U.S. State Highway 151 is the sole major commuter and industrial transit route connecting the Madison metropolitan area and the cities of Oshkosh/Appleton. Halfway between is the City of Beaver Dam, a community dedicated to incentivizing economic growth through the development of new business parks and shovel-ready properties.

The City recognized an opportunity to increase their inventory of industrial and business parcels, especially along the highly visible USH 151 corridor. In 2012, MSA was asked to assist with the full range of development services from concept planning to inter-governmental annexation agreements, land acquisition, financing, design, permitting, construction and marketing assistance for a new 200+-acre business park.

MSA first assisted with the preparation and successful negotiation of an agreement between the City and adjacent Town of Beaver Dam. The agreement covered annexation, jurisdictional boundaries, limits of municipal services into the town and road maintenance responsibilities associated with the area surrounding the new business park. Additional coordination for a variety of project elements was required between the City, Town, utility companies, Wisconsin DOT, Dodge County Highway Department, Wisconsin DNR and the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC).

To assist with project funding, MSA helped the municipality amend an existing TID to allow additional expenditures for extending road and utility infrastructure to the new park. MSA then designed water and wastewater systems to stretch well beyond their preexisting service limits in order to service the needs of new tenants both in the immediate and long term. These upgrades included a new water booster station, elevated storage reservoir and regional sanitary pumping station. The water supply system provides additional storage capacity and redundancy to distribution, and the new water tower substantially improves fire protection capabilities to both the new business park as well as to a nearby residential mobile home park.

The elevated storage reservoir siting required some innovative discussions with an adjacent motor sports dealership to ease their concerns about being located in the shadow of the new water tower. It was eventually recognized that being located next to the new tower created a unique marketing opportunity for the business and its promotional efforts.

Sustainable elements within the project included reclaimed asphaltic pavement that was pulverized and left in place as road base. New, asphaltic pavement was added on top of the recycled base to increase the load capacity of the access road into the new business park.

Finally, MSA assisted with due diligence investigations, supporting documentation, and coordination of efforts to obtain accreditation in the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) Wisconsin Certified Sites Program. The City of Beaver Dam was one of the very first municipal business parks to successfully complete the rigorous investigation and initiation process associated with this state-run program to pre-inventory and globally market “shovel ready” business parks. The WEDC has recognized only 21 sites with this distinction to date.

The USH 151 Business Park has attracted the investment of new business, with three large enterprises developing 70 of the available acres to date. Offering direct highway access, proximity to commercial and freight airports and a busy trucking corridor, the business park is drawing increased commerce to the community of Beaver Dam and is serving as an important catalyst to broader regional economic development.