Business development
Nicolet National Bank acquired County Bancorp Inc., the parent company of Manitowoc-based Investors Community Bank.
Neenah Paper is closing its Appleton plant, according to its Georgia-based owner. An estimated 100 workers would be affected by the closing. Neenah Paper expanded its plant at 430 E. South Island St. five years ago.
Humana is selling its campus in De Pere and plans to lease back part of the office building it occupies near Lawrence Drive. The rest of the undeveloped property will be filled with a mix of development, according to city officials.
A proposal for a new Georgia-Pacific warehouse in De Pere has advanced with approval from the city’s planning commission. The plan would create a 1.1 million-square-foot building on the 2400 block of American Boulevard.
The Oneida Nation plans to offer sports betting under a compact amendment signed by Gov. Tony Evers and Tribe Chairman Tehassi Hill. The compact is the first to allow event wagering, which includes betting on sports and events such as nationally televised award shows, professional sports league drafts and professional sporting events such as football, basketball and baseball. No wagering will be allowed on Wisconsin college athletics or the outcomes of elections. The U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs has a 45-day review period.
The Alliance expanded its network to include four new HSHS hospitals in eastern Wisconsin and more than 100 Prevea Health locations across the state.
Schultz & Schultz, a family-owned insurance agency in Sheboygan, merged with Ansay & Associates.
Faith Technologies formally unified its three divisions within one parent company called Faith Technologies Inc.
Generac Power Systems acquired Chilicon Power, a California-based solar technology company.
Fond du Lac-based Quality Packaging Inc. plans to expand operations to the former Shur-Line manufacturing facility on South Iowa Avenue. It will lease around 225,000 square feet of space and plans to bring 250 jobs to the community.
KerberRose and Wipfli reached agreement for Wipfli to transfer its rights to provide professional services for certain tax, accounting and audit clients pending consent of the clients.
CONE Credit Union of Neenah merged with Simplicity Credit Union in Marshfield. CONE will rebrand this summer as Simplicity, and one data system will be created for the two organizations. CONE serves about 1,500 members in Brown, Calumet, Fond du Lac, Outagamie and Winnebago counties.
INDYCAR and Road America announced a multiyear extension designed to keep the NTT INDYCAR SERIES racing at the road course for years to come. Road America and EnTech Solutions partnered to bring clean energy electric vehicle charging capabilities to the patrons of Road America.
Cornerstone Business Services launched a new deal support division with a team of analysts providing deal support for buy-side and sell-side transactions. Analysts Ross Krantz and John Krueger are staffing the team.
Jewelers Mutual Group released an Alarm Response Program supported by Securitas, a firm specializing in protective services.
NeighborWorks Green Bay expanded its presence into the Fox Valley with its acquisition of the Neighborhood Partners program.
Paper Converting Machine Co. announced its Fusion C is now capable of running GelflexEB CI flexo printing inks at 400 meters per minute.
Muza Sheet Metal Co. opened its new location in Oshkosh. The company purchased a 72,000-square-foot building and remodeled the office space to include a new greeting/conference room and private offices in the mezzanine area, and the manufacturing space was redesigned to include more storage area and access to fleet vehicle parking on site. A new material storage building also was constructed.
Business comings and goings
The Fox Cities Convention & Visitors Bureau will relocate its office and visitor center to 213 S. Nicolet Road, Appleton. Extensive renovations are slated to begin on the new space, which was a former restaurant, in the next few weeks, with a tentative completion in November. The relocation’s goal is twofold: enhance the visitor experience and improve access to the visitor center.
The Brillion Early Learning Center opens in August. Child care is available to the community as well as to AriensCo employees at a discounted rate.
Stein’s Garden & Home opened in Kimberly. Keller Inc. completed the project.
CountrySide Veterinary Services will take over the vacant Shopko Express space at 2101 E. Evergreen Drive in Appleton. Bayland Buildings was selected as the general contractor for the remodel, which is expected to be complete by early fall.
ThedaCare relocated its Appleton urgent care location from its Encircle campus to 3925 Gateway Drive in Appleton.
Everyday Hometown opened in Waupaca.
The Town of Sheboygan town hall relocated to a new building on Technology Parkway to provide more office space and for the creation of a future community center.
Italian restaurant Mangiare opened in Green Bay. It is a sister restaurant to Republic Chophouse.
The Union Square in Manitowoc is set to be repurposed as a new event space. The 5,000-square-foot venue will be able to accommodate several hundred guests.
Elektra Cruise began offering electric boat rentals at the Fox River Marina in Oshkosh. The electric duck-style boat has enough seating for eight to 12 people and can be rented with or without a captain.
Construction news
Dramm Corp. in Manitowoc broke ground on a 98,000-square-foot expansion that will include a research greenhouse, testing facility and showroom.
Ammo Inc. broke ground on a new ammunition manufacturing plant in Manitowoc.
Sartori Cheese is expanding its whey converting facility in Plymouth by 22,000 square feet. Cheese is converted and packed at the facility, which is currently 83,854 square feet. The project is expected to be finished in November.
BC Organics broke ground on a new anaerobic digestion facility that will allow it to process more than 360 million gallons of manure per year. Miron Construction Co. Inc. is completing the project.
The Salvation Army broke ground on a new community corps center in Oshkosh. The center is expected to be completed by next year.
Consolidated Construction Co. Inc. completed a renovation project at the historic Heidel House, which reopened for the first time since 2019 as a hotel and conference facility.
ThedaCare completed a project featuring a new emergency department at ThedaCare Medical Center in Berlin.
The Village of Hilbert laid out plans to demolish the old Bel Brands cheese factory as part of its redevelopment plan that was put into place in 2018.
HSHS St. Mary’s Hospital Medical Center in Green Bay updated its children’s exam rooms.
Keller Inc. is completing projects for the following organizations: Be A Belle Salon, Green Bay; Big Ring Storage, Appleton; Coleman Area Rescue Squad, Coleman; Endries International, Brillion; Kenworth, North Fond du Lac; SKB Management Inc., De Pere; Riesterer & Schnell, Denmark; Wihlm Dental, Oshkosh; and Tommy Docks, Weston.
Residents have begun moving into the newly completed Crescent Lofts affordable housing units in the former Post-Crescent building located in downtown Appleton.
Vye, an inbound marketing agency in St. Cloud, Minn., and Green Bay, acquired Meta 13, a website design and development firm in St. Cloud.
Education
UW-Green Bay announced new certificate programs in supervisory leadership, management in health systems and geriatric health care. The school’s Institute for Women’s Leadership is offering a new advanced leadership certificate for women in middle management to director-level roles. The UW-Green Bay Master of Athletic Training program earned accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education. The university also debuted its newly completed softball stadium.
St. Norbert College was featured on CollegesofDistinction.com, which honors colleges excelling in key areas of educational quality.
Ripon College and Marian University in Fond du Lac received a grant of $50,000 from the Transformational Partnerships Fund to continue to explore a possible alliance. The grant is funding a summer faculty-led study of how the two institutions might work together academically.
Awards/recognitions/milestones
Secura Insurance was awarded WELL Certification at the Gold level for its home office by the International WELL Building Institute.
Wisconsin’s chapter of Disabled American Veterans recognized Fincantieri Marine Group as the 2020 Large Employer of the Year for its commitment to veteran employment.
The Sharon S. Richardson Community Hospice attained level 5 in the We Honor Veterans program, the highest level possible.
The UW-Green Bay Small Business Development Center was voted Center of the Year by the Wisconsin SBDC Network.
Clutch named the Weidert Group a Top B2B Company in the categories of web design and CRM.
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northeast Wisconsin was named as a 2020 Big Brothers Big Sisters of America Quality Award Winner.
Blue Door Consulting earned 12 Communicator Awards in an international competition sponsored by the Academy of Interactive & Visual Arts.
Oshkosh Healthy Neighborhoods received an NUSA Neighborhood of the Year Award for its Rock the Block Oshkosh project in 2020. The organization also partnered with Amcor to revive the Roe Park Born Learning Trail. The Oshkosh Parks Department replaced the signs and Amcor volunteers helped clean and paint surfaces on the trail during the Rock the Block Oshkosh program in the River East neighborhood in June.
Grants
The Fox Cities Performing Arts Center received a Shuttered Venue Operators Grant in the amount of $1.3 million from the Small Business Administration.
The David L. and Rita E. Nelson Family Fund within the Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region awarded $2.79 million in grants to 25 nonprofits throughout Northeast Wisconsin.
The Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corp. launched the Resiliency Grant Northeast Rural Microenterprises program to assist business owners in New London, Menasha, Fox Crossing, and Calumet and Outagamie counties, excluding the City of Appleton. Businesses with fewer than five employees, including the owner, are eligible.
UW-Green Bay received a $49,788 state grant to boost its effort to designate the Bay of Green Bay as a national research site. If UW-Green Bay receives the National Estuarine Research Reserve designation, it will bring in more than $1 million per year for water-focused scientific research, education, stewardship and training.
Integrity Insurance donated $100,000 to Habitat for Humanity Fox Cities. The donation will help Habitat construct a new home in the Fox Cities.
The Greater Fox Cities Area Habitat for Humanity is completing its first home build in the city of New Holstein. Area manufacturer Amerequip is the lead corporate sponsor, with the company’s team members supplying all the volunteer labor for the build.
Green Bay nonprofit Foundations Health & Wholeness Inc. received a two-year grant from Bader Philanthropies Inc., a private foundation located in Milwaukee.
Organizations throughout Wisconsin that provide emergency shelter, transitional residences and extremely low-income housing are encouraged to apply for grants from the WHEDA Foundation. Applications are due Aug. 23.
A. O. Smith Foundation donated 30 high-efficiency water heaters to the Greater Fox Cities Area Habitat for Humanity.
Matthews Tire raised $8,000 for the Wisconsin Veterans Village Association through its Oil Change for the Better event.
The Wisconsin Emergency Rental Assistance Program, which provides rental and utility assistance to households affected by the pandemic, will begin to include coverage of internet costs for qualifying households. To date, the state program has provided more than $38 million to nearly 11,000 households and is working to distribute available funds to eligible households and individuals.
All the rest
After two years, Sheboygan County has reopened the Revolving Loan Fund available through its Industrial Development and Revolving Loan Agency. The Sheboygan County Economic Development Corp. will administer the loan funds.
Prevea Health unveiled a painting at the new Prevea St. Mary’s Health Center to honor the dedicated health care workers who worked through COVID-19 as well as the lives that were lost to the pandemic.
U.S. Venture announced the launch of its redesigned website.
Let’s Play! Above & Beyond Children’s Museum reopened for general admission and members.
The Green Bay Packers will transition to all-mobile tickets in the upcoming season.
Appleton teachers are eligible to win STEM-focused funds from UScellular, which has pledged $100,000 through DonorsChoose to help teachers and students prepare for the next school year.
The Nelson Family Heritage Crossing opened to the public. The new trail connects Little Chute and Kaukauna starting at Heesakker Park and ending in downtown Kaukauna.
Shipments through the Port of Green Bay dipped to 149,019 tons in June, despite a relatively strong month for imports of cement and foreign petroleum products. With total cargo shipments of nearly 560,000 tons through June, overall port tonnage is off about 24 percent from the same time period in 2020.
Fox Cities Days, a workforce attraction program offered by the Fox Cities Chamber of Commerce, will be held Sept. 9 at Michigan Technical University in Houghton, Mich., and Sept. 28 at UW-Platteville.
PACE Wisconsin began supporting commercial, agricultural, and industrial development and redevelopment projects in Sheboygan County.
Residents of the New London area have improved access to transportation through the expansion of the “Make the Ride Happen” program, which helps connect community members with transportation options. ThedaCare and other community partners are collaborating to offer the program that provides people transportation for food, medical appointments and employment opportunities.
Death’s Door Maritime Museum in Gills Rock began hosting a emipermanent exhibit entitled From Net To Table.
To provide greater access to museum exhibits and programs to all Door County residents, Door County Maritime Museum is partnering with the Door County Library. DCMM family membership cards are now available for checkout for anyone with a library card at all branches of the Door County Library system. The passes allow families to visit the Door County Maritime Museum in Sturgeon Bay, the Death’s Door Maritime Museum in Gills Rock and the Cana Island Lighthouse in Baileys Harbor.
The City of Brillion received a $150,000 grant to develop a park space in the former Brillion Iron Works, which is being redeveloped into Brillion Works. The grant was part of a $2.79 million grant package from the David L. and Rita E. Nelson Family Fund within the Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region.
