2013 Oregon Focus

7/27/2019 2013 Oregon Focus

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Oregon Focus

Its a bustling autumn night in downtown Oregon.

Bonnie and Jerry Thiel built their new restaurant, Masons on Main,in two historic buildings on South Main Street that they had renovated

last year. The business opened in May and is going strong.

Alpine business park surging 12

Developments downtown 13

Housing is booming 14

New Brooklyn business park 15


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12 October 31, 2013 Oregon Observer ConnectOregonWI.comOregon Focus

Business park moving in right directionLy stut,Thte exps

e teest

eelpmet

BiLL LivickUnifed Newspaper Group

Local businessman MartyVerhelsts recent interest inbuilding a truck repair facil-ity in the Alpine BusinessPark in 2014 was just thelatest piece of good newsfor the north side industrialdevelopment this year.

Last spring, Lycon Inc.began building a long-awaited Ready Mix con-crete plant on about fouracres on the business parksnorthernmost lot. Publicworks director Mark Belowsaid the company plans to

fire it up and do some testbatches this fall to makesure equipment is workingper manufacturer specifica-tions and then shut downfor the winter. He said theplant will be up and runningfor the beginning of theconstruction season nextspring.

Also this year, TrachteInc. , the first companyto locate in the businesspark back in 2008, built a32,000-square-foot addi-tion to its $3.5 millionassembly facility. It alsoadded 13,500 square feetof new concrete assemblypads to the Cusick Parkway

operation.With Trachte adding

on and Lycon buildingnow, the business park isgrowing and doing well,observed Judy Knutson,executive director of the

Oregon Area Chamber ofCommerce. Were defi-nitely moving in the rightdirection.

Lycon Inc.The exhaust tower loom-

ing over the business parksnorth side is the most obvi-ous sign that things aremoving forward in the park.

Lycon Inc., which pur-chased 80 acres in 2005from the Alpine Dairyfor the business park, haddelayed construction of thefacility by more than sixyears from its original plan,largely due to the recession

and the accompanying lack

of residential and commer-cial construction.

Lycon now owns almost16.5 acres in the businesspark, north of Braun Roadand east of Cusick Parkway.The new ready mix produc-

tion facility is expected toprovide jobs for 12 or 13people, village officialssaid. The company scaledback its facility to abouthalf the size of the plant ithad originally intended tobuild.

Lycon paid for engineer-ing to build a rail cross-ing at Braun Road near theparks north entrance. Thetracks will go back in wheretheyd been removed whenBraun Road was extendedinto the business park a fewyears ago.

The company plans to use

Message from the Village President

A productive year in

a vibrant communityThe past year has been a

productive and worthwhileyear for the Oregon Village

Board. Economic develop-ment, downtown projects,and a variety of projectsthat enhance our reputationas a family friendly com-munity have been areas ofemphasis.

There is always moreto be done than funds willa l low, and the Vil lageBoard strives to be fiscallyresponsible as it prioritizesits projects to complete.

Al though s ma l l , ou rdowntown has been calledone of the most vibrant inDane County.

Our downtown diningattractions were enhanced

this year by Senor Peppersmoving to a larger locationand the opening of Masonson Main. The increasedpatronage moved the recon-struction of the JeffersonStreet parking lot to the topof the list for completion.The lot will be essentiallycompleted by Oct. 31.

Not only does it addadditional parking spaces,it has a much more pleas-ing appearance that is moreconsistent with the rest ofdowntown. Other enhance-ments include a Dump-ster corral, an attractivefence to clearly delineatethe area, and removal of

impedimentsin the centerof the lot.

O u r v i l -lage has ar e p u t a t i o nof being agreat placeto reside asdocumentedb y b e i n g

selected as a Top 100 Placeto Live by Money Maga-zine. That reputation wasgained in part by being afamily-friendly community.The Village Board is proudof tha t dis t inc t ion andstrives to enhance it withappropriate actions.

We have been workingfor several years on getting

a bike trail to Madison. Themiddle section has beendifficult to finalize, but itappears that the glitcheshave been worked out andconstruction will begin onthe first phase of the trailin the spring. We will applyfor another Dane CountyRecreation grant in thespring to continue the workon the trail.

Completion of this trailis much anticipated byour residents and will helpestablish Oregon as a des-tination among the DaneCounty biking crowd. Ianticipate that the trail willlure many bikers to our

wonderful downtown andwill benefit all restaurantsin town.

Othe r enhancementsinclude the opening of anenclosed dog park on ParkStreet. The park is namedafter Jon Blanchard, whochaired the Park Boardfor twenty-five years andrecently resigned from thePark Board after a long anddistinguished tour of duty.The Village is grateful toJon for his service.

The Village also movedforward with the approvalof Little Free Libraries. Thelibraries are an Eagle ScoutProject with assistancefrom some residents.

The installation of addi-

tional way finding signs inthe downtown area makesit easier for visitors to finddestinations downtown.

The Chamber of Com-merce and Village Boardcontinue to work togetherto move our village for-ward. A noticeable exampleis the community signs thathave been installed at 833North Main and 989 ParkStreet. We also continue towork together on economicdevelopment projects whenfeasible.

Economic developmenthas been furthered by the

Photo by Jim Ferolie

Above is an aerial view of the Alpine Business Park looking south showing the new Lycon Inc. ReadyMix Concrete plant and Trachte Inc. Below, construction crews are putting the finishing touches on theLycon facility.

Photo by Victoria Vlisides

Turn to Alpine/Page 16

Turn to Village/Page 15

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October 31, 2013 Oregon ObserverConnectOregonWI.com 13Oregon Focus

Message from the Chamber

Banner year all over OregonEconomic development is

flourishing, and the past 12months have been a banneryear in Oregon.

The Oregon Area Cham-ber of Commerce (OACC)supports both area busi-nesses and the residen-tial community to ensure

Oregon is a great place tolive, work and play throughour four core service areas:Promote, Inform, Connectand Advocate. We enjoyworking on communitywide initiatives with ourmembers and local govern-ment.

Our passion is connectingwith and making a positivedifference for each one ofour members. At the sametime, we want to ensure thatour community continues tobe a family-friendly envi-ronment.

Downtown is rapidlybecoming a new Taste ofOregon experience. Therelocation of Senor Pep-pers Mexican Restaurantand the addition of Masonson Main and Lil BuddiesPopcorn & Chicago stylehot dogs have really com-plimented other restaurants,which include Firefly Cof-feehouse, Marias Pizzaand Pizza Pit. DowntownOregon is quite a wonderfuldining destination.

With the new OregonBike and Skate store down-town next to Tri CountyAppliance, downtown Ore-gon is at full occupancy.The improvement of theJefferson Street parking

lot is almostc o m p l e t eand providesa c c e s s t oall the localbusinesses.

Y o u c a nreally appre-c i a t e a l l

the peop lecoming andgoing while sitting on abench on Friday or Satur-day night, or listening tothe concerts in the TrianglePark. It is a delight to bepart of our vibrant commu-nity.

At the north end of Ore-gon, the business park isfilling up, with Lyconsnew construction and theTrachte expansion. BillsFood Center is the anchorof the North Main Streetshopping plaza, and we arepursuing tenants for avail-able space there.

The southeast side ofOregon welcomes Lund-grens Signs and KarateAmericas relocation to thearea. The new Headquar-ters restaurant is under con-struction and with the hotelfeasibility study complete,the hotel project is stillbeing actively pursued. Thesoutheast side is quicklybecoming another gatewayto Oregon.

New residential buildinghas resumed on Oregonswest side, and Mueller Den-tals new office on AlpineParkway is nearing comple-tion.

T h e C h a m b e r o f

Commerce installed wel-come/information signs oneach side of town to informthe community of currentevents taking place aroundthe village. Thank you toUnion Bank & Trust andTecMarket Works for theirsupport with this project.

Oregon Summer Fest wasgreat fun. Participants in the5k Classic Run/Walk werenot deterred by the rainyweather. Heavy crowdscame out to enjoy the car-nival, music, parade, clas-sic car show and great food.Chamber members andcommunity residents gener-ously volunteered their timeto make this event very suc-cessful.

Speaking of Chambermembers, numerous localbusinesses have openedtheir doors for tours of theirfacilities to better acquaintthe other chamber memberswith their operations. Weinvite anyone interested towatch our online calendarof events for information onsimilar events in the future.

The OACC has had agreat deal of success withour Chamber Connection toEducation Series offeringclasses in human resources,software and social media.

We are extremely posi-tive about the next year.Things to look forward toinclude the Chambers 50thanniversary, Summer Fest(which will be better thanever), continued growth

Knutson

Big investment pays off in downtownBiLL LivickUnifed Newspaper Group

When the Vil lage of Oregon borrowed $5.07million in 2008 to renovatethe downtown, there was noguarantee the effort wouldresult in the growth of newbusiness.

The projec t involvedreplac ing undergroundinfrastructure, includingthe 72-inch stormwater cul-vert that conveys runoff inthe Badfish Creek from thewest side of the village tothe east.

I t a lso inc luded newstree t pavement , s ide-walks, parking areas andstreetscape features suchas period lighting, benchesand information kiosks.The work took place in twophases in 2008 and 09.

V i l l a g e a d m i n i s t r a -tor Mike Gracz thinks allthose improvements set thestage for whats happenedthis year: the renovationof two historic downtownbuildings, the relocationof Seor Peppers MexicanRestaurant and the open-ing of Masons on Main, anelegant 3,000-square-footrestaurant and bar at 113 S.Main St.

All of the storefrontsdowntown are filled rightnow, he said last week.Its a great achievement.

Sometimes when a com-munity renovates its down-town, it doesnt pay offright away, Gracz noted.

He thinks some of thisyears progress would havehappened without tha twork, but believes the reno-vations did spur people andbusinesses to come to thearea.

Its just made the down-town alive again, Graczsaid.

Sometimes people cau-tion you not to spend toomuch money before thedevelopment happens, butI think it was necessary. Alot of people were think-ing the downtown wasstarting to look a little bitworn out, and I think itwas a really good idea thatwe went ahead and did thestreetscape and decorativelighting and things likethat.

Gracz described it as ajoi nt ventu re bet ween thebusiness owners and thevillage to get us where weare now.

The final piece of thatinvestment is happeningnow with the rehabilitationof the Jefferson Street park-ing lot behind the row ofbusinesses on South Main

Street.

Restorations andbuilding a restaurant

The biggest downtownbusiness development thisyear was Jerry and BonnieThiels decision to buildMasons on Main. Theybegan renovating the histor-ic buildings at 113 and 119S. Main St. both on theNational Register of His-toric Places last year andcompleted the project earlythis year. Then in March,the couple announced theirintention to build and openthe 110-seat restaurant.

Named after the former

Masonic Temple, built in1898 at 119 S. Main St.,

Masons on Main openedin late May. The Thielspartnered with their son,Hans, and executive chefJonathan Cross on the res-taurant, which features abistro/bar room on the northside and a more formal,upscale dining room in thesouth room with seating for65 to 70 diners.

Village officials wel-comed the 35 new jobs therestaurant created, as wellas the out-of-town visitorsthe business draws to thevillage.

I think its going toenhance everybodys busi-

ness in the downtown, Jer-ry Thiel told the Observer

in June. In that regard, Ithink the community is thewinner.

The bistro includes ahandsome dark-wood baralong one side of the roomopposite an exposed brickwall with historic photos ofthe village.

Brick that was removedt o c r e a t e a n o p e n i n gbetween the two buildingshas been reused to anchorone end of the bar, and theThiels managed to salvagea couple of heavy, historicdoors from the State Capi-tol building to use for therestrooms.

On the other side, an openkitchen is adjacent to the

main dining room, whereeach table is set with white-linen tablecloths and nap-kins, beneath the restoredoriginal pressed-tin ceiling.

Oregon Area Chamberof Commerce director Judy

Knutson said the Thielsdeserve much of the creditfor what she sees as a revi-talized downtown.

Im very excited that thedowntown storefronts arefull, she said. Its won-derful to sit out there on aFriday or Saturday nightand just watch all the peo-ple walking around and thecars going by.

Finding a new homeAnother key piece of the

downtown renewal is therenovation of the historicNetherwood Building andthe reopening of Seor Pep-

pers Mexican Restaurant.Commercial developer

Paul Lynch, owner of the6,600-square-foot Neth-erwood Building that wasalso constructed in 1898,renovated the bui ldingin three phases and com-pleted the work last year.When Seor Peppers ownerMagalay Richter needed anew space for her restau-rant, Lynch created it in hisbuilding.

Seor Peppers lease atits former location on SouthMain Street expired Jan.31, and Richter thought shemight have to find another

Photo by Jeremy Jones

Pork tenderloin is one of the dishes offered at Masons on Main.

Turn to Masons/Page 16

Turn to Chamber/Page 15

Its just made the

downtown alive

again.

Mike Gracz

Village administrator


4/7


Housing sees a big boomSle fmly hme

pemts ely

uble

Mark ignaTowSkiUnifed Newspaper Group

If youre looking for anindicator that Oregon isa good place to live, lookno further than the nearlydoubled number of newsingle-family home startsthis year.

The village has seen 45new building permits thisyear through mid-October,compared to just 26 in all of2012, according to numbersprovided by the Village ofOregon.

The bulk of those newhomes are in the Alpine

Meadows and Bergamontsubdivisions.In fact, the numbers are

so good that Alpine Mead-ows is almost all filled, saidRealtor Laurie Zoerb.

We had such a busyyea r , Z oe rb to ld theObserver.

Alpine Meadows hasthree lots left that shethinks will be built on bynext spring.

The Bergamont has hada busy year, said Fiduciaryvice president Craig Rad-datz. Fiduciary took overownership of the subdivi-sion and golf course in 2007and invested about $10 mil-lion in the clubhouse and

pool area.Right from the start we

believed that this wasgoing to be a premier DaneCounty destination, Rad-datz said. We have every-thing that this was envi-sioned to be.

Both Raddatz and Zoerbsaid Oregon is seen as a greatplace to live because of its

family-friendly neighbor-hoods, school system andcommunity feel.

Youre that next layerout, Zoerb said about Ore-gons relation to Madison.But the community still hasa lot to offer.

Another reason peoplehave decided to build is thatthey cant find what theyrelooking for in existinghomes, Zoerb said.

Features like three-cargarages and four bedroomsupstairs are hard to come byin existing homes, she said.

Those factors are playinginto the cost of homes, too.Builders like Chris Schmidt,owner of Classic Homes of

Madison, said his companyis building more homes thatcost upwards of $500,000.

Pricewise, its kind ofcreeping up a little bit,Schmidt said of the housingmarket.

Its difficult to determine ifthe current housing trend willcontinue, but Schmidt saidhe hopes demand evens out a

bit in order to create a morestable market.

If you heat up too muchprices tend to go wonky,Schmidt said.

Still, Oregon is poised foradditional growth, particu-larly in the Bergamont.

The subdivision had twophases open this year with33 total lots opening up. Ofthose 33 lots, 28 have beensold or are committed to,Raddatz said.

Compared to 2009-2011where the Bergamont hadabout 20 lots sold during that3-year period, 2012 saw 19lots sold and have somethingbeing built on them. Withabout 200 lots left in thesubdivisions master plan,

Raddatz said they hope to seebuilding for the next five orsix years.

We are feeling pretty

strongly, that certainly thenext two years, wed expectthe same type of perfor-mance, Raddatz said.

New home starts

Year New permits

2010 20

2011 222012 26

2013 45*

* as of Oct. 17

Photos by Mark Ignatowski

Above, heavy equipment is used to move dirt off Oakwood Road in the Bergamont subdivision. Below, workers install exterior bricks on anew home in the Bergamont subdivision.


5/7

October 31, 2013 Oregon ObserverConnectOregonWI.com 15Oregon Focus

Chamber adds new signs, discusses new logoScoTT girard

Unifed Newspaper Group

The Oregon Chamber ofCommerce installed twonew signs in the village

just befo re Memorial Daythis year.

The signs, located out-side Union Bank and Trustat 883 N. Main St. and bySienna Crest at 981 ParkSt., serve as a commu-nity calendar of sorts, saidChamber Executive Direc-tor Judy Knutson

Theres so many thingsgoing on in Oregon, andwe want community mem-bers to know what is goingon in town, Knutson toldthe Observer.

She said the response tothe signs in the commu-nity, both by organizationsusing it to promote eventsand community memberswho learn about eventsfrom it, has been over-whelmingly positive.

Every time I am out and

about, people say I didntknow about this unless Iseen it on your sign, whichis what we want, Knutsonsaid. Last week we hadsix events on two signs.Its wonderful.

The new signs, whichr e p l a c e d o l d e r o n e s ,offer more space for not-ing events on both sides,though Knutson said theytry to limit it to one perside when possible.

Discussion of new signsbegan in January, Knutsonsaid, and they were able tomove through the processquickly thanks to fundinghelp from Union Bank andTrust and TechMart to goalong with chamber funds.

The signs mostly focuson non-profit or othercommunity events, Knut-son said.

New logoThe village and chamber

had also discussed creating

a new logo and brand forthe area back in April.At the time, chamber

director Brett Frazier spear-headed the effort to iden-tify a logo and tagline, butmore than that an identifi-cation of how we representourselves both internallyand also to folks who arevisiting, he said in April.

You know, when theysee the logo they recognizeit; when they hear the tag-line theyre proud of it,Frazier said. And it couldbe almost a formalizationof the things that werealready prideful about as acommunity.

However, Knutson saidno progress has been madesince because people likethe horse, referencing theWisconsin Horse Capitalbrand the village has usedin the past.

Were still talking, shesaid.

at the business park, thepump house/water tow-er project and welcom-

ing more businesses tothe community. We havemany fun communi tyevents planned, as well.

We will continue to striveto make Oregon a great placeto do business, while makingsure that Oregon continuesto be a dynamic commu-nity. The OACC supports

Chamber members, helpingthem to grow and thrive, pro-viding the Oregon commu-nity with resources to shopand dine locally. In turn, the

support of all the businessesand residents in the commu-nity is greatly appreciated bythe Chamber.

Thank you to our mem-bers, volunteers, sponsors,the village, police depart-ment, fire department andresidents of the community.

The Chamber is here to

help. If we can serve youin any way, please do nothesitate to call, email or

just stop by.You can also visit our

website, oregonwi.com,a n d F a c e b o o k p a g e(oregonwi) for currentinformation about what isgoing on in Oregon.

Ju dy Kn uts on is theexecutive director of theOregon Area Chamber ofCommerce.

addition of The HeadquartersRestaurant on Wolfe Street,the expansion of Trachtes inthe Industrial Park, approvalof phases 3e and 4a in theBergamont subdivision, andactivation of the rail line bythe end of the year.

One of the major projectsthat the Village Board will

work on during 2014 will be

analyzing the area on the eastside of U.S. Hwy. 14 for pos-sible development opportuni-ties.

We will also continue tofocus on economic develop-ment as well as making somedecisions about our CapitalImprovement Plan. Engi-neering work will begin on

the extension of North Perry

Parkway from the ice arenato Park Street.

It has been a pleasure tocontinue to serve our resi-dents in 2013. I appreciateyour support and input.

Steve Staton is president ofthe Oregon Village Board.

Photo by Victoria Vlisides

The Oregon Chamber of Commerce installed two new signs in the village just before Memorial Daythis year.

Brooklyn breaks groundon Hwy. 92 business park

The Village of Brook-lyn broke ground on a newbusiness park Sept. 27 aftermore than a year and a halfof work by village officialsto receive a grant for theproject.

The process began inspring 2012 when the vil-lage applied for a $261,000Community Block Devel-opment Grant from Dane

County to build infrastruc-ture for the park.Following a review by a

county subcommittee thatevaluates applications forthese grants, the village wasleft with a list of requiredimprovements it had tomake to remain eligible forthe grant.

The first requirementwas gaining approval fromthe Capital Area Region-al Planning Commission

(CARPC), a body that aimsto protect water quality andoversees sewer expansionrequests.

The county subcommit-tee also asked to see thevillage get a firm purchaseprice for the land, come toan annexation agreementwith the Town of Rut-land, receive a permit foran access point to Hwy. 92

from the state Departmentof Transportation and cre-ate a tax-increment financ-ing (TIF) district.

CARPC approved theproject in early November2012, leaving the villagewith three months to final-ize the other requirements,based on the deadline theCDBG subcommittee hadset.

The village received offi-cial approval for the project

in late February 2013, andbegan drawing up officialplans and asking for bids onthe project.

That all came to a headin September when VillagePresident Nadine Walsten,along with other villageofficials, state Sen. JohnErpenbach, and representa-tives from the constructioncompany held the villages

first groundbreaking cere-mony Walsten could recall.Im just a bit Wal-

sten said just before theceremony, taking a pause tochoose her words, giddy.

Walsten said she expect-ed the infrastructure to becompleted in mid-Novem-ber, and the village hasalready begun solicitingbusinesses to develop in thepark with a focus on lightindustry.

Image courtesy Village of Brooklyn

Brooklyns new business park is on State Hwy. 92 on the edge of the village.

Oregons Only New York Style Deli

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Boars Head Meats & Cheeses and Farm Fresh Foods

Call ahead and have your order ready upon arrival.

135 S. Main St., Oregon (608) 835-0225 www.albericisdeli.com

Monday-Friday 10am-6pm, Saturday 10am-4pm, Sunday Closed

Chamber: Village a great place for businessContinued from page 13

Village: Activating rail line by end of yearContinued from page 12
http://www.oregonwi.com/http://www.oregonwi.com/


6/7


town for her popular res-taurant.

She was relieved to onlymove across the street.

Seor Peppers openedin early April, and Rich-ter later received the vil-lages permission to addsix tables on a patio over-

looking the World War 1monument.

With the move, she wasable to increase the restau-rant staff from eight to 11employees.

The restaurant itselffeatures large storefrontwindows overlooking theWorld War I monument inthe heart of the village. Theelevated patio area in frontwas especially popular withcustomers in the summerand early fall, Richter said.

Everyone says theylike it, and a lot of peoplewould rather sit outsidewhen the weathers nice,

she said.Inside, the restauranthas some beautiful canvasmurals of Mexico paintedby a Chicago-based artist,and everything is new andshiny, with seating for 68.

The food is the sametasty fare that has drawncustomers from throughoutthe area.

Richter said the menud idn t change much ,although there are a fewnew items.

These are family reci-pes, mostly my grandmoth-ers recipes that I broughtfrom Mexico, Richtersaid.

The Netherwood Build-ing was built on the southside of the village square in1898 by Italian workmenwho traveled to Oregonfrom Chicago, accordingto Melanie Woodworth,a member of the OregonArea Historical Society.

Addressing parkingThe Jefferson Street park-

ing lot had not been refur-bished since 1977, publicworks director Mark Belowsaid. Work on the projectbegan in late Septemberand is nearing completion.

Downtown bus inessowners and village officials

had wanted to improve thelot ever since the rest of thedowntown was updated in2008 and 09. The villagehired Payne and Dolan toresurface and restripe thelot at a cost of $74,000. Thework was overseen by theengineering firm MSA Pro-fessional Services, whichdesigned the changes.

The Village Board alsodecided to create a Dump-ster corral in the southwestcorner of the lot and installa fence on its westernboundary.

The newly designed lotcontains 32 parking stalls,

four of which are designat-ed for handicap parking.The countys emergency

warning siren was removedfrom the lot and a new sirenwill be erected near theintersection of South MainStreet and South PerryParkway, at a cost of about$25,000.

Village President SteveStaton said finishing the lotties the entire downtowntogether. He thinks thatbetween the villages workto improve the downtownand the business communi-tys investing there, the Vil-lage of Oregon can be proudof what its accomplished.

Its good to bring it up tospeed so that it looks like therest of the downtown, Sta-ton said. I think we prob-ably have the most vibrantand busy downtown of anysmall town in Dane County.Its a small downtown butits very active and now alsovery attractive.

Masons: New to downtownContinued from page 13

the long inactive rail line thats joint-ly owned by the Village of Oregonand the City of Fitchburg. Trains havenot run on that section of track since1997, Below said.

Wisconsin and Southern Railroadis in the process of improving the line

from McCoy Road to West Nether-wood Road in Oregon. Lycon plans touse the rails only as far south as Neth-erwood Road.

The rail cars will carry aggregate tothe Lycon plant to make concrete.

Lycon cant technically open theplant until the line is open, villageadministrator Mike Gracz said. Therailroad company is going to go to thenecessary commission meeting theWisconsin River Rail Transit Com-mission in November, so its prob-ably going to be the end of Novemberor sometime in December until theline is technically activated.

Trachte Inc.Trachte Inc. is on the move and

adding jobs to its Oregon-based oper-ations after suffering a recession-driv-en slowdown that resulted in somefurloughs and layoffs less than fouryears ago. The companys core busi-ness modular assembly of prefabri-cated buildings, mostly for the electri-cal energy market is back on trackand doing well, said Randy Trachte,who owns the company along with hisbrother, Ron.

The part of our business thatsgoing to the energy sector has beenvery stable and trending up, he toldthe Observer.

The company developed a newproduct line that is now being man-ufactured at its Burr Oak Avenuesite. The need to use the Burr Oakfacility for the new production line

caused Trachte Inc. to build the32,000-square-foot addition to itsBraun Road facility in the businesspark.

We were doing our modularassemblies there (on N. Burr Oak) aswell as up on Braun Road, so this newexpansion on Braun Road allows usto move all our modular assembly upto Braun Road, Randy Trachte said.That will open up 422 Burr Oak forT-RAMS.

The new product line, T-RAMS (anacronym for Trachte Rapid AssemblyModular Shelters), is an innovationthat opens up a whole new marketfor us, Trachte said.

We panelize one of our modularbuildings, he explained. Instead of

putting it together as a modular build-ing, we send it out in pieces. Wallsections are panelized and it allowsthe product to go into shipping con-tainers.

Demand for the new product creat-ed eight new jobs at Trachte Inc. earlythis year, and Randy Trachte said thecompany expected to add another 15to 20 positions this year or next.

In addition to the T-RAM produc-tion, the company started buildingvery large structures at its Braun Roadassembly site this year. They are solarge 30-foot wide by 120-foot long that they have to be constructed outsideunder a canopy on the concrete assem-bly pads that Trachte built this year.

With close to 130 employees,Trachte is one of the villages largestprivate employers.

Truck repair facilityAbout two weeks ago, Marty Ver-

helst told the Village Board he wantsto construct a 15,000-square-footbuilding to be used as a truck repairbusiness on three acres in the busi-ness park, with five to seven full-timeemployees.

The building would be located on a

parcel near the intersection of WestNetherwood Road and Cusick Park-way at the south entrance of the busi-ness park.

Verhelst requested $100,000 oftax incremental financing assistancefrom the village to buy the land andestimates he would invest $100,000of his own money to improve the par-cel and install a crane infrastructurein the building. He would also use a

bank loan of $750,000 for the project.He made an offer to buy the landfrom Lycon Inc. and said the compa-ny has until Oct. 31 to respond.

If he can reach an agreement withLycon, as well as with the village forTIF assistance, Verhelst would beginbuilding next spring and start operat-ing his estimated $1 million facilityby the fall.

Photos by Victoria Vlisides

Construction workers doelectrical work (above) onLycons outside and weld-ing (left) on its interiorThursday afternoon.

A redesignof theJeffersonStreetparkinglot behindthe rowof SouthMainStreetbusi-nesses

is nearlyfinished.

Photo byJim Ferolie

Alpine: Gaining momentum with new projectsContinued from page 12

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Diane Sliter Agency, Inc.850 Janesville St.Oregon, WI 53575

Bus.: (608) [email protected]


7/7

FreeDelivery

&Hauling!PackagePricing

Available

Family

Owned&

Operated

since1966 Pers

onalized

Sales

&

Service

TRI-COUNTY APPLIANCE, INC. | 156 N. Main Street, Oregon, WI 53575 | www.tricountyappliance.biz608-835-7052 Mon., Tues., Thurs., Fri. 8:00 a.m.-5:30 p.m.; Wed., 8:00 a.m.-7:00 p.m.; Sat. 9:00 a.m.-noon

October 31, 2013 - Oregon Focus - The Oregon Observer- 17

2013 Oregon Focus

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Transcript of 2013 Oregon Focus