Sell a Business in Kenosha, Wisconsin

Selling a business in Kenosha, Wisconsin takes a Kenosha County company whose first sentence says Wisconsin. Metra's Union Pacific North line already leaks wages toward Cook County before a Pleasant Prairie dock opens. The transferable book is a warehouse or trucking file that already invoices more than one shipper, a lakefront HVAC route a second tech already starts, and a Froedtert South medical practice whose panel still dials the Kenosha suite. A HarborPark restaurant that already holds a January Tuesday is a fourth column. A Loop multiple and a Metra Saturday occupancy slide are not the company. This is not Chicago. There is no Loop, no O'Hare cargo story as the listing, and no Cook County wage-tax file.

The short answer: Kenosha sells on Pleasant Prairie industrial parks, including the Uline and Amazon-scale boxes and the Renaissance and Highway 50 belt, plus I-94 freight and rooms that survive a January lake wind. Froedtert South keeps a clinic payroll that does not wait on a peak week. UW-Parkside is an academic calendar. HarborPark is overlay. The old Chrysler and Kenosha Engine conversation is history unless the invoices still live on that pad. Most owner-operated shops are discussed on seller's discretionary earnings after a real manager wage. Show January before you pick a number.

This page is market context from a national firm. It is not legal, tax, lending, or a Wisconsin or Illinois contractor ruling. Confirm which state the qualifying name actually hangs in before anyone drafts a letter of intent. Bridge Point lists these files from Spring Hill. Pleasant Prairie folds here. It does not share a HarborPark rent.

Wisconsin's Illinois-line city

Kenosha is the last Wisconsin lakefront city before the Illinois line, with I-94 as the freight spine and Metra as the commuter leak. The weekday product is a logistics-and-plant county with a lake residential overlay, not a Chicago neighborhood and not a Milwaukee suburb. Pleasant Prairie's industrial parks are the distinctive industrial credit. Manufacturing, warehouse, trucking, and staffing swell when those docks are stacking and thin when one shipper pauses. A book that lives on one third-party logistics account, one parcel peak, or one plant platform is concentration. Assignment and site-access language belong in week one. This is not a Joliet intermodal clone and not a Milwaukee Menomonee Valley slide.

The Illinois line is a wage and a license, not a reason to borrow a Cook County multiple. Some techs already compare Kenosha to Waukegan and Gurnee. Some buyers already drive up from Lake County, Illinois, hunting what they call cheap Wisconsin. They still have to underwrite a Wisconsin contractor license, a Wisconsin tax story, and a January lake wind the Loop never priced. HVAC and construction on lakefront and Highway 50 rooftops transfer when a second tech already starts the day. Recurring service is stronger than a one-phase industrial pad.

Froedtert South, also called Kenosha Hospital in a lot of local conversation, keeps a clinic payroll that does not wait on a Prime Week. A medical practice transfers when the panel still calls after the founder leaves. The provider bench is thinner than Milwaukee or Chicago. Recruiting a replacement who will stay in Kenosha County, and not take a Milwaukee or Lake County, Illinois, offer, is part of the file. UW-Parkside packs some rooms on an academic calendar. Move-in is a spike. HarborPark and the lake walk photograph as the listing. They are overlay. A restaurant that already holds a January Tuesday can be underwritten. A room that only works on a July Saturday cannot.

I-94 toward Milwaukee and toward the Illinois tollway is through-traffic. It does not turn a 60th Street shop into a River North vendor book. Write Kenosha County. Do not write north Chicago. Do not write south Milwaukee. Racine is the next lakefront city north, with SC Johnson's wax tower on its own page. Milwaukee has Third Ward rent and Summerfest. Chicago has the Loop. Start on those pages if that is the file.

Notes that survive a Metra buyer's first model

HarborPark's lake walk, the Civil War Museum leftover, and a summer Saturday still photograph as amenity. They help some rooms. They do not rebuild a January wind off the lake. UW-Parkside's academic calendar fills some Highway 50 rooms that a Pleasant Prairie night sort does not. Pull both out of the run rate. The old Chrysler and Kenosha Engine conversation still sits in some offering memoranda. Treat it as history unless the invoices still live on that pad. A Chicago buyer who rode Metra up on a July Saturday and decided Kenosha is a cheaper Rogers Park will overpay the lake walk and miss the dock.

Pleasant Prairie's boxes do not share a downtown rent. A staffing surge during a parcel peak is a column. A dispatcher who already covers more than one shipper is the company. Site-access rules at a large industrial park belong in week one, with counsel, not after a tour. Cross-line books need a clear answer on which state's qualifying agent is on the license. A Wisconsin ticket is not an Illinois ticket because the buyer lives in Lake County.

Who can underwrite the state line

The first buyer is usually an operator already in Kenosha or Pleasant Prairie. They know which January the lake wind empties a room and which shipper pause thins a dock. They will not pay a Cook County multiple for a Highway 50 bay.

The second buyer drives up from Illinois or down from Milwaukee and already serves this freight. They still underwrite Wisconsin licenses, Wisconsin taxes, and a commuter wage leak the same way a local does. Industrial buyers look at diversified shipper files. Clinic buyers look at Froedtert South panels. Trade buyers look at routes a second tech already starts. Buyers who should pass are the ones pricing O'Hare cargo, a Summerfest calendar, or a single parcel peak as the year.

How a Kenosha file is priced

Owner-operated Kenosha shops are usually discussed on seller's discretionary earnings. That is the language for a HarborPark dining room, a one-crew route, a local retail counter, and most shops that still depend on the founder. Add back owner pay only after a real manager wage is already in the number. Do not treat a Metra Saturday or a parcel peak as an ordinary week.

In that owner-operated band, after a real manager wage, buyers often talk about 2x to 3.5x SDE. A dock or route that already has a lead often moves toward 2.5x to 4.5x SDE. Managed companies, especially when the price conversation is near $10 million, are more often underwritten on adjusted EBITDA, commonly about 3x to 6x. Those ranges are directional, not a quote. A formal business valuation still has to read this file. The national frame is the valuation guide.

A multi-shipper warehouse or a multi-crew trade that already runs without the founder can open that EBITDA conversation. One 3PL that is a double-digit share compresses the range. Earn-outs, holdbacks, and contingent payments show up on that shipper or on a peak season. They do not turn July into January.

The loan cap, a note, and cash for a lake-wind month

Documented books with a manager wage already modeled can fit a bank conversation, including SBA 7(a) financing. The SBA 7(a) program currently caps that guaranteed loan at $5 million. That is a ceiling, not an approval. A single-shipper file often needs more equity, a seller note, or both. Read the SBA financing guide as national context. This is not lending advice.

Seller financing is common when site access, a cross-line license, or a lease on the lake is the long pole. The note can bridge a gap the bank can see. It does not create January covers a HarborPark room never had.

Working capital is the cash, inventory, and receivables left so a normal month can make payroll and pay vendors. In Kenosha the normal month for a lakefront restaurant is a January Tuesday with the wind off the lake, not a Metra Saturday in July. A warehouse may carry a parcel-peak bulge in receivables and temporary labor. Disclose it. Do not make peak-week inventory the cash target for the month the sort is quiet. A lender who only rode the train up on a summer afternoon will still ask for January.

Where a state-line file breaks

Due diligence fails on the wrong state and the wrong city more often than it fails on a lake photograph. Confirm the qualifying license before a tour. Kenosha and Pleasant Prairie are different municipal maps. A Pleasant Prairie industrial ticket is not a City of Kenosha receipt. Racine is not this listing. Assignment language at a large box, and any Chrysler-era environmental leftover if it still touches the parcel, belong in week one.

Holdbacks belong on receivable quality, open work, and any license that still lists one person. UW-Parkside move-in should be visible so a Highway 50 room is not priced as a night sort. Specialty leak toward Milwaukee or Lake County, Illinois, should be visible in a medical file. A panel that only looks full because patients have not yet left is not a durable book.

A 60th Street shop that serves local rooftops is not a Pleasant Prairie night sort, even when the owner mentions both on a tour. Staffing that surges for one parcel peak has to show the other eleven months. Manufacturing that still invoices more than one platform can be a company. A single-plant story, including any pad that only lives in an old engine-plant caption, is history or concentration until the invoices say otherwise. The Civil War Museum leftover and a summer lake walk help a Saturday. They do not hire the technician who will work a January wind. Waukegan and Gurnee comparisons explain the wage. They do not move the qualifying license across the state line. Write Wisconsin on the term sheet before anyone debates a multiple. HarborPark keys that already hold a Tuesday in January can sit next to a Pleasant Prairie dock in the same packet only if the rent, the license, and the season are split. Froedtert South recruiting is slower than a Milwaukee or Chicago search. Put the months it takes to replace a provider in the transition, not in a hope that the state line does not matter. I-94 through traffic is not a customer list. Name the shippers.

Pleasant Prairie's industrial parks and HarborPark's lake walk can sit in one county and still fail as one multiple. A parcel peak is a staffing column. A January wind is the hospitality test. Froedtert South does not wait on either. The Wisconsin license on the wall is the fact a Metra buyer has to underwrite before a Cook County wage is allowed into the model. Write the state, then the month, then the shipper list.

Price the Wisconsin file, then the wind

Walk Pleasant Prairie when one shipper has paused, then walk HarborPark on a January Tuesday. The dock that still invoices other shippers is a company. The room that only worked in July is not. Froedtert South's weekday does not wait on either photograph. A second tech on a lakefront route is the trade. A coverage claim that says Chicago and Milwaukee because I-94 runs both directions is still one crew until the stops are named. Metra explains the wage leak. It does not explain a Wisconsin occupational desk.

Use the 12 to 36 month sale-prep roadmap to separate industrial parks, lake rooms, and clinics before anyone writes a teaser. Confidentiality matters where a Highway 50 box and a HarborPark corner are easy to guess. The guide to selling a company confidentially is the national process.

Owners who want the wider path can start with selling a business, the industry guides, or M&A advisory when the company is past a single crew. Bridge Point treats Kenosha as a Wisconsin Illinois-line city, not as a Chicago ward. Start with a valuation, your industry page, or contact. Call (352) 515-0226. Bring January, the shipper list, and an honest note about which state's license is on the wall.