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La Crosse Tribune - Change afoot

Pearl Street Brewery is moving to part of the former LaCrosse Footwear Inc. factory on St. Andrew Street, where current owner Tarkman Associates Inc. still makes footwear and where several tenants rent space.

One tenant, the Fun City USA indoor amusement park, closed in February.

Joe Katchever and his father, Tony, plan to have their brewery operating in the new location this summer, and to start bottling beer by late summer. In the past, all of their beer has been sold in kegs.

The Katchevers started Pearl Street Brewery in 1999. It soon outgrew its original location in the basement of the Bodega Brew Pub at 122 Fourth St. in downtown La Crosse, and for the past year has been operating from 828 Second St. S.

Joe Katchever said he is buying a building in the former LaCrosse Footwear factory complex, where he began renovation work in December. He said the brewery will have tours and a hospitality area with free samples. "But it won't be a bar," he said.

And Katchever has no plans for a restaurant there.

"This will allow us to bottle" and to increase production, Katchever said of having a larger facilty. He is buying equipment for bottling beer to sell in retail stores, bars and restaurants. Beer also will continue to be available in kegs.

The new facility probably will be able to make at least 10 times as much beer as before, Katchever said. That will allow him to expand distribution to other states.

Pearl Street Brewery beer is sold on tap at about 40 bars and restaurants in Wisconsin, and kegs are sold at the Quillin's grocery store on West Avenue.

Besides providing the room he needs, Katchever said, "I like the (former LaCrosse Footwear) location because of its historical significance to La Crosse."

LaCrosse Footwear had more than 1,000 employees in the city in the early 1990s but was shifting production to the Far East in the plant's last few years in order to compete with other footwear makers. In May 2001, it announced it would close the plant in La Crosse and lay off about 139 employees. Most production ended in June 2001.

In August 2001, LaCrosse Footwear sold the plant, factory outlet store building and some equipment to Tarkman Associates for $1.1 million. In December 2001, LaCrosse Footwear finished moving its headquarters from La Crosse to Portland, Ore. LaCrosse Footwear still operates a distribution center in La Crosse and the factory outlet store, which it leases from Tarkman.

A year ago, Tarkman began using the name USA Boot Co. for its footwear. It makes about 175,000 pairs of waterproof vinyl boots a year, said Wayne Berger, Tarkman general manager. And it makes about 1,500 pairs of hip boots and chest waders per year, he said.

LaCrosse Footwear is the largest customer for the firm's waterproof vinyl boots, Berger said. Many people use them for work outdoors or in dairy processing facilities.

Tarkman has eight employees, including Berger.

"I think we're about where we thought we'd be," Berger said of Tarkman. He left LaCrosse Footwear in 2001 after 28 years, most as vice president of purchasing.

Fun City USA opened last July, offering attractions such as a paintball field and minigolf, but it closed in February. La Crosse County Circuit Court records show Tarkman obtained a $40,055 court judgment against Fun City in February, for rent it was owed and court costs.

Other tenants in the former LaCrosse Footwear complex include La Crosse County's Care Management Organization, which occupies 14,000 square feet of office space; Northern Wood Products, which rents storage space there; Gemini Employee Leasing; CMS Inc.; and Little Hawaii Tanning and Full-

Service Salon. Berger said two short-term tenants also lease storage space.

About 170,000 square feet of space in the former LaCrosse Footwear factory is used by Tarkman and the other businesses, Berger estimated. The remaining 230,000 square feet of available space could be used for apartments, condominiums, offices, warehousing, storage or manufacturing, Berger said.

In the past several months, "We've had a lot of people go through the building looking at leasing or buying" parts of the complex, he said.

TARKMAN ASSOCIATES INC.

WHAT: A La Crosse company that bought the former LaCrosse Footwear Inc. factory on St. Andrew Street in August 2001. Tarkman makes waterproof vinyl boots, as well as hip boots and chest waders.

WHO: Tarkman is owned by William Kratt, owner of the La, Crosse architectural firm Kratt Associates Inc., and by Eugene Shumann, who owns Shimann & Associates in La Crosse.