Millwork firm to fill key vacancy

Adam Shingledecker feels his business reflects the same type of standards as the community where it will now reside. For the village of Elm Grove, Shingledecker's business will fill a hole in one its largest properties, making this relationship symbiotic from the outset.

Exclusive Millwork will move into a little more than 9,000 square feet on the Reinders site on Watertown Plank Road in the next month, putting a new business in a building that has been struggling to find tenants.

"The village has a pretty high standard as far as most people are concerned, and we do very high-end millwork so it was a good fit as far as the name and what we were trying to get across," Shingledecker said.

While not a retail site per say, the space will have a showroom for customers to get an idea of the kind of work they can expect.

"What our customers typically do is, they're building a home, so they'll want to know what their doors will look like."

And given the size of his new space - Shingledecker had been working in an office park in Pewaukee - there is plenty of room to grow, both financially as a company and physically.

"The space is bigger than I had, and there's a lot of available office space yet so when I do grow I'll be able to convert that office space to a more useful office space."

Given the relative lack of interest in the site, the village moved quickly to accommodate this move, approving a conditional-use permit last week. Typically the process takes several weeks, but Shingledecker said the village was able to get him in front of the Plan Commission in just a few days.

"I was pleasantly surprised at how easily it moved through the board. It could have been more difficult than they made it."

"It sounds like there's a lot of new businesses starting or opening up in Elm Grove so I think they were receptive."

Village President Neil Palmer did not return a call seeking comment.