WEDC funding to help support Glendale Yard development

MADISON, WI. AUG. 20, 2018 – The City of Glendale is receiving a $435,000 state grant to help redevelop the former site of the Glendale Rail Yard.

The Idle Sites Redevelopment Grant from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) will support the Glendale Yard Master Development Plan, a two-phase real estate strategy that will construct multiple industrial and flex-space buildings totaling over 375,000 square feet along the I-43 corridor.

The grant will be used for phase one of the project which will include the construction of a 60,000-square-foot flex-space building as well as a public street. City officials say the construction of a road will be a critical element in unlocking the development value of the parcel.

Construction began in March and is expected to be completed late next year.

“This project will see the construction of new industrial and office spaces which will play a key role in jump-starting redevelopment efforts in Glendale,” said Mark R. Hogan, secretary and CEO of WEDC, the state’s lead economic development organization. “The project’s significant economic impact will positively affect the Glendale community and WEDC is pleased to be able to provide support for this initiative.”

WEDC’s Idle Sites Redevelopment Grant Program, created in 2013, stimulates investment and job creation at idle, abandoned and underutilized manufacturing sites that are unlikely to be redeveloped solely by the private sector due to their scale and complexity.

The grants may be used for demolition, environmental remediation or site-specific improvements defined in the community’s redevelopment plan. The goal of the program is to advance the site to shovel-ready status or to enhance the site’s market attractiveness to encourage business growth.

One major success of the program is the Century City project in Milwaukee, which received a $1 million grant in 2014 for enhancements to the Century City Greenway and Gateway Infrastructure Project to help develop a state-of-the-art business park for advanced manufacturing.

Since the program’s inception in 2014, WEDC has awarded more than $15 million in Idle Sites Redevelopment Grants to 21 communities for projects expected to generate more than $44 million in capital investments statewide.