Category: Business/Technology

Greg Rice is scurrying about like the owner of a brand-new home, checking all the details and looking for any signs of shoddy workmanship.

“I wonder what happened here?” asked Rice, noting a small chip in the corner of a concrete planter on the massive, fourth-floor rain garden that captures stormwater from the new University Square. Upstairs on the top floor of the Lucky Apartments portion of the project, Rice is curious about an 18-inch-ring stain on the hallway carpet.

But you can excuse Rice, 53, for being a little nervous. He’s overseeing the final phase of the largest mixed-use project ever built in downtown Madison just as some 40,000 students start pouring onto the UW campus and the U.S. economy teeters on the brink of recession.

In a small apartment on Madison’s South Side, nine children arrive for summer camp and immediately begin pulling out small, lime-green computers from oversized backpacks.

The campers are part of a new UW-Madison research project to test the effectiveness of the laptop computers as a learning tool, which were specially designed for children in developing nations.

Dear Editor: The middle of August means one thing for downtown Madison: college moving season. Like most other college students, I figured a U-Haul would be my best bet. I called to reserve a U-Haul at the advertised rate for the needed time period.

I received a call two days before moving telling me that there was no way I could get the U-Haul I requested over a month ago for the time period I needed it. I was told that the Madison U-Haul center had given strict instructions that no one could rent a U-Haul for more than six hours between Aug. 13 and 17.

Hartland native Brandon Nolde’s acceptance letter from UW-Madison was followed by a disappointing phone call.

University housing told him, “Sorry, we’re full.”

The renewed focus on developing entrepreneurs at the Wisconsin School of Business is an important ingredient for a state that needs more home cooking.

Incomes in Wisconsin lag the national average, making economic growth an imperative. But with the exception of communities like Hudson and Kenosha that border large metropolitan areas, most communities in Wisconsin traditionally haven’t been able to attract companies from outside the state. That doesn’t mean they shouldn’t try, but realistically, most growth has to come from existing businesses – or by creating new ones.

Under the leadership of University of Wisconsin-Madison business school dean Michael Knetter, and with the strong support of UW’s vast network of alumni, the school is trying to produce more graduates interested in starting companies.

Rental projects have become a popular choice for area developers as the struggling economy and housing market troubles continue to make some prospective home and condominium buyers wary of making purchases. A market study also showed “more than adequate demand” for more student housing near UW-Madison.

How Lucky can you get?

Lucky, a four-ton marble elephant carved in India was put on its pedestal Wednesday in the lobby of the Lucky Apartments at 777 University Ave., part of the $190 million University Square redevelopment project on the UW-Madison campus.

The marble elephant is the mascot for the 359-unit apartment building and is a symbol of good luck in parts of Asia, with good fortune expected to follow those who rub its trunk.

April Nett is a college student turned part-time detective.

Her investigative, take-matters-into-your-own-hands attitude is a recent transformation sparked by what hundreds of college students and city residents experience every year in Madison. Her bike was stolen from outside her University Avenue apartment, and she felt if she didn’t do something, nobody else would.

After watching the apartment building’s surveillance tape of two guys breaking her bike lock, then walking off with her bike, she attempted to file a report with the Madison Police Department. Without knowing the serial number for her bike, however, she knew there wasn’t much hope.

After years of skyrocketing arrest numbers and city and community frustration, the Mifflin Street Block Party is taking the first steps toward an overhaul.

According to Joel Plant, aide to Mayor Dave Cieslewicz, Madison officials have been meeting with the owners of the Majestic after they raised the possibility of the local music venue sponsoring the event.

Although planning is still in preliminary stages, the event would become a live music event, with two stages alternating music throughout the day and culminating with a nationally recognized headliner.

When UW-Madison MBA students return for fall classes in late August, theyâ??ll find new digs in the form of the $40.5 million east wing of Grainger Hall.

The 131,416-square-foot, four-story addition features enhanced space for Wisconsin Enterprise MBA programs, the Evening MBA and Executive MBA, all of which serve working professionals.

The new tower also features common areas for visiting recruiters, alumni and students –including the multi-purpose Plenary Room on the first floor — as well as the Capital Café and 29 modern classroom and meeting/breakout rooms.

The year is 1998. Michael Verveer is a 30-year-old member of Madison’s City Council, serving the heart of the city’s downtown.

He is the articulate public voice for the many students in his district who oppose stricter controls on alcohol. When the police announce in September that they have written their first tickets under a new policy to the hosts of an off-campus party with underage drinkers, Verveer tells The Capital Times that “some of my constituents are now facing several thousands of dollars worth of fines for a crime that I don’t think is that bad and that has been going on at the UW for more than four decades; namely, inviting friends over to celebrate a football game.”

….Fast forward to 2008. Madison’s economic revitalization has continued, and the face of downtown has changed as well, with many young professionals and “empty-nesters” moving in to hundreds of new condominium units.

….Verveer is not the only politician whose thinking on downtown alcohol issues has evolved in the past few years. The makeup of the Alcohol License Review Committee itself is a sign of how Mayor Dave Cieslewicz’s views on alcohol enforcement have changed.

Not everybody wants a gyro or a slice of pizza at bar time. Those with a sweet tooth might be more inclined toward a warm double chocolate chunk or M&M cookie and some cold milk.

“That is heaven right there,” said University of Wisconsin-Madison student Will Catron, 26, holding up an ice cream sandwich made with two white chocolate macadamia cookies and vanilla ice cream in the middle.

“It’s great,” said Catron, who visits the Insomnia Cookies truck on State Street Mall once or twice a week to get his favorite confection. “This is the cookie I love the most.”