WI Development News, May 2012 – Ken Harwood
Veridian Homes target of 16 million foreclosure lawsuit
Madison – 4/19/2012 Veridian Homes, Dane County’s largest home builder, and two of its top leaders are being sued for at least $16.35 million in a foreclosure suit over unpaid mortgage debt associated with the company’s unfinished Cathedral Point subdivision in Verona and some undeveloped land in Madison.
The legal action comes after Veridian laid off 21 people — equal to about 40 percent of its staff — in October in response to “market realities,” amid a continuing construction slump after a long recession.
The lawsuit, filed April 11 in Dane County Circuit Court by BMO subsidiary Harris Bank of Chicago, seeks a sheriff’s sale of undeveloped land in the Verona subdivision off Highways M and PB, and…
Read more: http://host.madison.com/wsj/news
Ken Notes: Veridian is a good company that has been caught in the vortex of the bad economy. We may see more companies who survived through the last three years and now are out of resources. This is interesting because companies that bailed early are now
positioned to come back strong. We need a time out so everyone can catch their breath.
New Glarus, Minhas and Point make national beer rankings
Wisconsin – 4/19/2012 There was no retreat for Wisconsin breweries in 2011. The Colorado-based Brewers Association said Tuesday that the New Glarus Brewing Co. is now the 19th largest craft beer company in the country, up from No. 21 in 2010, based on 2011 beer sales volume. There was no retreat for Wisconsin breweries in 2011. Stevens Point Brewery improved one notch on the top 50 list from 32 to 31.
The top three craft breweries in the country were unchanged. They are Boston Beer Co.; Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. in Chico, Calif…
Read more: http://host.madison.com/wsj/business
Ken Notes: Well done! We need a few more, and isn’t it sad to see Miller Leinenkugel and Pabst listed as Illinois companies. That is just wrong!
Focus on Energy renewables funding shifts to biogas, biomass
Wisconsin – 4/19/2012 Biomass and biogas projects will get the bulk of Focus on Energy renewable resource funding under new rules approved by the state Public Service Commission. It’s a shift away from wind and solar projects, a move that is not sitting well with some clean energy advocates in Wisconsin “In my mind it’s a flawed decision,” says Burke O’Neal, co-founder of Full Spectrum Solar in Madison. “You’re funding old combustion technologies instead of funding industries..
Read more: http://host.madison.com/ct/business/biz_beat/
Ken Notes: We do need to focus on technologies that are economically sound. But business is not going to add a digester to an office park, and now they will forgo solar as well. We need a PLAN based on both economics and where we want to be in 20 years. What about LED, Low E glass, better insulation, recycled materials… We have our proverbial head up our proverbial…
KEN HARWOOD The Future Wisconsin Project and Wisconsin
Development News P.O. Box 930234 Verona, WI 53593-0234
Phone (608) 334-2174
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