Ellsworth’s East End may soon have two new businesses: A proposed wine bar and a new business that, among other things, will manufacture items for NASA.

David Braddock, President of OSEMI Inc., has chosen 410 E. Wall St. (which once housed Ellsworth Bottling Works) for his business, which develops advanced semiconductor solutions, provides advanced semiconductor equipment and prototypes, and provides outsourced research and development for technology companies. Semiconductor companies design, manufacture, and sell integrated circuits (ICs) or chips, which are the "brains" of almost all electronic devices, according McKinsey & Company.

At the Sept. 15 Ellsworth Plan Commission meeting, Braddock told the board about his business, which is currently housed in River Falls and Red Wing. The building in River Falls is about to be sold, so he is looking to relocate. He plans to use about 1,500 square feet in the northeast corner of the building for research and development, light assembly and manufacturing.

“Noises at the current existing buildings are not noticeable outside of the building,” said Administrator/Clerk-Treasurer Brad Roy.

The building is currently used for storage, he added.

Braddock said he recently landed a $900,000 research and development project from NASA that will take about two years. He will install two machines in the building, which is owned by Robert N. Stair, that will be used in the project.

“I plan to inject money into the building and help fix it up,” Braddock said. “It’s about 18,000 square feet total, but I’ll use about 1,500 square feet in the back (for OSEMI). It would allow us to grow. It could become a multi-million-dollar company.”

Braddock said he would like to be in Ellsworth longer than those two years and would eventually like to build. Four people will be working part-time in the building, with the possibility of adding one or two more.

Next up for discussion was Braddock’s idea for a wine bar in the front portion (southwest) of the building. The project would coincide with the reconstruction of Wall Street, creating a patio area out front.

“There’s a lot of times at the end of the day, where you really need a glass of wine,” he said. “We heard about the sidewalk and beautification project for the downtown area and would like to take a go at having a wine bar open.

“I would bring wine in from around the world and serve it with Ellsworth cheese and see if we could make a few jobs and have a good time, especially on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.”

Braddock would like to partner with Ellsworth Creamery to serve cheese and vegetable boards to his guests. He believes visitors drawn to the Creamery would patronize the wine bar.

“Maybe they would stay another couple of hours and spend $50 or maybe more having a glass of wine and cheese that we would buy from the Creamery,” he said. “It would give me something to do if the NASA project doesn’t go any further after two years.”

Roy reminded commissioners that the Downtown Design Guidelines would apply to any signage or exterior renovations to the building. Ellsworth Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Kim Beebe said it sounds like an interesting project.

“I think this would be an excellent initiative that would tie in with our tourism goals,” Beebe said. “That building has some history and this sounds like it would be a great way to preserve the building and the architecture and bring it back to its roots a little bit.”

The Plan Commission voted to forward both recommendations to the village board for consideration.