Talgo says no to Janesville
Podcast Episode
WCLO's Stan Stricker reports on reaction to Janesville being overlooked by Spanish train manufacturer
Photo
Photo
This model of what high-speed passenger trains in Wisconsin might look like was on display at the Dane County Regional Airport on Friday, July 17, 2009 as Gov. Jim Doyle announced plans to purchase new passenger rail cars to replace aging cars that run between Milwaukee and Chicago.
JANESVILLE — Despite what could be unprecedented incentives from the city of Janesville, a Spanish train maker has ruled out the city for its Wisconsin manufacturing operation and 50 to 60 jobs.
Talgo, Inc. recently narrowed its list of Wisconsin sites to six, including two in Janesville, two in Milwaukee and one each in Racine and Appleton.
BizTimes Milwaukee reported Monday that Talgo has selected the former Tower Automotive facility in Milwaukee.
In Janesville, Talgo’s finalists were the former LSI building at 2929 Venture Drive and the former Gilman/ThyssenKrupp factory at 305 W. Delavan Drive.
“With so many of our friends and neighbors still unemployed and struggling, the announcement … came as a disappointment,” said Assembly Speaker Mike Sheridan of Janesville.
Last summer, Gov. Jim Doyle and Talgo announced an agreement to put two Talgo train sets into service in Wisconsin and to establish a new assembly and maintenance facility in the state. The rail car assembly plant will support the delivery of Talgo trains throughout the country.
The state plans to buy two train sets from the company for the Amtrak Hiawatha Service between Milwaukee and Chicago. In addition, the state will buy two more train sets as part of federal stimulus money allocated to high-speed rail projects. Talgo is expected to build those sets.
On Friday, the state of Oregon said it would buy two Talgo train sets built in Wisconsin.
Jeff Helgesen owns the former LSI building that he remodeled and renamed the Helgesen Industrial Center.
He said Talgo wanted an 18-month lease for about 100,000 square feet of the 700,000-square-foot building. The company also sought an escape clause after 14 months.
Helgesen said Talgo needed $375,000 worth of improvements in the building. That was not an investment he was willing to make for such a short lease.
The city of Janesville, however, was prepared to guarantee lease payments if Talgo picked either of the Janesville sites, City Manager Eric Levitt said.
Levitt and Vic Grassman, the city’s economic development director, acknowledged the guarantee was a gamble. If Talgo closed its Janesville operation within five years, the city would be on the hook for the remaining lease payments.
“In our opinion, the worst case scenario would have been three years (of lease payments),” Grassman said. “The economy is going up, and we were optimistic that once they came they would stay.
“We’ve got to make stuff happen, and this shows how serious we were.”
Levitt and Grassman, both relatively new in Janesville, said the lease guarantee could be unprecedented.
“It’s the council’s policy to try and be as aggressive as we can to bring jobs,” Levitt said, adding the council was aware of the proposal and planned to vote on it next week.
“Vic has some ideas on how we can become more creative with incentives to get companies to expand or locate here, and this is an example of that.”
Sheridan said local leaders worked hard to lure Talgo and the community is poised for future projects.
“While their efforts were not successful with Talgo, they did set the stage for Janesville to continue to compete for jobs and businesses in the future,” he said.
Mar 4, 2010 at 7:38 a.m.
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Eman, when was the last time a large percentage of city residence used the firedepartment? lets get rid of that. AFDC? let them that use it pay for it.
Mar 3, 2010 at 2:13 p.m.
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Why is this such a big shock? Janesville is quite a way off the track for this project. It doesn't make sense to have the factory in a city not on the line. Congrats, Milwaukee. You need the jobs as much as Janesville does...
Mar 3, 2010 at 1:52 p.m.
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Another one bites the dust......
Mar 3, 2010 at 12:56 p.m.
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Get the UAW involved have them demand that TALGO come here,O thats to bad that talgo is not union.LOL.
Mar 3, 2010 at 11:11 a.m.
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TheJoker, quite a few Amtrak lines are state-subsidized. The Amtrak Cascades service which is the other Talgo customer is funded by the states of Washington and Oregon; California subsidizes its Amtrak service through Caltrans; and New York State subsidizes the Adirondack service. Other states provide rolling stock and build or rehab stations.
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The_One, obviously the initial Talgo interest was in the GM site, but in the interim GM declared bankruptcy and decided to keep Janesville in the new GM, which means it became unavailable. If it had been, we would have been a more attractive site, I'm sure.
Mar 3, 2010 at 11:02 a.m.
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Obviously it's cuz GM is coming back to Janesville... I mean come on, two big manufactures under one roof... Get real! If that happened Janesville might survive instead of meeting its fait once GM bennies end... And we all know that just can't happen.
Mar 3, 2010 at 10:54 a.m.
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Two questions-When did the State of Wisconsin get into the business of buying trains for Amtrak? and-
Does this mean GM is not coming back to Janesville?
Mar 3, 2010 at 8:31 a.m.
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From the WISC website: "Talgo executives said one reason for choosing Milwaukee over Janesville was Milwaukee’s harbor.
"http://www.channel3000.com/sports/22723799/detail.html
You mean it isn't Eric Levitt's fault?
I'm sure Nancy would say that Levitt's been here over a year, he should have built a harbor here by now.
Mar 3, 2010 at 8:20 a.m.
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Pete/Hank/SSNancy is dead! Long live the next troll!
Mar 3, 2010 at 1:38 a.m.
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I think Eric Levitt must have gone back in time and killed Nancy's grandfather, because s/he has vanished. That dastardly man!
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Funny thing is, Hank's hobby horse for weeks was how the city should provide incentives for owners of vacant buildings to fill them up. (How this would work was never clear, given a shortage of potential tenants.) Here the city was guaranteeing the rent for a company to occupy a vacant building, and he doesn't like that.
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I think the final deal that Talgo made shows at least two things. First, that once they had the Oregon order they felt much more confident about making a commitment to a larger facility, and second, that Janesville was simply unable to provide a site for that new reality. Whether the city fathers would have sweetened the deal this way or that would have made little difference if they wanted something that doesn't exist here.
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People seem to think this is easy. It ain't. Replacing GM's 5000-ish jobs isn't going to be a matter of finding even 10 employers at 500 jobs each. We might get one. No, we'll have to work through getting 100 employers of 50 jobs each. And that's going to mean 300 or 500 potential deals most of which don't gel.
Mar 2, 2010 at 9:14 p.m.
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"Janesville needs the right sword to battle in today's fight.Eric Levitt is not that sword."
Janesville has Judy Robson. I know she's the right person cause the union leaders tell me so every Labor Day. She clearly has delivered again for all of those who vote as they are told. Now Judy is quitting hoping for a state job with a higher paycheck (and bigger pension) if Tom Barret is elected governor. I can't wait for the bosses to let me know who the next person I should vote for is so that we continue to get people who are good for Janesville.
Mar 2, 2010 at 8:17 p.m.
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Hey Nancy or should we say Hank you can slow down on cutting Eric down if he were here to defend himself it may be ok. Why don't you give us some truthful information for once and quit with your personal grudge. All we ever hear from you is Eric screwed something up without actual proof to back your claims. I think for the shape the city is in right now this is about the best anyone can do in this economy. You think you have an answer for everything but there is no foundation to your informstion you follow and post.
Mar 2, 2010 at 5:43 p.m.
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SouthsideNancy- Did Eric Levitt run over your dog or his he dating your daughter? Enough already!!
Mar 2, 2010 at 5:36 p.m.
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Sour grapes! This company won't succeed anyway, those trains are just too small! People, especially WI people, don't like being shoehorned into a small space (see picture).
Mar 2, 2010 at 5:20 p.m.
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cuz there wasn't a lady lobbist involved
Mar 2, 2010 at 4:42 p.m.
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Probably because we didn't have a new ice arena : P
Or cuz of the great money management by the local school board : P
Or cuz they couldn't raise chickens : P
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