and wall coverings. In late 2023, a second phase focused on gutting and updating the more than 20,000 square feet of meeting spaces. This included upgrading AV equipment, adding lighting systems and other aesthetic improvements. Meeting spaces range in capacities from five to 900 people.<\p>
Milwaukee-area manufacturer completes go-private transaction
Fathom Digital Manufacturing Corp., which traded on the New York Stock Exchange since December 2021, returned to privately held status in a transaction involving the Hartland-based company’s largest shareholder.<\p> Core Industrial Partners, a Chicago private equity firm, announced Tuesday completing its take-private transaction of Fathom Digital. As a result of the transaction, Fathom Class A common stock ceased trading and will no longer be listed on the New York Stock Exchange, where it traded under the ticker symbol FATH.<\p>
The 'lock-in' effect is hitting homebuyers. It may get worse.
Americans expect high mortgage rates to rise even more in the coming years, a perspective that could further dampen the housing market.<\p> The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s SCE Housing Survey found Americans expect mortgage rates to climb from just under the 7% they are now to 8.7% a year from now and 9.7% in three years — the highest recorded since the agency started asking Americans that question in 2014.<\p>
Long-debated Thomas property in Delafield sold
With the recent purchase of a vacant site in the town of Delafield that's been in contention for years, Milwaukee-area homebuilding firm Neumann Companies Inc. will soon break ground on a subdivision with 211 homes near Pewaukee Lake.<\p> Neumann paid $6.4 million for the 151-acre site in a deal that closed May 15, state records show. The site just north of Interstate 94 is known locally as the Thomas property after the family that previously owned the land. <\p>
Management by committee: 5 Milwaukee Tool execs have new roles
With Milwaukee Tool’s longtime president Steve Richman’s promotion to CEO of parent company Techtronic Industries, Milwaukee Tool will be led by committee as his duties will be handled by five members of the executive management team.<\p> The five senior leaders will report to Richman, the company said Wednesday. <\p>
Red Lobster could shut down another 120 restaurants, lay off 8,400
After shuttering nearly 100 locations last week including two in Wisconsin, another 120 lower-performing Red Lobster restaurants are being eyeballed for possible closure if the company can’t get better terms from its landlords.<\p> That would mean cutting up to another 8,400 jobs across the nation, based on it having 60-70 employees per restaurant. So said legal counsel for Red Lobster Management LLC during the company's first hearing before U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Grace E. Robson. No specific locations were mentioned.<\p>
Apartment market cools with record amount of new supply wrapping up
The national rental-housing market has continued to cool, with differing outcomes based on geography and unit type.<\p> Several markets in the South posted significant year-over-year declines in apartment rental rates as of April, according to a new Realtor.com analysis. Those declines were led by Nashville, Tennessee, and Austin, Texas, the latter of which has seen an 8.3% annual drop in asking rents and an 11.5% drop since peaking September 2022. <\p>
Sun Country adding direct international flights from Milwaukee
After reports that Sun Country Airlines (Nasdaq: SNCY) could reduce its schedule in the fall, the air carrier has made plans to expand its service at Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport this winter.<\p> The airline announced it will add two nonstop international routes between Milwaukee and the Caribbean starting in December. One route will be to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, beginning Dec. 26 and running through April 7, 2025. Roundtrip flights are initially expected to be available twice per week and to increase to four times per week starting Jan. 23, 2025.<\p>
Boys & Girls Clubs MVP event raises $1.23 million: Slideshow
A whopping $1.23 million was raised to benefit Milwaukee-area youth at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee's MVP Salute to Youth dinner and celebration event at the Baird Center Monday.<\p> The Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee's MVP Salute to Youth gala marked the first official event to be held at the Baird Center’s $456 million expansion in downtown Milwaukee, which was unveiled May 16. The event was sponsored by Associated Bank.<\p>
Workers with learning disabilities face stigmas in the workplace
There remains a big stigma facing workers seeking workplace accommodations for certain disabilities — and those employees worry asking for help will hurt their careers. <\p> A new survey by The Harris Poll on behalf of nonprofit Understood.org, which works with people who have learning and thinking differences such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and dyslexia, found while 69% of workers know their employers must provide reasonable accommodations for disabilities, about 60% said there is still a stigma around asking their employer for support.<\p>
Palermo's project in West Milwaukee could include second phase
Frozen pizza maker Palermo Villa Inc.’s plans advanced for expanding production with a 202,000-square-foot facility in West Milwaukee — and the company revealed a possible future phase that would add another 140,000 square feet.<\p> The company, in documents filed with the village of West Milwaukee, described a “potential phase two addition.” The addition would be built to the north of the first building, according to the documents. <\p>
Milwaukee drops on 'Best Places to Live' list
After ranking 65 on a major livability ranking of U.S. cities last year, metropolitan Milwaukee dropped out of the top 100 entirely, but two other Wisconsin metros continued to rank high.<\p> The Milwaukee metro fell to 112th on U.S. News & World Report’s "Best Places to Live" for 2024-2025 on the most recent iteration of the list. It's also the metro's lowest ranking ever. Milwaukee had previously shown improvement from its 92nd ranking on the publication’s inaugural 2021-2022 list.<\p>
Mad Chicken expanding to new state, taking over an ex-Army-Navy store
Mad Chicken, a Wisconsin-based fried chicken chain, continues its expansion across the country with new restaurants in the Midwest and on the East Coast.<\p> The Milwaukee-based chicken chain will open its first Minnesota location in a downtown Minneapolis building once occupied by American Army Navy Surplus Store. The chain also recently opened its first location in Maryland in Baltimore on May 9 and expects to open its second in that state in Towson, Maryland, in July.<\p>
Exact Sciences expands patent case against competitor
Exact Sciences Corp., the Madison developer of the stool-based Cologuard colorectal cancer screening test, said Tuesday that a patent infringement lawsuit it filed against a St. Louis startup can go forward following a judge's ruling.<\p> The judge's decision comes just after Exact Sciences filed a second complaint against the startup and just weeks after the St. Louis company, Geneoscopy Inc., received U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for its own stool-based test to detect colorectal cancer. Like Exact Sciences' Cologuard, Geneoscopy's test, called ColoSense, can be taken at home with samples mailed in for testing.<\p>
Milwaukee company releasing THC-infused gin statewide
A Milwaukee-based THC-extracting company is going into the spirits game.<\p> Goodland Extracts owner Ryan Pattee says the company will release a nonalcoholic THC-infused gin with statewide distribution beginning June 28. The product, created in collaboration with some other companies that Pattee would not disclose at this time, has no alcohol. There is no distilling process. It is instead a botanical mix made with juniper, orange and ginseng and infused with hemp-derived delta 9 THC.<\p>
Ted Kellner's apartment development firm expanding in the Southeast
The apartment development firm owned by Milwaukee investor and philanthropist Ted Kellner is expanding in North Carolina.<\p> Fiduciary Real Estate Development Inc. of Milwaukee is planning 186 apartments in the Raleigh suburb of Cary, North Carolina, in the area around the state's Research Triangle. The developer said it was drawn to downtown Cary's explosive growth.<\p>
Steve Richman exits Milwaukee Tool to lead its parent company
Steve Richman, who has led Milwaukee Tool for over 17 years during a period of massive growth, was named CEO of Milwaukee Tool’s parent company Techtronic Industries Co. Ltd. <\p> Richman, 64, already had been promoted in January to senior group president of Techtronic Industries, according to a Monday press release. Techtronic Industries, which is domiciled in Hong Kong, didn’t immediately identify a replacement for Richman at Brookfield-based Milwaukee Tool. Techtronic acquired Milwaukee Tool in early 2005.<\p>
Poblocki Sign closure leaves clients scrambling to complete sign work
Poblocki Sign Co. LLC of West Allis has closed after 92 years following financial challenges that earlier this year led the company to file for a bankruptcy alternative. <\p> The company laid off much of its staff earlier this month, according to former employees and executives of other sign businesses in the area that have heard from former Poblocki clients.<\p>
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