A water tower adorned with Haribo’s gummy bears in Pleasant Prairie stands as a charming reminder of the first tenant to arrive at Prairie Highlands Corporate Park. To the east of the tower sits the German candy maker’s 500,000-square-foot manufacturing plant at 12488 Goldbear Drive.

Today, Haribo shares the bustling business park with corporate neighbors including Eli Lilly and Co., Uline and Aurora Health Care.

But nearly a decade ago, none of it was there.

The 458-acre park was idle farmland. Its property owner, Abbott Laboratories, once had pegged it as the site for a 2 million-square-foot healthcare and pharmaceutical research campus.

Yet by 2017, Abbott agreed to sell the property to the village for $37.5 million, telling the Business Journal at the time that it had no “near-term plans” for the site.

Then-village administrator Michael Pollocoff said Pleasant Prairie had zeroed in on the property as one of the last big pieces of land where it could bring its economic vision to life — a new business park.

But turning raw farmland into a modern business park would take more than snapping up the right land. To give the acreage an entirely new economic identity, the village would need to undertake a massive infrastructure buildout, from mass grading and sanitary and water infrastructure to stormwater basins and new roads.

Its answer was tax incremental financing.

TID 5 was created in May 2017 to fund the infrastructure, clearing the way for Haribo to build its first North American manufacturing plant in Pleasant Prairie. Additional investment and development followed, from Eli Lilly’s pharmaceutical manufacturing facility at 10300 128th Ave. to Uline’s 366,000-square-foot H4 corporate office building.

The bet has dramatically expanded the district’s potential tax base. TID 5 launched with a base property value of $25 million. As of 2025, that figure had ballooned to $384.5 million — nearly $360 million in additional taxable value in less than a decade. The district now ranks No. 9 statewide by property value added.

Since 2020, the district has generated $27 million in additional property tax revenue, including $5.2 million last year alone, said Community Development Director Rob Hanson. Tax increment revenue generated by the district is being used to finance projects ranging from a planned roundabout near Interstate 94 to a potential $2 million contribution to a Kenosha Area Business Alliance revolving loan fund for future businesses.

Read more at the Milwaukee Business Journal.