Proposed business park in Sussex opposed
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (WI) – Saturday, June 24, 2000
Author: JACQUELINE SEIBEL, Journal Sentinel staff
Neighbors are not happy about a proposed corporate park inSussex and plan to tell village officials about their concerns at a hearing on Tuesday.
Calling it a “sleazy deal,” Mervin and Anastasia Matuszak are among those who oppose the industrial development because they say it will lower their property values and isn’t a good fit for the neighborhood.
“Who wants all that noise and who wants to look at that in our backyards?” Anastasia Matuszak said.
The couple live on Bonnie Lane in the Town of Lisbon, and their subdivision is adjacent to the proposed development.
The Matuszaks and other neighbors will present a petition opposing the development at the hearing.
Reuben and Betty Mindemann have asked Sussex to rezone 65 acres southwest of Silver Spring Drive and Town Line Road so that a business park can be built there. The parcel now is zoned agricultural.
“It’s the only type of development that really could be there because of the quarry next to our property,” Betty Mindemann said.
Vulcan Materials Co. is adjacent to the Mindemanns’ property.
The Village Board and Plan Commission will hear comments at a public hearing at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Village Hall, N64-W23760 Main St.
“It’s a major controversy for the neighbors, who have legitimate concerns that have to be addressed,” said Village Administrator Chris Swartz.
A site plan of the business park includes five lots, with entrances to the park from both Silver Spring Drive and Town Line Road.
The village’s land-use plan shows the parcel as light industrial, which would be a good use of the property because it is near a quarry, Swartz said.
The Mindemanns’ land was annexed from Lisbon to Sussex in 1998 and would receive municipal sewer and water from the village if the development proceeded.
WOW Distributing of Waukesha could be the first tenant of the corporate park. Company officials have applied for a conditional use permit to build a beer distribution center on 24 acres.
The proposed 167,000- square-foot center would replace the company’s facility in Pewaukee. The company distributes Miller Brewing Co. products in Waukesha, Ozaukee and Washington counties.
The Mindemanns are also asking for a conditional use permit for a 10-acre portion of the parcel. The permit would allow the couple’s home, antiques shop and trucking business to remain on the site if the land were rezoned for the business park
Sussex to draft an ordinance to rezone lot – Village takes step toward granting request for planned corporate park
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (WI) – Wednesday, June 28, 2000
Author:JACQUELINE SEIBEL, Journal Sentinel staff
A corporate park development moved closer to reality Tuesday when the Village Board directed the village staff to draft an ordinance to rezone the property.
Rueben and Betty Mindemann have requested that 65 acres southwest of Silver Spring Drive and Town Line Road be rezoned from agricultural to a business park district to build a corporate park.
The Mindemanns said the site is best suited for use as a corporate park because it is adjacent to Vulcan Materials Co. The village’s land-use plan labels the property as light industrial.
Neighbors at the meeting weren’t so happy with the development. At a public hearing before the board decision, residents voiced concern about noise, traffic and decreasing property values that could occur if the park were developed.
One resident, Michael Mark, said a corporate park doesn’t fit into his residential neighborhood. “We didn’t want to live in an industrial park,” he said.
Resident Rob Yaeger saidSussex already has industrial parks and doesn’t need any more.
Developer Mike Mooney of MLG Commercial said the development will provide a $23 million tax base in six years and provide 1,100 jobs.
The company plans to improve Town Line Road and Silver Spring Drive with turn lanes and bypass lanes to improve traffic flow.
WOW Distributing of Waukesha would be the first tenant of the corporate park. Company officials have applied for a conditional use permit to build a beer distribution center on a 24-acre section in the park.
The proposed 167,000-square-foot center would replace the company’s 6-acre facility in Pewaukee. The company supplies Miller Brewing Co. products in Waukesha, Ozaukee and Washington counties.
Also Tuesday, the Plan Commission directed its staff to draft a conditional use permit requiring the company to preserve 50% of the trees and provide a noise abatement plan if it expands.
When the Mindemanns’ land was annexed from Lisbon in 1998, the site included their home, a duplex, an antique shop and a trucking business. The Plan Commission wants a conditional use permit to allow all of these uses on a 10-acre parcel.
The development is set to be discussed again next month.
Madrigrano to consolidate beer biz
Local facility to house former WOW, Tosa firm
Living Sussex Sun, Posted: Dec. 8, 2009
Village of Sussex Aldo Madrigrano has shifted ownership of WOW Distributing to his new company, Beer Capitol Distributing-Lake Country, by buying out his WOW partners – family members Thomas Madrigrano, WOW Vice President, and Gina Madrigrano Friebus, WOW Vice President of Administration.
The new company, which Aldo Madrigrano owns jointly with Ronald Fowler of San Diego, will move the operations of Beer Capitol Distributing Co. in Wauwatosa, which the pair own jointly with Michael Merriman, to the Sussex facility.
Madrigrano said he expects to add about 120,000 square feet of warehousing and office space to the current 150,000-square-foot Sussex facility by May or June.
Madrigrano said he will move the entire Wauwatosa operation to Sussex, but did not say whether all the Wauwatosa employees would make the move, too, nor whether the consolidation would mean job losses in Sussex.
Though Aldo Madrigrano said through corporate spokeswoman Mary Brophy of Jacobson Rost, a Sheboygan marketing firm, that “it is our policy not to give out employee numbers,” Sussex Assistant Village Administrator Jeremy Smith said documents filed by WOW with the village show the company now employs about 145 people and expects to add about 25 more once it completes its expansion.
The company’s parking lot includes 150 employee parking spaces and will not be enlarged as part of the expansion, according to company plans submitted to the Sussex Plan Commission in July.
Wauwatosa city clerk staff said they didn’t know how many people work for Beer Capitol Distributing.
“I couldn’t be happier to announce this acquisition,” Madrigrano said in a company press release, “as it represents a new milestone for our businesses and an opportunity to enhance our reputation for exemplary customer service and sales support by achieving shared operating efficiencies.”
Madrigrano also would not reveal WOW’s financial figures, but in July the Wall Street firm of Dunn & Brad Street put the company’s annual revenues at $27.5 million.
The new Beer Capitol Distributing-Lake Country and the transplanted Beer Capitol Distributing sell national and international beers from MillerCoors, Pabst and Heineken, among others, plus beers from local brewers, including Lakefront, Capital and Stevens Point breweries.
Having sold off WOW’s Dodge County assets, the new company will serve 1,900 retailers in Waukesha, Washington and Ozaukee counties, while Beer Capitol Distributing (which a company press release called the largest beer wholesaler in Wisconsin) will continue to serve its 2,000 customers in Milwaukee County.
BUSINESS IN BRIEF
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (WI) – Saturday, October 2, 2010
Author: From Journal Sentinel staff and Associated Press reports: Staff
LOCAL
Merger creates state’s largest beer wholesaler
Beer Capitol Distributing Co. and Beer Capitol Distributing-Lake Country LLC are now merged as one company, creating Wisconsin’s largest beer wholesaler, Chairman and CEO Aldo Madrigrano said Friday. Beer Capitol Distributing Co., based in Sussex , is the nation’s 22nd-largest beer wholesaler, Madrigrano said. The company buys beer from Miller-Coors LLC, Pabst Brewing Co. and other suppliers, and then sells it to supermarkets, taverns,liquor stores and other retailers. It serves Milwaukee, Waukesha, Ozaukee and Washington counties. The company’s owners are Madrigrano; Mike Merriman, president; and Ron Fowler. The company, with more than 380 employees, includes operations formerly owned by now-defunct W.O.W. Distributing Co. and Miller Brands-Milwaukee LLC.