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Milwaukee Business Journal
Price of renovated Oconomowoc Lake estate rises nearly $4M: Open House
After transformational upgrades, an Oconomowoc Lake home is back on the market for $9.2 million just over a year after selling for $5.5 million. It's being offered fully furnished with brand-new designer furnishings.<\p> The current owners of the 12-acre estate purchased the property in late March 2023 and listed it for sale earlier this month after completing a full renovation of the home, which was built in 2001.<\p>
NCG Hospitality petitions for union election among Trade Hotel workers
NCG Hospitality has filed a petition for an election instead of formally recognizing the union formed by workers of The Trade Hotel in downtown Milwaukee, according to an attorney representing the hospitality firm. <\p> Doug Witte of law firm Boardman & Clark LLP, which is representing NCG Hospitality, confirmed to the Milwaukee Business Journal that a petition to hold an election was filed.<\p>
Top chefs put own spin on McDonald's menu at Unwrapped fundraiser
About 300 Milwaukee-area business executives gathered at The Deco event venue in West Allis on Thursday to sample some McDonald's-inspired fine dining in support of local nonprofit Sharp Literacy Inc.<\p> Check out the attached slideshow to see photos from the Unwrapped MKE event, which featured well-known Milwaukee chefs putting their twist on some of the fast-food chain's main ingredients.<\p>
ManpowerGroup is no longer No. 1 in this state metric
For several years now, ever since Johnson Controls officially relocated its corporate domicile (i.e., headquarters) overseas in 2016, ManpowerGroup Inc. has ranked at the top of one metric tracked by the Milwaukee Business Journal.<\p> The metric is annual revenue, and it forms the basis of the Milwaukee Business Journal rankings of the Largest Wisconsin-based Public Companies list. The list covers publicly traded companies based in Wisconsin and is ranked by total revenue for the latest fiscal year.<\p>
Milwaukee manufacturer expands layoffs to production workers
Milwaukee-based snowplow manufacturer Douglas Dynamics Inc., which has been hurt by low snowfall the past two winters, plans to eliminate an unspecified number of positions at its plant on Milwaukee’s northwest side in June after trimming its white-collar workforce earlier this year.<\p> “We are in the process of making changes to better support the long-term growth strategy, which will require the elimination of some positions at the end of June,” company spokesman Nathan Elwell said in a Thursday email to the Business Journal.<\p>
Advocate Health co-CEO Skogsbergh retires, calls mergers a success
Friday marks Jim Skogsbergh’s last day as co-CEO of Advocate Health, the parent organization of Aurora Health Care, and he characterized as “a great success” both the merger of Aurora with Advocate Health and more recently that combination joining forces with Atrium Health of North Carolina.<\p> The retirement of Skogsbergh, 66, has been scheduled from the time Advocate Aurora Health of Milwaukee and Chicago finalized a joint operating agreement in December 2022 with Atrium Health. Skogsbergh served as co-CEO with Atrium’s Gene Woods for the multi-state health system now known as Advocate Health but now Woods is the sole CEO and remains based in Charlotte, North Carolina.<\p>
County seeks new users for Villa Terrace, Charles Allis museums
Looking to spend less money on two historic museums on Milwaukee's east side, the county is seeking companies or organizations to use, operate or redevelop the properties.<\p> Milwaukee County owns the Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum and the Charles Allis Art Museum and is seeking "creative solutions from potential parties interested in operating, using and/or developing" the properties, according to a request for information (RFI) issued Thursday. <\p>
Wauwatosa revisits potential industrial development on former landfill
Wauwatosa is revisiting the opportunity to build an industrial building on a former landfill site near Mayfair Road after a manufacturer that previously operated in the city moved to a nearby suburb. <\p> The city's Community Development Authority on Thursday discussed a preliminary proposal by Luther Group of Elm Grove, now estimated at $25 million, to build a 200,000-square-foot speculative industrial building on the city-owned site at 1600 N. 113th St.<\p>
Ascension starting to restore electronic health records
Cyberattack-constrained Ascension, which runs health care facilities in 18 states and the District of Columbia, announced restoring access to electronic health records in one undisclosed market — and a spokesman for Ascension Wisconsin said that the market is not Wisconsin.<\p> Restoring electronic health record (EHR) access has been among Ascension management's top priorities, the St. Louis-based health system said in an update Wednesday night.<\p>
More workers are staying with their current employer in 2024
Most U.S. employees are now choosing to stay with their jobs instead of looking for new ones, a sharp turnaround from the job reshuffling that was common during the Covid-19 pandemic. <\p> A new survey by global advisory firm WTW found 72% of employees are choosing to stay with their employer — up substantially from the 53% who said the same thing in 2022. Back then, about 25% of workers were open to job offers, compared to just 11% now.<\p>
Prospective homebuyers are missing out as sellers cut their prices
The chronically troublesome housing market is seeing more price drops, but that doesn’t necessarily translate into relief for homebuyers.<\p> Data from real estate firm Redfin Corp. shows 6.4% of active listings on the platform had a price drop through the week ending May 26. While that's not a massive portion of listings, the percentage is substantially higher than the 4.4% of listings with price drops recorded during the same time in 2023.<\p>
A rising cost for companies and employees takes hold as summer arrives
Editor's Note: Welcome to The Playbook Edition, a look at stories, trends and changes that could affect your business and career. Want more stories like this in your inbox? Sign up for The Playbook newsletter. <\p> In the coming weeks, schools around the nation will be out, and many employees will find themselves scrambling for child care options.<\p>
St. Augustine starts north campus project at trying time
Walking through the structure that was Bonaventure Hall on the former Cardinal Stritch University campus can be eerie. The institution closed last May, and the space is reminiscent of a ghost town seen in old Western movies. <\p> Art projects still hang on walls, equipment sits unused in classrooms and Stritch Wolves logos still reside in some spaces. The façade is a reminder of what once was: a sprawling, 43-acre campus that at one time served about 4,200 students within its 12 buildings.<\p>
Summerfest now Sarah Smith Pancheri's show to run
Sarah Smith Pancheri always aspired to lead, but she never planned on it.<\p> Starting as a seasonal worker at Summerfest as a young Milwaukeean, music was always center stage in her life. Now, the Milwaukee World Festival Inc. president and CEO finds herself at the top of an organization she's spent 16 years working with and a lifetime admiring.<\p>
See which VC firms will dole out new $100M state fund for startups
After a competitive process that had entailed requests for far more capital, Wisconsin has selected several venture capital firms to administer a new $100 million public-private fund that will invest in local startups.<\p> The Wisconsin Investment Fund was established last year with $50 million in public dollars the state received from the State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) under the American Rescue Plan Act. Each venture capital firm must match the state's investment at least one-to-one with private dollars, bringing the total fund amount to $100 million. <\p>
Real estate firm Boerke hires former health insurance exec as new CEO
One of the Milwaukee area's largest commercial real estate brokerages has hired a former health insurance executive as its next CEO. <\p> Cushman & Wakefield | Boerke named Sean Robbins as its CEO effective June 24, according to a Wednesday announcement. Robbins was previously executive vice president of the national Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. <\p>
Popular stage at Summerfest grounds opens with new look and name
The newly renovated and rebranded Aurora Pavilion opened at Henry Maier Festival Park Wednesday.<\p> Replacing the former Johnson Controls Sound Stage near the middle gate of the grounds, Aurora Health Care expanded its sponsorship of the park in December to include naming rights of the popular stage. Aurora has been a sponsor since 2017.<\p>
Kohl's reports 'dismal' first quarter, big losses
Kohl's Corp. saw its shares plummet Thursday after reporting "dismal" financials and a $27 million net loss for its first quarter — well below analyst and its own expectations — as company leaders point to partnerships such as with Sephora as their best route to return to growth.<\p> For its first quarter ended May 4, Kohl’s (NYSE: KSS) reported that net sales decreased 5.3% year-over-year to just shy of $3.2 billion, with comparable sales down 4.4%, from the same period last year. Its net loss of $27 million, or 24 cents per diluted share, compares with a $14 million profit, or 13 cents per diluted share, in the prior year's first quarter. On average, analysts had projected a profit of 4 cents per diluted share for this year's first quarter, off of $3.3 billion worth of revenue.<\p>
FPC Live starts construction on $60M downtown Milwaukee venue
After a few delays — and despite skepticism in some quarters it would happen — FPC Live started construction Thursday on its Milwaukee Deer District live-entertainment venue.<\p> Crews from subcontractor Michels Corp. were scheduled to perform test pile-driving and then proceed in earnest with a multi-week pile-driving process, Joel Plant, CEO of FPC Live owner Frank Productions of Madison, said in a Thursday morning interview.<\p>
Charles Schwab office, restaurant planned at Brookfield Square
A surplus parking lot of the Sheraton Milwaukee Brookfield Hotel will become the site of a new office for Charles Schwab as well as a potential national chain sit-down restaurant in a $9 million project that recently began construction. <\p> The site was attractive to the project's developer for its location near Brookfield Square mall, in an area just off Interstate 94 that's being redeveloped to include housing. <\p>
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