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• River Falls corporate park welcomes new neighbors

By Debbie Griffin, RiverTown Staff

News broke last year about a handful of companies' plans to build in and move to River Falls' Whitetail Ridge Corporate Park. Some are in, up and running:

Interfacial Solutions built a new place, then moved its growing business from Hudson to River Falls.

Viking Coca-Cola distribution center, which fills and services about 1,000 food and beverage machines in Pierce, St. Croix and Pepin counties, moved less than a mile away from its former location just north of Whitetail Ridge (on the west side of Hwy. 35). While the St. Cloud, Minn.-based Viking Coca-Cola has 11 total distribution centers, the family-based business in River Falls is one of two locations in Wisconsin.

Two other new neighbors are getting closer to completion.

Air Motion Systems

Company owner Steve Metcalf said, "Things are moving along well now with the major exterior walls in place and work proceeding quickly on the structural interior ."

Metcalf signed a developer's agreement last year that means AMS will move its North American headquarters from Colorado here.

He said crews have only lost three days' work to snowy weather, which he says "isn't too bad." He said Derrick Construction installed a live Web cam that enables him and other stakeholders to peek at progress anytime and enhances site security.

Metcalf said many AMS employees will move along with the company. A handful or so have visited the area, coming away with a positive impression, according to him.

He said the first few people and their families will begin moving here in July.

"The building should be finished before the end of summer, based on our current schedule," said Metcalf.

Look for future coverage on AMS's green building, which will likely be the region's first to achieve the U.S. Green Building Council's certification for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED).

American Test Center

American Test Center, a hydraulic testing and training facility constructed a building and moved its headquarters from White Bear Lake, Minn., to River Falls.

"This setup is so much different than what we've had before," said owner Dennis Ireland about moving from his former 20-year business home.

He said everything from bookkeeping to operations has changed, and it's taken much longer to get settled than the thought.

The company moved in the weekend before Thanksgiving then tried to settle in during that following week, a job that still isn't finished, especially moving into spring, ATC's busiest season.

Ireland said the company accumulated a lot of "stuff" over 20 years' time and is working to archive it all electronically so it can purge paper.

He said ATC is looking to hire people in sales and scheduling (some call it dispatch) plus seeks a part-time bookkeeper.

Ireland said the tester company is always looking for people who have the specialized skills of a tester. People can reach ATC by calling 1-800-451-9087 or by logging onto www.atctest.com.

Little Adventures Day Care

Prescott residents and sisters Jackie Pagenkopf and Beth Sabelko co-own and will co-direct the nearly-finished Little Adventures Child Care.

"Construction is going as planned, and we still plan to open the beginning of June," said Sabelko. "We are now enrolling and hiring. Feel free to contact us at anytime for a tour of the building and for any other information."

The 7,440-square foot facility, tucked away in a 1.78-acre corner of the corporate park, will employ about 20 teachers and handle up to 120 children.

Little Adventures accepts children six weeks to 12 years old. Pagenkopf told a news reporter in November that each age group will have two classrooms, plus the facility will have a kitchen and lunchroom, large, indoor gymnasium and an outdoor play area.

Contact Pagenkopf at 715-529-2385 or Sabelko at 715-497-5711 or e-mail Little Adventures at littleadventureschildcare@gmail.com.