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October 1995

State Roundups
Wisconsin

Lure of state's Northwoods region fills lakeside property, brings 'positive' growth

Three years ago Richard Hansen, president of M&I Bank of Eagle River in northern Wisconsin, expected the surge in the local real estate market to ebb. However, the market is still strong and Hansen is not making any more predictions. "The market is just incredible," he says.

The Northwoods region of Vilas, Oneida and Iron counties has 75 real estate offices today, 50 percent more than 10 years ago. Also during the last 10 years, lake frontage has more than tripled in value. A chain of 28 lakes is the main draw to the area, and Bob Rosenak, executive director of the Eagle River Area Chamber of Commerce, says the best property on those lakes is already owned. He says he owns 250 feet of lake frontage and he was recently offered "a ridiculous amount" for 75 feet.

Building permits in Vilas and Oneida counties increased 76 percent from 1990 to 1994, for a total of 890 permits. Building permits statewide increased 27 percent during that same period. Median home resale prices have increased 35 percent during that time, to $74,375.

The Northwoods region has long been a vacation attraction for people from Illinois, Milwaukee, Madison, Minneapolis and Iowa, says Rosenak. In recent years, however, visitors have decided to do more than just stay at a resort-they have built permanent vacation homes. Also, Eagle River (population nearly 1,400) is located about 30 miles from Rhinelander (over 7,000), and some Rhinelanders have decided to move out of town. But the most important factor in the current growth has been an influx of retirees. "This has become a real center for retired people," Hansen says.

Neither Hansen nor Rosenak has data alluding to the local surge in retiree homebuilding, but they offer anecdotal evidence. They say that many of the vacation homes that were built within the last 10 or more years were designed to become eventual retirement homes. The retirees are drawn to the area's beauty, safety and natural amenities, they say. "These retirees are far more active than you might expect," Rosenak says, citing hunting, fishing, boating and snowmobiling as popular activities.

Eagle River and the surrounding small communities are heavily dependent on tourism, says M&I Bank's Hansen, which means the weather often plays a crucial role in the success of local businesses. Last winter, for example, there was little snow and many businesses suffered. "But the neat thing about the retirement community is they spend regardless of the weather," Hansen says. "This is good, positive growth."

Rosenak agrees, adding that even though the local industrial park is full, Eagle River will never become a center for manufacturing, like nearby Rhinelander. "We are never going to be a large commercial center, and I don't think we want to be," he says.

Schools, businesses hope to learn from each other

For years, teachers in the Boyceville school district knew little about one of the town's major businesses, even though the company was located within throwing distance of the schools. Recently, though, the schools and the company came together to learn about each other, and now the company sponsors a marketing contest with the schools.

Those are the types of results that Boyceville school superintendent Steve Ashmore hopes to have with the new Business-Education Partnerships Project in Dunn County. The project, which encompasses school districts in Boyceville, Colfax, Elk Mound and Menomonie, began this fall and has been funded for one year by a grant from the Otto Bremer Foundation and funds from other groups.

"We know we need to have better communication, and this is a step in the right direction," Ashmore says.

The Project is coordinated by one staff person based in Menomonie who arranges tours of businesses and schools for local teachers and business owners, and who encourages regular communication between the two. A database of county businesses, along with their job-entry prerequisites, is also under development. This database, which will be accessible through the schools, will not only give students accurate and up-to-date information on the local job market, but will also let the schools know what skills employers are demanding of their workers.

"This tells us: They need 'this.' Are we teaching the kids the right things?" Ashmore says.

The Project is meant to serve as an information brokerage or conduit, says Richard Best, executive director of the West Central Wisconsin Private Industry Council (PIC), a non-profit workforce development organization of business and other community members. If a business wants information on local schools or is interested in programs that other businesses or schools are undertaking, the Project can provide that information and offer guidance, Best says.

For example, in addition to linking students with jobs through its database, the Project can:

• List businesses willing to send speakers or conduct tours. Help establish on-site training in businesses.
• Develop study programs that incorporate work with a local business.
• Develop teacher internship programs over the summer.

"The idea was that the partnerships could be very broad," Best says, or very specific, depending on the circumstance. "We want to investigate, learn and evaluate."

—David Fettig