BUSINESS

Mount Pleasant property owners are being asked to option their land for Foxconn

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Workers assemble electronics products at a Foxconn Technology Group factory in Shenzhen, China in 2010.

As efforts build to lure Foxconn Technology Group to Wisconsin, real estate professionals have been seeking options on parcels of land that could be cobbled together to form a site for a massive electronics factory.

One spot that has seen a flurry of activity is along I-94 in the Village of Mount Pleasant.

There -- in an area bounded by the interstate frontage road on the west, Racine County Highway H on the east, Highway 11 on the north and Braun Road on the south -- four landowners said this week that they have been approached recently about optioning or selling their property.

All said they were contacted by Pitts Brothers & Associates, a Kenosha-based real estate firm. All asked that their names not be made public, with some saying they feared stirring bad feelings among neighbors.

One of the property owners said he signed an option contract last week, but not with Pitts Brothers. Unhappy with the terms proposed by the firm, he said, he turned to the village and was connected with Alan Marcuvitz, a prominent Milwaukee real estate attorney who has worked for the village.

Neither Marcuvitz nor representatives of Pitts Brothers could be reached for comment.

The landowner who optioned his property — the term is for six months, and he will receive an undisclosed payment no matter what happens — now is more than satisfied. While acknowledging that the Foxconn project may not materialize, he said he feels like he won the lottery.

But others, longtime residents of the area, are torn.

One couple, who have not yet decided what to do since being approached about a week ago, said they have been agonizing and thinking of little else since then. They fear that, even if they don’t sign an option, they could be forced to sell if the major property owners do sign.

Another landowner wants nothing to do with a deal. She said she called Pitts Brothers and left a message saying she wasn’t interested in selling the property she inherited from her father.

“I promised my father that it would be kept farmland,” she said.

The area bounded by the four roads almost certainly is not the only spot being eyed as a potential site for a factory that could employ thousands. Areas in Kenosha County are believed to be under consideration, too.

But the Racine County section appears to be big enough to accommodate Foxconn. The area within the four roadways is overwhelmingly farmland and contains about 1,050 acres — not counting a food distribution center in the northeast corner. The majority of the land lies in Mount Pleasant. About 80 acres are in Sturtevant.

Foxconn, a huge, Taiwan-based electronics manufacturer best known for assembling the iPhone, has said it is considering investing billions of dollars in new production operations in the United States. The company has said it wants sites of 1,000 and 400 acres, according to a request for proposals circulated among municipal officials earlier this year.

But whether this much-sought development actually goes forward is open to question. Nearly four years ago, Pennsylvania’s governor announced that Foxconn would invest $30 million in a high-tech factory expected to create 500 jobs. That never happened.

Further, Wisconsin is vying with Michigan and other states for Foxconn and likely would have to offer huge financial incentives to win the company’s favor.

Then there’s the problem of assembling the needed land.

The 1,050 acres in the area where people are being solicited is divided among more than 30 owners. Just four parties, however, collectively own 720 of the 1,050 acres.

Unlike other parts of Mount Pleasant, the area does not draw Lake Michigan water via the City of Racine, and most if not all of it lies outside the Lake Michigan watershed. But with permission from the state Department of Natural Resources, lake water could be extended to the area.

That could be important. Manufacturing liquid crystal display panels, as Foxconn is expected to do in the United States, requires huge amounts of water.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos has said Foxconn is eyeing southeastern Wisconsin, and a series of closed-door meetings among county and municipal officials in Racine County have suggested that Racine County is in the mix. The latest signal: The City of Racine waterworks and wastewater commissions plan to meet in closed session Tuesday to discuss future infrastructure needs if such a major development were to occur.

Thursday, one Mount Pleasant property owner also offered further evidence.

She said that last week, on the day after news media reported that a private jet connected to Foxconn was parked at Milwaukee’s Mitchell International Airport, a large black tour bus pulled up outside her house. About 20 people, without approaching the house or asking permission, walked into an adjoining wheat field that belongs to the woman and her husband, she said.

The woman said that annoyed her and she went outside to ask the members of the group what they were doing. She said that Racine County Executive Jonathan Delagrave, who was with the group, then handed her his business card, told her to call him with any questions and ushered the group back to the bus.

M.T. Boyle, Delagrave's chief of staff, declined to comment.