Launched in 2017, the Gold Shovel Site Verification program assists communities, counties and private landowners in packaging and marketing development-ready land to site selectors and business owners looking to locate or expand in the eight-county Madison Region. As the site selection process is risk adverse, this extra level of community and developer effort go a long way in positively positioning shovel-ready sites to the site selectors and the clients they represent.

The Gold Shovel verification process is a similar service to WEDC’s Certified In Wisconsin program at a lower cost without the same depth of review. For specific criteria, please visit madisonregion.org/goldshovel.

The Madison Region is home to eight of the state’s twenty Certified in Wisconsin sites. Last year we announced the region’s very first Gold Shovel verified site: Gateway Business Park in Baraboo, owned by Devco I LLC, and listed by Bunbury Commerce. As we kick off the busy season for site selection work in 2019, MadREP is excited to announce we are in the process of adding four new Gold Shovel verified sites in our Region. We look forward to formally announcing them later this quarter as each of the four communities and/or developers finalizes the verification process.

For more information and to start the site verification process, contact MadREP President Paul Jadin by email or phone at 608.571.0401.

2018 was an eventful and prosperous year for the Madison Region economy, as well as MadREP. Just this week, with great pride, I presented the Wisconsin Games Alliance (WGA) with their operating funds as they become a fully standalone Center of Excellence for the Midwest gaming industry. WGA has grown tremendously since its founding in 2015 and, for the last two years, their M+Dev conference has welcomed over 400 game developers, designers and enthusiasts to the Alliant Energy Center for a day of networking and learning.

It would be impossible for me to reflect on 2018 without first touting the completion of our five-year Advance Now economic development strategy and the immense amount of planning our staff and partners have engaged in to architect our next five-year plan, Advance Now 2.0. MadREP will unveil the final strategy in early 2019 and begin facilitating implementation immediately.

Our consultant, Mac Holladay, closed our recent steering committee meeting with the words of former Secretary of State Colin Powell (noted in his book, Leadership): “‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ is the slogan of the complacent, the arrogant, or the scared. It’s an excuse for inaction, a call to non-arms. It’s a mindset that assumes (or hopes) that today’s realities will continue tomorrow in a tidy, linear, and predictable fashion. Pure fantasy.”

Our next strategy will be a transformative agenda for positive change and will require the Region to redouble its efforts in implementation and investment. Many of you have already stepped up and given of your time, talents and resources. To you, I say thank you wholeheartedly. Many others will be hearing from me over the coming weeks I look forward to working together to build a more prosperous, innovative and inclusive Madison Region. We expect the implementation of Advance Now 2.0 to be as transformative as the last six years have been for our community.

MadREP worked with several entrepreneurs this year, providing direct business assistance to several startups, including support with their pitches and business plans. Entrepreneurial activity continues to grow in the region, as evidenced by the continued growth and opening of co-working and maker spaces like Starting Block Madison, Sector67, 100State, 100crypto, and Industrious.

In addition to our work with startups, MadREP attended the groundbreaking of the Center for Dairy Research (CDR) with pride after we provided federal and state funding guidance to advance the development of the $48 million facility and its Center of Excellence designation.

All this entrepreneurial growth would be impossible without the Madison Region’s commitment to its human capital initiatives. Inspire Madison Region has made astonishing strides this year, joining the Inspire Wisconsin Network to give local students and educators more opportunities for career exploration. All 63 public school districts in our eight-county region have access, as well as three technical colleges, one UW system school and one private college. The Region also boasts over one-third of the participating employers and career coaches in the state.

As this year ends, I would also like to offer my sincere gratitude to all our investors, partners and other stakeholders for the way we’ve come together to drive the Region’s economy. 2018 marks our fifth year of continued partnership with the Urban League of Greater Madison in hosting the Madison Region Economic Development & Diversity Summit. It was another record year for attendance and, once again, served as an opportunity to unveil our Workplace Diversity & Inclusion Survey which saw 367 companies share their practices in 2018. We also unveiled our annual Madison Region Economic Development Guide at the Summit. We continue to enjoy support from Presenting Sponsors UW Health | Quartz and Alliant Energy in putting on a great conference. Don’t forget to mark your calendars for the 2019 Summit on May 17, 2019!

In 2018, we have entertained nearly 40 requests for information (RFIs) which are essentially site searches initiated by businesses or their consultants/site selectors. The majority are still pending, but we have been successful in a number that have closed. These include Phoenix LLC in Fitchburg, Eurofins Scientific in Madison, MacDon Enterprises in Sun Prairie and a regional hotel feasibility site search which will result in three new hotels for the Madison Region. We continue to host site selectors on a regular basis and (with the help of the Greater Madison Convention and Visitor’s Bureau) hosted 2018’s LiveXchange event, which brought 21 site selectors to Madison.

On the subject of bringing new folks to Madison, MadREP continues to regularly feed data to our partners at the Dane County Regional Airport to support their conversations with major airlines. With the exciting announcement of daily direct MSN to SFO flights, we were especially delighted to play a role in the process and enjoy some kudos from our collaborators. “MadREP is an important partner for air service development at the Dane County Regional Airport,” said Airport Director Bradley Livingston, AAE. (now retired). “Collaboratively they provide important workforce and economic data about south central Wisconsin which is provided to our airline partners to foster future growth at MSN.”

Data analysis and implementation strategy are fundamental to our mission at MadREP and, after the first of the year, we will be unveiling our ICT Cluster Analysis (January), Agriculture, Food and Beverage (AFB) Cluster analysis (February) and the three remaining industry sector reports are slated for publication in 2019. All will be posted on MadREP’s web page.

Finally, we provided ED 101 training for Deerfield and a summit in Cambria and Friesland this year. Last year, our training sessions in Rio and New Glarus informed many of the economic development plans in the city in subsequent months. ED 101 trainings are an excellent example of the many ways we collaborate with our economic development partners to drive the Region’s successes. To date, MadREP has completed sixteen training events throughout the eight counties.

The initiatives I’ve mentioned here are a small selection of our (and the Region’s) accomplishments in 2018. I look forward to personally sharing our progress and results in the year ahead and wish you a very happy holiday season.

Sincerely,

Paul Jadin
President, MadREP

MADISON, WI (December 20, 2018) – SSM Health is pleased to announce it is strengthening its partnership with Turville Bay MRI & Radiation Oncology Center. Turville Bay has been a joint venture partnership with SSM Health and UnityPoint Health – Meriter since 1986.

The health care organizations have signed a definitive agreement to bring Turville Bay radiation oncology services under the sole ownership of SSM Health. The plan is to officially close on the acquisition on January 1.

“We have been proud to partner with our healthcare colleagues to establish and provide state-of-the-art treatment for Madison-area patients for more than 30 years,” said Damond Boatwright, Regional President of Operations for SSM Health Wisconsin. “Today we are delighted to be able to more fully incorporate the services offered by our Turville Bay colleagues into SSM Health in order to provide even more comprehensive cancer care across our Wisconsin region.”

For patients receiving radiation oncology services we expect there to be little, if any, impact as care will remain in the same location with the same providers. Arrangements have been made to split the MRI services between UnityPoint Health-Meriter and SSM Health, meaning those services will now take place in the respective hospitals.

“The acquisition was a natural evolution of the relationship the care center has enjoyed with SSM Health,” said Turville Bay Executive Director Barb Thiermann. “We are proud of our long association with SSM Health and are pleased that the compassionate caregivers of Turville Bay will continue to be part of a robust health care system dedicated to making the treatment experience even more efficient and streamlined for our patients. We are absolutely grateful to UnityPoint Health-Meriter for their commitment over the past 30 plus years.”

“We’d like to thank our colleagues at both Turville Bay and SSM Health for their partnership throughout this process and over the years,” said Sue Erickson, President and CEO of UnityPoint Health – Meriter. “In light of our stronger partnership with UW Health, this is a logical change and one that will allow us to maintain state-of-the-art MRI services and clinicians at Meriter.”

Turville Bay will continue to use its name and branding through at least the first quarter of 2019 with further consideration of how best to integrate its brand into the SSM Health family in the months to come.

About SSM Health in Wisconsin

SSM Health (www.ssmhealth.com/about) is a Catholic, not-for-profit health system serving the comprehensive health needs of communities across the Midwest through a robust and fully integrated health care delivery system. The organization’s more than 40,000 employees and physicians are committed to providing exceptional health care services and revealing God’s healing presence to everyone they serve.

In Wisconsin, SSM Health employs 14,000 people, serving the south-central part of the state through a community-based network of leading physicians/providers, and inpatient and outpatient care facilities. The organization provides high-quality coordinated care across seven hospitals, ten post-acute care facilities, and more than 85 physician offices and other outpatient care sites. SSM Health also serves 425,000 lives through Dean Health Plan, making it one of the largest and most diversified HMOs in the Midwest.

 MIDDLETON, WI. DEC. 13, 2018 – The Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) and the Madison Region Economic Partnership (MadREP) announced today that MadREP is providing 10 no-interest loans of $15,000 each to businesses that were affected by the flooding and severe weather in south-central Wisconsin in late August and early September.

The announcement was made today at Standard Imaging in Middleton, one of the 10 businesses that was awarded a zero-interest loan.

“We are acutely aware of the devastating damage that was sustained by many businesses across southern and central Wisconsin this past summer,” said Mark R. Hogan, secretary and CEO of WEDC, the state’s lead economic development organization. “The purpose of this loan program, which is administered through our regional partners like MadREP, is to help these businesses to recover and get back on track so they are positioned for greater growth and success in the future.”

“It was fortuitous that WEDC planned for this program so it could be readily available to Wisconsin businesses after this summer’s severe weather events,” said MadREP President Paul Jadin. “MadREP is pleased to have been selected to administer and disperse these greatly needed funds to businesses in our region.”

The 10 area businesses receiving loans to date include:

• Blue Lake Community (Oxford)
• Cardin Adult Family & Foster Home (Mount Horeb)
• Clubhouse for Kids (Middleton)
• The Haven Spa (Madison)
• Jots Food Mart (Madison)
• KEVA Sports (Middleton)
• KLER, LLC (Middleton)
• Radio Plus, Inc. (Fond du Lac)
• Shirley’s Barbershop (Montello)
• Standard Imaging (Middleton)

In October, WEDC awarded a $755,000 grant to MadREP to provide no-interest loans to small businesses that were impacted by the recent flooding to provide them with a short-term source of funds for repair work and operating expenses until more long-term recovery funding can be secured. The loans have a two-year repayment period, with payments deferred for at least six months.

Loan applications were accepted from businesses in the MadREP region—Dane,  Rock, Sauk, Dodge, Iowa, Columbia, Jefferson and Green counties (as well as adjacent Wisconsin counties). To qualify, businesses must have suffered measurable physical damage because of the disaster and must intend to resume business operations in the community as quickly as possible.

In Dane County alone, 126 businesses sustained $21 million in damage, including 22 that had major damage, according to Wisconsin Emergency Management. In Sauk County, 32 businesses sustained $900,000 in damage.

These loans were made possible through WEDC’s Disaster Recovery Microloan Program. Under the $2 million program, WEDC awards grants to regional partners, who in turn issue loans to businesses.

The WEDC Board of Directors in September approved the program after businesses and homes in 18 counties were damaged following several weeks of intense storms, tornados and heavy rainfall across much of southern and central Wisconsin. These storms produced devastating flash flooding in multiple regions, resulted in seven dam failures, caused several lakes and rivers to spill out of their banks, and damaged businesses, homes, bridges and roads.

More than 300 businesses statewide sustained nearly $34 million in damage, while more than 1,200 homes sustained more than $25 million in damages, according to Wisconsin Emergency Management.

WEDC’s Disaster Recovery Microloan Program is available to businesses in all 72 counties. For more information, visit www.wedc.org/diasterrecovery.

 

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About the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation
The Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) leads economic development efforts for the state by advancing and maximizing opportunities in Wisconsin for businesses, communities and people to thrive in a globally competitive environment. Working with more than 600 regional and local partners, WEDC develops and delivers solutions representative of a highly responsive and coordinated economic development network. Visit wedc.org or follow WEDC on Twitter @WEDCNews to learn more.

 

About Madison Region Economic Partnership (MadREP)
MadREP is the economic development agency for the eight-county Madison Region, founded by business and community leaders to create a dynamic environment where people and businesses prosper. MadREP and its partners aim to proactively and strategically position the region to take advantage of economic and business development opportunities. Visit madisonregion.org for more information.

 

 

Phoenix LLC, Eurofins and MacDon have all found homes in Dane County after extensive site searches led and supported by the Madison Region Economic Partnership.

On October 30th, Phoenix LLC hosted US Representative Mark Pocan and held their ground-breaking event to build a state-of-the-art neutron imaging center in Fitchburg, WI opening in mid-2019. This will be their first non-reactor facility offering commercial neutron imaging services.

This month, after buying Covance’s food testing unit, Eurofins Scientific, a global life sciences company based in Europe, announced plans to stay in Wisconsin and build a $33M research and development complex in the City of Madison’s Center for Industry and Commerce.

Also this month, MacDon Enterprises Inc. a Canadian manufacturer of farm harvesting equipment, received an approval recommendation for an outdoor storage area on the site where it will construct a new 15,992 sq. ft. Research & Development facility in Sun Prairie. MacDon will begin construction of their new facility in early 2019.

“We were pleased to be engaged by these companies to lead their site searches and thank Cresa Partners for getting Phoenix to the finish line after their site search parameters changed,” said MadREP Acting CEO Michael Gay. “Though each of the companies are unique in what they do, there are similarities in each project. All three companies are large scale projects tied to industry sectors that this region excels at globally, they all have major research and development functions and services, and they all decided to stay, reinvest and grow here due to our workforce, quality of life, and other assets.” Eurofins and MacDon are both the result of global M&A and FDI (foreign Direct Investment), which brings international capital and global connections to the Madison Region.

Collectively, these three projects total more than $48 million in capital expenditure and nearly 550 jobs retained for the Madison Region.