MILWAUKEE _ It began routinely, in early March:
The Milwaukee 7 regional economic development group received a "request for proposal," forwarded by state officials, from a consultant for an unidentified company looking for a factory site.
The few details provided were tantalizing _ an investment of $150 million to $200 million that could create up to 2,000 jobs on an unusually large site, 750 acres. But it wasn't anything to set off the all-hands-on-deck alarms.
"We get these all the time," said Jim Paetsch, vice president of corporate relocation, expansion and attraction for the Milwaukee 7. " ... I wouldn't say that this one stood out necessarily."
Little more than four months later, what began with that blind solicitation is standing out not just here but nationwide and beyond.
The unnamed firm that extended feelers here and many other places, of course, was Foxconn Technology Group, the Taiwanese electronics giant that on Wednesday unveiled plans for what it describes as a $10 billion manufacturing complex that ultimately could employ 13,000 people, represent the largest single investment the state has ever seen and, advocates say, transform Wisconsin's economy.
