The city of Racine's plan to revive Uptown by molding it into an artist district isn't going to happen quickly. But something is happening - even though you wouldn't realize it just driving or walking through now. Various pieces are slowly being put into play.

The latest is that the city has bought its third Uptown building, at 1511 Washington Ave. The building had been in foreclosure when the city stepped in, offered $109,000, and got a property (last assessed at $160,000) that was headed to a sheriff's sale.

The building lies between dentist Dr. Richard Kemper and PC Tech Services. It has two front entrances separated by a stairway up to the four or five upstairs apartments, and two long first-floor retail spaces.

Kristin Niemiec, the city's corridor development specialist, said the structure needs work, but not a huge amount.

Despite that, she said it will have to wait while the city rehabs its first acquisition under the program, 1526 Washington Ave. That one will need an estimated $560,000 to convert it from atrocious to attractive. When finished, probably sometime this year, it will be offered for two artists to live and work, side by side.

The other one the city bought, as we have also reported previously, was 1418 Washington Ave. which once housed a George Webb restaurant. It is waiting for some facade work, but probably nothing major for now.

Meanwhile, a local contractor (we promised we wouldn't use his name any more than absolutely necessary) is making good progress in getting 1503 Washington Ave. ready for occupation. Then he will turn his attention to the former Paulson Furniture, 1320-26 Washington Ave. That will be a major project with great potential if it joins the artist program.

Counting those two privately owned buildings and the city's three, that gives the city a full hand, five cards, to play with in Uptown.

I know there are doubters out there about this effort. But here is a fact: It's worked elsewhere. And there is no reason on Earth that it can't here as well.

Move over, Jo

Starbucks is coming to Regency Mall, maintaining that area's concentration of upscale coffee purveyors. The mall's Marketing Director Megan Ballard said Starbucks will replace the former Jo To Go, which is going, going, gone.

Ballard said the opening of a new Starbucks store, to be built on that site, will likely happen toward the year's end.

Also nearby are Caribou Coffee and the Starbucks cafe inside Barnes & Noble.

Turning garbage into green

Racine's own In-Sink-Erator got an invaluable dose of national exposure this past week in a feature-length Wall Street Journal story.

The article chronicled how ISE has made inroads with European consumers by promoting garbage disposals as a way to lessen environmental problems. Europeans are way out front of Americans in their environmental ethic but behind us in garbage disposal sales.

It's a tricky thing to compare the environmental effects of grinding up garbage and sending it to a sewage treatment plant, with hauling it off to a landfill. But there's general agreement that putting it down the sink beats putting it out at the curb, says the article which ran Tuesday (on the cover of section B).

To the extent that consumers abroad buy that argument - and then a garbage disposal - ISE gets a big boost. The Wall Street Journal reported that the think-green strategy has helped In-Sink-Erator to almost double its world-wide sales in the past decade to close to $500 million annually.

And the company maintains that about 80 percent of garbage disposals in use are made by In-Sink-Erator.

Free and growing

Almost exactly three years ago we wrote a story when Med Advocates, 6233 Bankers Road, was launched. The business helps people find free prescription medications.

Owner Lauri Durocher provided an update of impressive growth in those three years. The business now has eight full- or part-time staff members, some of them fluent in Spanish to serve a growing Hispanic base.

She said the business has served more than 1,100 clients, filled approximately 48,000 monthly prescriptions, used at least 86 national drug company programs, worked with more than 500 doctors, and obtained free meds with a retail value of more than $5.3 million.

In the process, Med Advocates was given the 2007 Apollo Award by Racine Area Manufacturers and Commerce. It has also, Durocher said, developed a proprietary software system.

Last notes

West Racine has lost its lone music store, Guitar Works, 3211 Washington Ave. Owner Jack Kammien is still teaching lessons there, for now, until he finds another place.

When he does, he said, he'll run a very minimal retail store, but that will really just be a way to do Internet sales. Suppliers, he explained, require a storefront before you can carry their merchandise.

When Kammien came to West Racine, it seemed like a great place for a music store. But he said he just could not get people to pay attention to a small shop. The assumption was usually that the deals must be better at the large stores - even though that wasn't necessarily true at all.

So far, that storefront remains unrented by another retailer.

Business reporter Michael Burke can be reached at (262)631-1716 or by e-mail at mburke@journaltimes.com.

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