It doesn’t come to any surprise that the Great Recession would be the #1 Issue that was faced in 2009. There were many setbacks that residents faced during the past year, and everyone felt the pinch. The City of Franklin was impacted in the following areas:
COMMERCIAL
- Sendik’s Fine Foods at Wyndham Village closed within a year of operation
- Longtime Franklin grocer Grundl’s Sentry Foods closed in November
- The site where the proposed Shoppes at Legend Creek was to be built went up for sale
- Harley-Davidson has a high chance of departing the Franklin Business Park
- Empty spaces and buildings along 27th Street weren’t filled in
RESIDENTIAL
- Large amounts of homes are up for sale
- Many foreclosures hit new subdivisions, such as the estate subdivision Prairie Grass Preserve, which was Franklin’s first Parade of Homes location
- Franklin Oaks, Tuckaway Pines, and the Villas of Franklin projects are hit with foreclosure
COMMUNITY
- Franklin Cultural Arts Center suspended operations
With all of those bulletpoints, however, Franklin still made some improvements and gained ground in 2009:
COMMERCIAL
- CVS/Pharmacy opened at Sendik’s West
- Wheaton Franciscan teamed with the Midwest Orthopedic Specialty Hospital and opened a facility in Wheaton’s Franklin hospital
- Wheaton Franciscan constructed a nature trail for cancer patients near its Rawson medical facility
- A 3-story office building opened along Ryan Rd in the Franklin Business Park, and currently has Lakeshore Medical Clinic as a tenant
- Pick n Save took over the space left vacant by Sendik’s Fine Foods at Wyndham Village
- Wyndham Village outlot buildings began to fill-in with new tenants Cousin’s Subs, Ferch’s, Gaia/Aveda Spa, Huntington Learning Center, SportClips, and Verizon Wireless
- Franklin’s first hotel, Staybridge Suites, opened
RESIDENTIAL
- Estate subdivision Stonehedge continues to construct new homes
- Sacred Heart Monastery received approval and began construction on Sacred Heart at Monastery Lake, which is a 4-story retirement facility for priests as well as an apartment complex for senior citizens
COMMUNITY
- Franklin High School’s gym received a new floor and paint job courtesy of the Saber Spirit Club
- Franklin received federal stimulus money to reconstruct 51st St in front of Franklin High School
While we are mostly filled with negative thoughts of 2009, we also need to be reminded of the positives as well. As we look forward into the new decade, Franklin is poised to continue on gaining ground in SE Wisconsin. I believe this will be possible due to two important factors:
- Close distance/travel time to Downtown Milwaukee
- Very close distance/travel time to Mitchell International Airport
With Mitchell becoming the hub of two airlines today and perhaps others in the near future, it doesn’t hurt to be the higher end suburb in its backyard. This is where Franklin needs to promote corporate and hotel/resort development and have a vision set into motion that will work on achieving this goal. The proximity to Downtown Milwaukee gives Franklin a unique opportunity to capitalize. We’re a community that is close to downtown and yet not fully developed. If Franklin works on promoting corporate development, as Downtown Milwaukee is as well, our community has areas already open and available for corporate executives, managers, coordinators, consultants and their families to move in with ease.
If we only focus on the negatives, negative things are only bound to continue to happen. We need to look towards a better and brighter future for this community, which will encourage the proper growth needed to reduce the pressure of increasing taxes on the residents. Some things that could be on the horizon in 2010 are:
- Continued outlot building fill-in at Wyndham Village
- A better plan for the former Sentry space – word now is that Harry’s True Value will occupy a portion of the Sentry space and Walgreens will move into Harry’s current space. This move would give Walgreens a spot for a drive-thru pharmacy and give Harry space to expand his store, if he sees it as such.
- Hampton Inn & Suites breaking ground near 76th & Rawson
- Perhaps a groundbreaking of the Golden Corral on 27th Street!
