The Oct. 29 edition of The Janesville Gazette featured our most recent Forward Thinking column. These monthly columns help the community learn more about Forward Janesville initiatives and about our members.

Read the full column here

This month, we share more about the work of our staff and Government Relations Council when it comes to researching redevelopment of brownfield sites, learning more about data centers, and sharing takeaways and concerns from our research and a survey of our members.

Centennial Park, also known as the GM/JATCO site, is a Policy Priority Area of our GRC because of the site’s enormous economic development potential. Its redevelopment will impact the whole city, similar to how General Motors once did. Since spring 2024, GRC members have been learning about how other Wisconsin communities like La Crosse, Oak Creek and Kenosha redeveloped their brownfield sites.

When the City issued a Request For Proposal for data center developers to pitch their ideas on developing the GM/JATCO site on July 15, our staff and GRC members pivoted our inquiry to data centers. We conducted a series of interviews and hosted learning sessions with 20+ developers, suppliers, utility partners, economic development professionals and practitioners in the data center space.

We’ll continue engaging our members, partners, and community leaders to ensure redevelopment decisions at Centennial Park reflect Janesville’s long-term needs and opportunities.