Waukesha County Center for Growth outlines pipeline, GROW Fund and regional BioHealth Hub opportunity

Therese Hill, executive director of the Waukesha County Center for Growth, briefed the Waukesha City Council on Tuesday about the agency's work to retain and grow businesses in the city and county, its active project pipeline and financing tools available to support expansions.

Hill said WCCG focuses on business retention, expansion and attraction and conducts regular retention visits with primary employers. She told the council WCCG currently has seven active expansion projects in the pipeline, three of which are in the City of Waukesha. She cited recent announced projects (Superior Crane and KDV Label) as examples the agency has moved off its pipeline.

Hill described the Wisconsin BioHealth Tech Hub, a federally designated initiative to accelerate innovation in biohealth manufacturing, and said the designation brings coordination, visibility and access to $49,000,000 in federal funding that could create opportunities for local biohealth supply-chain companies and partnerships with education and workforce training providers.

Hill also summarized the GROW Fund, a revolving loan fund managed by WCCG of nearly $12,000,000 with about $6,000,000 currently available to lend; the fund has 22 active loans (all to companies with 100 or fewer employees) and has supported projects such as real estate acquisition, machinery and equipment and workforce housing, including a partnership with Habitat for Humanity on a local workforce-housing project.

Alderperson Piper thanked Hill and encouraged the council to continue supporting WCCG funding when it comes up in the budget. Hill said she will continue outreach with council and staff.