A lot happened this year. Here are 6 Green Bay area business stories readers gravitated toward
GREEN BAY - From sad goodbyes to community cornerstones to redevelopment giving commercial corridors a fresh look, 2022 was quite the year for business and economic development in the Green Bay area.
The region's residents felt the sting of a lot of the national trends as rising interest rates complicated an already-competitive housing market, they grappled with inflation's impact on grocery bills, and some workers faced layoffs due to plant shutdowns. Other companies and communities continued trying to address a shortage of workers with some increasing incentives like free rides to work or down payment assistance in the hopes of attracting and keeping more workers in Wisconsin.
Still, Green Bay area readers frequently found several quintessentially Green Bay stories — and we're not talking about what Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers' is up to. They focused on stories of blue collar workers and local history. They tell the stories of a rapidly developing, increasingly diverse Northeastern Wisconsin region.
Here are six business and development stories, plus a few runners-up, popular with Green Bay area readers in 2022.
End of an era: Day Street Mill to close
The Day Street Mill impacted a lot of lives over 121 years.
Georgia-Pacific's announcement in March that it will shut down the 121-year-old mill in phases drew a lot of attention and sparked a lot of memories on social media. The shutdown began in summer when the mill stopped producing toilet paper, it's original claim to fame.
Founded in 1901, Day Street was the mill where "splinterless toilet paper" was first produced. The mill was wiping up the competition by 1920 when it was recognized as the largest toilet paper producer in the world. Green Bay would earn the moniker "toilet paper capital of the world" with the help of the mill.
The shutdown will be completed in 2023, an announcement Green Bay Mayor Eric Genrich said was tough to absorb.
"The Day Street Mill has been such an important part of our economy and heritage for 120-plus years," Genrich said in March. "Papermaking really built this community and made it what it is today."
While the Day Street Mill winds down, Georgia-Pacific has continued to invest in its Green Bay operations. Construction continues on a $500 million expansion to the Broadway Mill that will see a new paper machine installed and create 150 jobs.
Lawrence will never know for sure if it was an Amazon warehouse
The talk in the town of Lawrence in late 2021 was all about the $200 million, 2.9 million-square-foot megawarehouse and the mystery tenant who would operate it 24/7. It was the second time a company had come to Lawrence, a developing township southwest of Green Bay, seeking to build a large-scale warehouse north of Freedom Road and east of Williams Grant Drive.
Residents' speculation and details in the construction plans pointed to Amazon, but anyone who knew who the building was for would not divulge it. Proponents cited the additional taxable property value and 1,500 jobs the project would have created. Opponents raised concerns about truck traffic, noise and other impacts on nearby residential neighborhoods.
And now, they likely will never know. By May, the real estate development firm that pitched it, cancelled the megawarehouse project telling town officials it was due to "changes in market conditions."
DOT puts the 'bridge' in Brown County's Southern Bridge plan
Brown County has talked about the Southern Bridge route, an east-west connector route, for nearly 60 years now, but funding for the bridge across the Fox River could be included in the state's next budget.
Advocates say the new route is necessary to provide easy access for commercial traffic to Interstates 41 and 43 and to ease rush hour traffic volumes that can quickly clog up the Claude Allouez Bridge and adjacent roundabout in De Pere.
Interest remained high in October when state transportation officials announced Gov. Tony Evers plans to include $50 million in bonding for the actual bridge in his proposed biennial budget.
"It's been a long journey and ultimately, this is a great day for greater Green Bay, Brown County, city of De Pere, town of Lawrence, town of Ledgeview, village of Bellevue, town of Rockland. You name it, they're all impacted by this," Brown County Executive Troy Streckenbach said at the time.
Military/Mason had itself a year
Coffee drive-thrus, fast food, pet supplies, demolition and a winter market made for quite a year for development in the vicinity of Military Avenue and Mason Street, the primary commercial corridor on Green Bay's west side.
In sad news, the Sears store, a longtime anchor of the Green Bay Plaza retail center, was demolished to clear space for redevelopment of the plaza.
At the same time, Arby's relocated to a new building across West Mason Street, coffee chains Caribou and Scooter's opened up new drive-thru locations, Petco relocated into the vacant half of the Burlington store building, and the Military Avenue Business Improvement District's Winter Market on Military moved into a larger space this year.
More:Green Bay's winter markets keep small businesses active during cold season ∣ Streetwise
Green Bay area former Shopko properties transition usages to Hy-Vee, worker training, housing
It has been almost four years since Green Bay-based retailer Shopko filed for bankruptcy and closed down its 300-plus big box stores.
Those vacant big boxes have been put to a variety of new uses across Wisconsin: Craft breweries and coffeehouses, a veterans clinic, and an indoor golf facility, to name a few.
The variety of possibilities can be found across the Green Bay area. A couple of former Shopkos remain vacant while the original store on Military Avenue has become home to light industrial uses and, potentially, affordable apartments in the store's parking lot. In Ashwaubenon, grocer Hy-Vee converted the former Shopko in Bay Park Square into its first Northeast Wisconsin location.
Unique to Green Bay, though, was the Shopko headquarters building. A Michigan developer this year purchased the large headquarters campus in Ashwaubenon and plans to develop a mix of uses on the property in the years ahead.
Related:Shopko's bankruptcy left more than 300 stores vacant. More and more are being turned to new uses.
Green Bay, La Crosse health care providers complete 'merger of opportunity'
When Green Bay-based Bellin Health and La Crosse-based Gundersen Health System merged on Dec. 1, the two health care providers didn't have to worry about a common concern among consumers and communities: Losing their favorite clinic or care provider. That's because the two systems currently do not overlap coverage areas.
"It's really important people understand the care will still be at the same places with the same doctors and nurses," Gundersen CEO Scott Rathgaber said in November.
The merger will not affect popular community events such as the Bellin Run and charitable donations will continue to provide care and service in their respective communities.
Combined, Bellin and Gundersen now employ more than 14,000 people, operate 11 hospitals and more than 100 clinics, and have $2.4 billion in annual revenues. The organization now provides care in an area that spans western and northeast Wisconsin, Upper Michigan, southeast Minnesota and northeast Iowa.
Other stories, trends popular with Green Bay readers in 2022
Housing development and costs: Home buyers and sellers grappled with rising interest rates, low inventory and rising sales prices. Affordable housing development sites continued to emerge. On the lighter side, the internet went wild for a unique, mid-century modern home for sale in Allouez.
Don't sleep on Wrightstown: It's not just home to a "Benevolent Beard" — the village saw estimated $100 million in residential, commercial and industrial construction in the last four years. Wrightstown was able to deploy an expedited development review process that, along with its proximity to both Green Bay and Appleton, attracted housing and industrial development to the village.
Pain at the pump: Northeast Wisconsin residents, like the rest of the country, paid close attention to the ups and (to a lesser extent) downs of gasoline prices and why Green Bay and Appleton residents pay some of the lowest prices in the state.
Contact Jeff Bollier at (920) 431-8387 or jbollier@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JeffBollier.
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This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Six Green Bay business stories you liked in 2022
