Chipotle vs Qdoba - Milton Ave Rivals

Forget McDonald's and Burger King or Taco Bell and Taco Johns - there's a new rivalry in town! With the increasing popularity of the FAST CASUAL restaurant, Milton Avenue is adding yet another to the line up. The grand opening for Chipotle Mexican Grill (Chipotle), located at 3515 Milton Ave next to the NEW Diamond Center, is slated for a June 18, 2015 OPENING.  

You may know that Chipotle is a chain of restaurants specializing in

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burritos and tacos. Its name drives from chipotle, the Nahuatl name for a smoked and dried jalapeno chili pepper. The company mission statement, Food with Integrity, highlights its efforts in using organic ingredients, and their restaurants serve more naturally raised meat than any other restaurant chain. Chipotle is said to be one of the first chains of fast casual dining establishments. 

SOLD: 645 Midland Rd

Bill Mears negotiated the sale of this land near an I-90/39 interchange for a new Culver's location. Congratulations!

LEASED: 701-727 S Janesville St

Blackhawk Community Credit Union has leased space for their first branch in Milton, WI, in a transaction brokered by Mandy Witt!

SOLD: 1333 Excalibur Dr

This office building with a large garage space was sold today for $160,000!

Why all the FUSS over Festival Foods?

Courtesy of Isthmus.com

Since the rumors started circulating about Festival Foods coming to the former Kmart site, all I've heard is, “ANOTHER grocery store?” I know, I know. I've done the rundown of all the grocers in Janesville so let’s review them together: we have Woodman's, Walmart, Sam's Club, Target, Schnuck's, Sentry, Piggly Wiggly, Pick N Save, Basics, and Aldi. Am I forgetting anyone???

SOLD: 1162 E High St

Bill Mears brokered the sale of this 5,800 SF industrial building in Milton, WI, that closed earlier today!

Cool drone footage of available land for sale just off I-90/39.

Greasing the Skids

I made a point of walking through Janesville’s new incubator building at Forward Janesville’s Business After Five last week. Having cut my commercial real estate teeth in economic development for a few decades, I was really interested in seeing the outcome of the city’s efforts.

Like many in the private sector, I was a bit skeptical. Building a brand new building in order to encourage entrepreneurship seemed a bit incongruous and perhaps a contributor to that “paid for by the government” adage.