More Foxconn follies - lots of real estate, not a lot of development

You may remember back in March, Josh Dzieza of The Verge went around Wisconsin looking for any sign of activity at various Foxconn sites around the state. This included the Racine County site where its factory was supposed to be put in place, and the various “innovation centers” in larger Wisconsin cities. What he found was a lot of empty buildings, empty promises, and confusion over what was happening.

Soon after, Foxconn claimed it was adding its latest “innovation center” in Madison, buying a building on the Capitol Square that currently holds a BMO Bank and a number of offices. At that announcement, a Foxconn executive challenged Dzieza’s story, and claimed that the innovation centers were in use and going to be productive.

Well, 6 weeks later, it’s a bit warmer, and Dzieza returned to Wisconsin to see how things had developed, and to answer the Foxconnn exec’s statements.

At the event announcing the Madison project, Foxconn’s Alan Yeung said the innovation centers were “not empty,” which prompted laughter from the crowd. Yeung also said The Verge’s story contained “a lot of inaccuracies” and that the company would issue a correction soon. He did not say what those inaccuracies were, and Foxconn never issued a correction, nor has it responded to repeated requests to clarify Yeung’s statement.

One month after Yeung’s comments and promise of a correction, every innovation center in Wisconsin is still empty, according to public documents and sources involved with the innovation center process. Foxconn has yet to purchase the Madison building Yeung announced, according to Madison property records. No renovation or occupancy permits have been taken out for Foxconn’s Racine innovation center, though a permit has been taken out for work on the roof of another property Foxconn bought for “smart city” initiatives. There has been no activity in Foxconn’s Green Bay building, either.

No new permits have been taken out for the Eau Claire innovation center, and people who were supposed to work on it have yet to receive a contract or payment. If anything, the project appears to have taken a small step backward. When I visited in March, there were at least some sawhorses in the empty concrete space. When photographer Joshua Lott visited last week, even the sawhorses were gone.

In addition, Dzieza reports the building that is supposed to house the North American headquarters for Foxconn in downtown Milwaukee is currently being worked on “…to remodel the first floor so that a local bank can move in.”

Over in Racine County, the Journal-Times tells us the village of Mount Pleasant continues to pay big money to broker Foxconn deals, even if there isn’t a lot of Foxconn to speak for at this time.

On Monday, the Village Board voted unanimously to renew a two-year contract with Kapur and Associates, for which Lois works, at a cost of $24,000 per month — an increase of nearly 25%, with an additional $150 per hour for work done after 40 hours a week.
The previous contract cost $20,000 per month and it had no additional charge for any work done after 40 hours.

Sketchy enough, but this part where Mount Pleasant attorney Alan Marcuvitz described what (isn’t) happening with the land seems to be a lot more alarming.

The remaining land that the village has acquired for Foxconn that has not been transferred over is also not ready for the company, Marcuvitz said.

“(Foxconn) has not asked for them yet,” Marcuvitz said. “And we are asking to see plans for what is to be done there so we’re not sitting on vacant land.”

We bought all this for...??

Sure, the relatively small amount of land that has been turned over to Foxconn owns is being hit with a special assessment, but that assumes they’ll actually pay Mount Pleasant the tens of millions of dollars that they ask for. We know the company was 3 weeks late in paying for an earlier assessment before finally paying in late December 2017.

Dzieza of The Verge checked out that Racine County site, and while Foxconn recently received state approval to start work on the factory’s foundation, there are still a lot of questions about what will be done. And Foxconn doesn’t seem to want to say much about it.

Work on the factory itself appears to be slowly resuming after coming to halt this winter. The company announced contracts for road and utility work at the factory site, and on April 30th, Foxconn received conditional state approval to begin work on the factory’s foundation, according to documents obtained through an open records request. But before it begins work, Foxconn needs to submit a report showing that the ground at the site can support the weight the company says it can. Previously, experts told The Verge that they doubt the compressed gravel pad currently in place at the factory site can support an LCD manufacturing facility.

Wisconsin’s Department of Safety and Professional Services did not provide Foxconn’s actual building plans to The Verge because the company has labeled them a trade secret. A spokesperson said the department will follow up with Foxconn to determine the company’s basis for marking them confidential before deciding whether they can be made public.

Heck, it’s only billions of tax dollars at stake in potential subisidies. Why would the people have a right to know what’s happening with the project? (#headdesk)

And this closing comment in Torres’ article in the Journal-Times sure doesn’t make it sound like Foxconn is planting down major roots in Racine County.

[Village President David] DeGroot said another reason why the village has not transferred over all the land [it has acquired] to Foxconn at this point is to prevent them from flipping the land and selling it for a profit.

When Donald Trump and Scott Walker and Paul Ryan had that photo op last year, little did you know that Foxconn was going to be a real estate company, and not actually make anything in SE Wisconsin.

So who's the sucker in this situation?

But here’s the sad part - if Foxconn hires enough agents associated with the “project” by the end of this year, we’ll pay for it all the same. Unless, you know, the Evers Administration and state Legislature actually makes WEDC accountable for the first time in its 8-year existence, and hold Foxconn to the contract it signed.