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Milwaukee is finalist to be Spanish company's North American headquarters
Published November 10, 2009 - BizTimes Daily
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Milwaukee is one of two cities to be finalists in a Spanish company's quest to locate its new North American headquarters.
Wisconsin Secretary of Commerce Richard Leinenkugel reported today by phone from Bilbao, Spain, at the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce (MMAC) all-member meeting that he had just concluded a "12-hour cage match" presentation to a Spanish company.
Leinenkugel is courting the Spanish firm with a southeastern Wisconsin delegation that includes officials from the Milwaukee 7, We Energies and Richard "Rocky" Marcoux, commissioner of the Milwaukee Department of City Development.
Sources declined to identify the Spanish company that is being courted by Milwaukee.
Milwaukee is "at the finish line" of landing the company's North American headquarters that would bring hundreds of jobs to southeastern Wisconsin and could also generate more work for vendors in the region, sources said.
"It's between us and one other city," said one source close to the negotiations.
Officials representing the Spanish company have been studying the business climate in southeastern Wisconsin for weeks, BizTimes has learned. The company sent representatives to the MMAC's Future 50 program in September, and they toured several southeastern Wisconsin factories, including the GenMet metal fabrication plant in Mequon. The plant tours were designed to give the Spanish company some insight about the array of potential partners and vendors in the region, sources said.
When asked today by MMAC chairman Gale Klappa, chief executive officer of Wisconsin Energy Corp., about why the Spanish company is interested in Milwaukee, Leinenkugel said the company was impressed by southeastern Wisconsin's workforce, the company wants to be close to its North American market and the company's customers are in the region.
Sources said they expect the Spanish company to make a decision on the site for the North American headquarters by the end of the year.
The news that Milwaukee is a finalist for the Spanish company's jobs came on the heels of Republic Airways Holdings Inc.'s announcement earlier today that it will save 800 jobs in Oak Creek and move 800 new jobs to the region by the end of next year.
Republic, the new parent company of Midwest Airlines, plans to move the jobs to Oak Creek and Milwaukee's General Mitchell International Airport.
Republic chief executive officer Bryan Bedford confirmed the commitment of jobs to the Milwaukee region today at the MMAC's meeting at the Bradley Center.
Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle announced the use of the state's Enterprise Zone tax credits to help convince Republic to bring the jobs to the state.
Indianapolis-based Republic Airways will consolidate operations in Milwaukee from other cities such as Las Cruces, N.M., and Denver, Colo.
Republic acquired Denver-based Frontier Airlines on Oct. 1.
Bedford praised Milwaukee's pro-business climate as a reason for deciding to bring the jobs here, rather than Indianapolis or Denver.
"We spent a lot of time in the last three months trying to figure out where we can be our best and most competitive," Bedford said.
Bedford also announced today it will add new routes from Milwaukee to San Francisco and Raleigh, N.C. The company is considering adding service to six more routes.
"Midwest Airlines today is about 45 percent to 50 percent of what it was at its peak. Our goal is to get back to its peak as soon as possible," Bedford said.
