Here's the latest news.
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Green Bay, Eau Claire hope Foxconn fills properties it bought while innovation centers on hold. (Green Bay Press Gazette, 3/15/2021)
A Foxconn spokesperson did not respond to an interview request or provide answers to questions submitted regarding innovation centers.
Failed partnerships and vacant buildings: Foxconn's Wisconsin committment remains at a standstill. (Wisconsin Public Radio, 3/2/2021)
Vonck said he knew a 14,000 square-foot project in Green Bay wasn't going to be high on the list of priorities for a worldwide company, but early on he said there was momentum for the project.
"Then they just seemed to slow down," Vonck said. "The meetings just became fewer and far between, they had some staff turnover and Green Bay just didn't seem like it was their top priority."Foxconn's buildings in Wisconsin are still empty, one year later. (The Verge, 4/13/2020)
“I can assure you it will not be empty and they’re not empty right now,” he added.
“They’re not empty right now” was a curious way to describe buildings that looked like this in April 2019:
Yeung made those comments on April 12th, 2019. It is now April 12th, 2020, making it exactly one year since Foxconn promised a statement or correction regarding The Verge’s report of empty buildings in Wisconsin. That statement or correction has never arrived.
And the buildings are still empty.
Foxconn promised 'innovation centers', but hasn't yet delivered. (NPR, 1/13/2020)
Foxconn executives have not agreed to repeated requests for interviews.
11/26/2019 update starts here.
Foxconn shelving innovation centers in Green Bay, other cities, (WBAY, 10/23/2019)
WPR reports the tech giant plans to focus on its $10 billion facility in Mount Pleasant. The company has said the facility will be open by the end of 2020.15 months after buying the building, Foxconn starts first major non-tenant work on its Milwaukee headquarters. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 10/11/2019)
A look at Foxconn in Green Bay, one year later. (WGBA-TV, 7/8/2019)
Today, it just looks like an empty building. When NBC26 asked leaders downtown to confirm whether any changes have been made to the building, or if any jobs have been created, they say they were unaware of that.
"I think it would be a great opportunity for the Green Bay area to have Foxconn," says Green Bay resident Dane Ver Velde. (Really? This Dane Ver Velde?
Progress report: 5 developments to watch in the Green Bay area in the second half of 2019. (Green Bay Press Gazette, 7/6/2019)
Foxconn, apparently, is not one of them. Most people might see downtown Green Bay's recent run of closed and relocated businesses and see tough times for the central city commercial hub.
The Children's Museum of Green Bay has moved out near Bay Beach Amusement Park. Several restaurants have closed. A plan to redevelop the Adams Street surface parking lot in the heart of downtown is progressing slowly as the city explores buying the Baylake City Center building.
Jeff Mirkes is not most people.
Mirkes, the executive director of Downtown Green Bay Inc., only sees new opportunities.
Foxconn's innovation centers in Green Bay, Eau Claire see little movement (WBAY, 6/5/2019)
“They purchased the whole thing. The only thing they did not purchase was the Children’s Museum,” said Kevin Vonck, Green Bay’s economic development director. However, now that the children’s museum has moved, Vonck "could see them purchasing it as well."
The Watermark building, which includes businesses like the Creamery and Broken Spoke, has been under Foxconn’s ownership since November of 2018.
“They took over as the landlord for all of those tenants,” said Vonck.
Taiwanese tech giant Foxconn sues Flats on the Fox over unpaid fees for parking spaces. (Green Bay Press Gazette, 5/21/2019)
The lawsuit asks Brown County Circuit Court Judge Kendall Kelley to terminate the agreement and order Stone House Development to pay $109,596 owed from 2013 to 2015. It also seeks additional taxes, insurance and maintenance costs that have accrued since 2015.
Foxconn is confusing the hell out of Wisconsin. (Verge, 4/10/2019)
I walked next door to the Creamery, a brunch spot advertising unlimited mimosas. It, too, was a tenant of Foxconn’s innovation center. A server said the Foxconn people came to town occasionally, and they were “fun and nice.” An architect upstairs hadn’t seen Foxconn. The shipping company on the top floor directed me to the building manager who directed me to a maintenance technician who said he didn’t have a lot of details himself, but he wasn’t at liberty to discuss it further.
From June 3, 2015. Sounds like this property is jinxed.
Keeping tabs on Foxconn Place in
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