Water disruption affects Milwaukee business incubator

Milwaukee, Wis. — A water main break Thursday at the Milwaukee County Grounds in Wauwatosa continued to disrupt water service Friday to 37 companies in the Milwaukee County Research Park’s Technology Innovation Center, but the park’s director of development said businesses in the incubator building were functioning despite the inconvenience.

Guy T. Mascari, whose office is located in the 137,000-square-foot Technology Innovation Center, said the center is the only building in the research park that is affected by the water main break. The 175-acre research park, which is home to more than 70 high-tech companies, is located on the county grounds.

The nine newest buildings in the park, including the recently opened GE Healthcare facility, are on a separate water distribution system and have not been affected, he added. “We’re dealing with it,” Mascari said. “We’ll be fine. All the companies, as far as I know, are up and operating in the [incubator] building here.”

The incubator is home to an assortment of information technology, medical, and biotechnology firms.

Water service was disrupted after a water main ruptured at about 8 a.m. Thursday. The organizations most affected by the pipe rupture were Froedtert and Children’s Hospitals, which used back up emergency generators to address a brief power loss. On Friday morning, public works crews were working to repair the break and restore service.

Peter Walker, president of Attalus Communications, which sells and supports telephone systems, said water service was temporarily restored at 5 p.m. Thursday, but was unavailable Friday morning when employees reported to work. “If we need to, we can just all go home and log into our clients remotely, and take and make calls, and do business,” he said. “Certainly not as convenient, but it’s doable.”