The Elizabeth Street Business Complex puts community at the forefront

Rachel Sankey

Past Staff

May 1, 2024

SHAWANO – Sometimes, what starts as a small idea can ruminate into something much greater over time.

This, Ron Stuber said, is exactly what happened with the Elizabeth Street Business Complex, which got its start in 1997.

Originally launched as a job center, the complex – located between the 500 and 700 block of Elizabeth Street in Shawano – now offers additional services to the community, as well as warehouse and office space for area businesses and organizations.

A bit of history
In the late ’90s, Stuber said the State of Wisconsin, and “even the federal government,” was trying to help people transition from welfare to work.

Back then, Stuber said, he was working as the director of the Shawano County Social Services, and came together with John Gard – the 75th Speaker of the Wisconsin State Assembly at the time – and others to answer the question: “How are we going to assist people in progressing from just straight welfare into work?”

One of the first few steps to complete, Stuber said, was to hire staff and create a job center.

“I, and the head of the local school-to-work program – Peg Durand – we went ahead and got approval to move forward with starting a corporation and applying for grants‚ ” he said.

The first first board of directors, Stuber said, consisted of someone who took applications and issued welfare benefits; someone from a local union; a financial director from a local corporation; two county board members; a representative from the Stockbridge-Munsee Community Band of Mohican Indians; someone from Shawano County Economic Progress Incorporated; a member of Northeast Wisconsin Technical College and himself – who served as the board chair.

Next, Stuber said, the board created bylaws, got an attorney and filed articles of incorporation.

“That was in March 1997,” he said. “From there, we applied to the state‚ we had about a 400-page application and received funding.”

With that funding, Stuber said the board was able to purchase their seven-acre location at 625 E. Elizabeth St., which formerly housed Phenix Manufacturing Corporation.

Collaborating with businesses, nonprofits
Creating the Shawano County Job Center (now known as the Elizabeth Street Business Complex) in the building on Elizabeth Street, Stuber said, was a good move.

“At the time‚ some other companies were renting (space at the complex) – a lumber company, the paper mill, a trucking company,” he said. “We felt that the best way to help people get to work is to have them be associated with and around people at work. That seemed to work well because several people seeking work could come here because job services were here.”

Many people who came to seek assistance from the job center, Stuber said, wound up getting jobs with the businesses inside the building.

He said the center did, however, run into an obstacle.

“People sought employment, but they didn’t have the necessary skills,” he said. “And some of those skills were so basic, (such as) if you’re going to have a job, you have to show up to work. And that was a dilemma for a lot of them.”

Stuber said the job center realized it may need more assistance for its clients than just helping them attain employment.

The Elizabeth Street Business Complex allows for businesses, such as Little Rapids, to store product and therefore save on travel expenses. Chris Rugowski Photo

“To get employed, you may need education, training, childcare,” he said. “You may need health (care) assistance, you may need to deal with physical problems or you may need to deal with alcohol and drug abuse. We wanted our building to be able to house all those different entities that are both public and private that deal with those kinds of issues.”

This, Stuber said, is why the complex brought in several different nonprofits to help those on welfare with that need.

Those organizations include:

Curative Connections: A private nonprofit helping seniors and individuals with disabilities.
Department of Administration: Provides a range of government services and programs, partnered with the Department of Vocational Rehabilitation, which helps people with disabilities.
Family Services NEW: A nonprofit human services agency offering more than 35 programs to help people during challenges and life transitions.
Forward Service Corp: Helps people with job searching.
GT Independence and Lakeland Care: Helps keep the elderly and people with disabilities in their homes.
Literacy Council: Works with people who can’t read or write and helps people whose native language is not English.
Resilience Coalition: Assists those dealing with alcohol and drug abuse.
United Way: Advocates for health, education and financial stability for people in the community
In addition to bringing in the nonprofit organizations, Stuber said the board decided to rent out their office and warehouse space to more for-profit businesses – such as Genex, Little Rapids, Twigs, Voluminance, Wallace Flooring and Running Inc. Cab Co. – in an effort to generate income to support the programs and services it was offering.

“By paying their rent, they were able to, in a sense, supplement the things the public agencies and nonprofits didn’t have enough money to do,” he said.

Stuber said it also created opportunities for businesses to keep things local.

“Little Rapids, who is the local paper mill, needed space,” he said. “They were otherwise taking a lot of its paper to Green Bay. (Instead), they were able to store it here in the warehouse we have.”

Having both nonprofit and for-profit organizations in the building, Stuber said, has proved to be a win-win for everyone involved.

“(For-profits) are renting‚ thereby subsidizing all the nonprofits and still benefiting from a rate cheaper than it would be if they were to take their business out of the area,” he said.

As the board looks to the future, Ron Stuber said there are talks about potential expansion of the business complex down the road. Chris Rugowski photo

The multi-use focus, Stuber said, is also why the center now goes by Elizabeth Street Business Complex – which better encapsulates what the group does now.

He said there are still a few offices available to rent out.

Stuber said the board also understands the financial relationship it has with the community at large.

“For example, we did not take this large seven-acre parcel of industrial buildings off the tax rolls when we purchased it – we left it on,” he said. “And that helps our local community keep taxes low, and they can use them for other things important to citizens‚ (such as putting) in sidewalks that now link all of our community parks together so you can stay on the sidewalk instead of people walking in the street.”

Looking to the future
Throughout the last 20-plus years of the center’s existence, Stuber said the board has continually seen it grow – and is even having talks about more expansion down the line.

“We have a lot of space here that would be buildable – it’s part of the city, but it’s an industrial area,” he said. “In Shawano, we have a shortage of warehouse space. We could certainly build it and then rent or lease it to someone who needs it.”

Stuber said Little Rapids is again another great example of how the complex can be and is a benefit to them.

By storing its paper at the warehouse in Shawano, Stuber said Little Rapids is saving on gas, time, wear and tear of the vehicles and helping the environment.

“I see our future continuing to do that,” he said. “We’re talking about, ‘should we expand?’ If we did, ‘how? Should we help others expand?’ We’re trying to keep doing exactly what we’ve always done.”

To learn more about the Elizabeth Street Business Complex, visit elizabethstreetcomplex.com.