MONROE - Jeff Garthwaite announced Thursday that he has purchased two of the four residences known as the "Whitehead houses" located on 50 acres owned by Menard, Inc. and annexed by the city Dec. 18, 2007. The land is in the northwest corner of the Wisconsin 69 and Aebly Road intersection.
The other houses were purchased by Kim Bahe, Blanchardville, and another unnamed person from Madison. Bahe said he and the man from Madison plan to live in their houses once they're moved. The homes are on the site of a planned new Menards megastore.
Garthwaite, of Garthwaite Auction and Reality and Garthwaite Homes, said all four of the homes would be moved farther north to Sunset Hills subdivision.
Heritage Movers will move the houses in two-week intervals, he said.
The houses will be relocated close to but not next to each other in the subdivision.
The four Whitehead homes, which look alike from the outside, originally were built in a circular formation, with a driveway around the outside of the circle.
The houses are having their two-story, two-car garages removed. Bahe said the garages will be replaced with smaller garages once the houses are moved.
Bahe said each house would take about a half day to move, once it is loaded. The white columns under the houses' large, overhanging roofs will be removed and the roofs braced for the move.
Dennis Childs of Heritage Movers said each move would take place after midnight, per state approval.
"We'll stage them at the road (Aebly Road)," Childs said about getting the houses readied for the on-road trip. The houses will be moved down to the road through the field, because the driveway is lined with trees.
The houses will be crossbeamed to prevent any twisting or sagging. Fireplaces and elevators in some of the houses will require extra crossbeams.
"There's very little (twisting)," Childs said.
Each house will be raised onto four dollies, which can hold 50 tons each and oscillate independently to accommodate for changes in the road surface.
The rig can travel up to 20 miles per hour, "but we'll be lucky if we get up to five miles per hour," he said.
The three-mile trip should take about three hours, he said.
Childs said the company is fourth generation. ("The fifth is still in diapers"). Childs and his brother Rusty bought the company from their father. Childs' sons, Brett and Aaron, and Rusty's sons, Seth and Matt, will be helping on the crew. They will have one other member of the crew, a friend, Mike.
Bahe said he has every confidence in Heritage Movers doing the raising and moving, based on the company's long history of moving houses.
He showed the inside of two homes on Thursday. Fireplaces, kitchens, bathrooms, interior cabinetry, staircases, doors and windows will be left intact during the move. Bahe might remove a large corner mirror surrounding a red, heart-shaped whirlpool tub in one of the houses, but didn't know if it would fit through the second-floor patio door off the bedroom.
Garthwaite said he will be "working the next three weeks straight" to get his houses prepared for the moves. He wants to have his houses set back up by Christmas.
According to special ordinance 130, adopted by the City of Monroe Common Council, Jan. 15, 2008. Menards, Inc., must "commence construction" on the land on or before Jan 15, 2010, or approval is null and void. The Planned Unit Development agreement calls for Menards to erect a retail store, about 230,000 square foot, with a garden center and drive-through warehouse.
Menards spokesman Jeff Abbott said Menards had no planned date to start construction.
"All we can say now is that we own land," he said.
Menards donated several smaller business buildings on the same parcel of land to the MERIT Center. This summer, firefighters and volunteers donated time, labor and equipment to dismantle and move the buildings to storage at the center.
The other houses were purchased by Kim Bahe, Blanchardville, and another unnamed person from Madison. Bahe said he and the man from Madison plan to live in their houses once they're moved. The homes are on the site of a planned new Menards megastore.
Garthwaite, of Garthwaite Auction and Reality and Garthwaite Homes, said all four of the homes would be moved farther north to Sunset Hills subdivision.
Heritage Movers will move the houses in two-week intervals, he said.
The houses will be relocated close to but not next to each other in the subdivision.
The four Whitehead homes, which look alike from the outside, originally were built in a circular formation, with a driveway around the outside of the circle.
The houses are having their two-story, two-car garages removed. Bahe said the garages will be replaced with smaller garages once the houses are moved.
Bahe said each house would take about a half day to move, once it is loaded. The white columns under the houses' large, overhanging roofs will be removed and the roofs braced for the move.
Dennis Childs of Heritage Movers said each move would take place after midnight, per state approval.
"We'll stage them at the road (Aebly Road)," Childs said about getting the houses readied for the on-road trip. The houses will be moved down to the road through the field, because the driveway is lined with trees.
The houses will be crossbeamed to prevent any twisting or sagging. Fireplaces and elevators in some of the houses will require extra crossbeams.
"There's very little (twisting)," Childs said.
Each house will be raised onto four dollies, which can hold 50 tons each and oscillate independently to accommodate for changes in the road surface.
The rig can travel up to 20 miles per hour, "but we'll be lucky if we get up to five miles per hour," he said.
The three-mile trip should take about three hours, he said.
Childs said the company is fourth generation. ("The fifth is still in diapers"). Childs and his brother Rusty bought the company from their father. Childs' sons, Brett and Aaron, and Rusty's sons, Seth and Matt, will be helping on the crew. They will have one other member of the crew, a friend, Mike.
Bahe said he has every confidence in Heritage Movers doing the raising and moving, based on the company's long history of moving houses.
He showed the inside of two homes on Thursday. Fireplaces, kitchens, bathrooms, interior cabinetry, staircases, doors and windows will be left intact during the move. Bahe might remove a large corner mirror surrounding a red, heart-shaped whirlpool tub in one of the houses, but didn't know if it would fit through the second-floor patio door off the bedroom.
Garthwaite said he will be "working the next three weeks straight" to get his houses prepared for the moves. He wants to have his houses set back up by Christmas.
According to special ordinance 130, adopted by the City of Monroe Common Council, Jan. 15, 2008. Menards, Inc., must "commence construction" on the land on or before Jan 15, 2010, or approval is null and void. The Planned Unit Development agreement calls for Menards to erect a retail store, about 230,000 square foot, with a garden center and drive-through warehouse.
Menards spokesman Jeff Abbott said Menards had no planned date to start construction.
"All we can say now is that we own land," he said.
Menards donated several smaller business buildings on the same parcel of land to the MERIT Center. This summer, firefighters and volunteers donated time, labor and equipment to dismantle and move the buildings to storage at the center.