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Janesville leaders revive idea of business-development park

JANESVILLE — Some Janesville business leaders are hoping to lure new companies to the city with an “emerging industries business park.”

The idea is still very early in the discussion stage.

Janesville’s Roger Axtell, a business consultant who spent a career as a Parker Pen executive, said he doesn’t want to raise hopes.

“It’s so early, it isn’t even a gleam in the eye,” Axtell said Friday.

But those involved are serious, and they’ve lined up a potential key player from Madison to meet with them Tuesday.

One way the park might develop is to lure developing companies that got their start at University Research Park in Madison. Mark Bugher, president of the park, is scheduled to be at Tuesday’s meeting.

The park in Madison has 400 companies, hundreds of employees and is looking for land to expand, Axtell said.

A longtime Janesville booster, Axtell has connections to people such as Bugher, having been a University of Wisconsin regent and a member of the board of the research park.

Axtell noted that Rock County owns about 20 undeveloped acres that are a part of UW-Rock County. That land could be developed into a small business park, with the resources of UW-Rock next door and other amenities, such as transportation and Blackhawk Technical College, nearby.

A similar idea was discussed in 2000 but went nowhere.

John Beckord, president of Forward Janesville, is part of the discussion group, as is Mark Cullen of J.P. Cullen & Sons, UW-Rock Dean Diane Pillard and economic development officials from Janesville and Rock County, Axtell said.

Beckord said the group should be open to all kinds of companies, including those that might hatch in the minds of staff at UW-Rock, UW-Whitewater, or are efforts by other local residents.

“I’d just like to see commercialization of more ideas,” Beckord said. “Whether it’s ground-breaking, world-class, lab-coat kind of stuff, I don’t care.”

Beckord pointed to ABC Supply of Beloit, “a powerhouse of a company” that grew up locally.

What is needed, in Beckord’s view, is “an idea that can be cultivated nurtured and structured to make a viable, high-growth business.”

Beckord said the rebirth of the local economy will need companies that serve national or international markets and generate a flow of money to Janesville.

“We need to think a little bit bigger,” Beckord said, although he didn’t want to disparage the role of companies that serve only local markets.

Another avenue to explore is whether Janesville could become the manufacturing center for companies located in the Madison research park, Axtell said.

Axtell said the local group has general agreement on the idea, although some wonder whether the goal should be to find a bigger piece of land near Interstate 90/39 to allow for future expansion.

That’s a good idea for down the road, but the UW-Rock property wouldn’t cost anything because the county already owns it, Axtell said.

University Research Park also is looking for land in Middleton and Verona, but Beckord said Janesville properties would offer a price advantage. And, Janesville could draw on talent from places such as Madison and Rockford, Ill., which are well within commuting distance.

But for now, it’s all just an idea, Axtell and Beckord said.

“I think in 90 days, we’ll have a better idea as to how this is going to proceed as a project,” Beckord said.