i shoulda been more clear, i meant sketches of what it's planned to look like... I know what it's like now.

Ah. Got ya.

The best I can do for you is outdated and from http://www.unioncorners.org...

Didn't want to imbed the plan image, cause it's so big...
http://www.cityofmadison.com/planning/unioncorners/UC_concept_site.gif

For example (as to why it's outdated), the French Battery building is not being restored as claimed, as I believe it was demo'd some time ago.

The latest news I could pull from the Madison.com archives is that there will now be 450 units + commercial space. I drive by there a lot, and they are beginning to tear down some of the older buildings on the corner of Winnebago and E. Wash. Ford's gym is officially moved out, and it looks those buildings are ready to get demo'd as well.

I hope the new residents in the area force change on the blighted areas both across the street on E. Wash and across on Milwaukee.

The development has been included in discussions about a future location of both a commuter rail stop (funny), as well as a year round public market (like the one in Milwaukee).

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/124/346311531_29fb6f57eb_o.jpg

Was in town tonight, decided to take this and fiddle around more with my night settings and tripod.

Beautiful! Who would have though that 5 days into January there isn't a patch of ice to be found on the big lakes and you could tolerate a trip to Olin-Turville to snap that shot. This weather is starting to freak me out.

That Whole Foods by Hilldale got further stamp of approval from city council. If you're too lazy to go back a page or two, it includes a 7 and 11-floor towers with a Whole Foods market and more retails at the ground level. We've already had a concept drawing of the tower, here is the corner where the whole foods will have a showcase-entrance.

http://www.madison.com/images/articles/wsj/2007/01/04/38632.jpg

nice pic Ben

Very nice picture Ben.

With regard to Whole Foods... hopefully that'll be built! It's such a fantastic store. Milwaukee's first Whole Foods opened a few months back and it's been a huge boon to the neighborhood. That design, btw, is superb.

Very nice picture Ben.

With regard to Whole Foods... hopefully that'll be built! It's such a fantastic store. Milwaukee's first Whole Foods opened a few months back and it's been a huge boon to the neighborhood. That design, btw, is superb.Hey MilwaukeeMark, that's a great pic of Madison by Ben. Do you think it's another great candidate for a SSC banner? I do. We have some talented photophiles that roam this forum.

^^ I'd imagine so, he has to submit it to Jan at a size of 719 x 123 and see what he says. :)

Good luck! That would be spectacular!

Very nice picture Ben.

With regard to Whole Foods... hopefully that'll be built! It's such a fantastic store. Milwaukee's first Whole Foods opened a few months back and it's been a huge boon to the neighborhood. That design, btw, is superb.

It'll get built. It's not just a concept for a new store, it's an actual relocation from an undersized existing space about a mile down the street.

What is the newest on "University Square"?
Is there going to be a two-storey shopping mall in it?

I saw the latest rendering which depicted that building that had large graphic
banners on the first two floors. Words like "Fall Fashion" and "mall" on the banners filled
the large two storey glass space.

Retail space, but no "mall" (per se).

It'll fill in with whatever caters to college students. Ie; cheap food, etc.

Construction webcam:
http://square4cam.fpm.wisc.edu/view/index.shtml

Good news for an old building:

http://www.madison.com/tct/news/index.php?ntid=115545

"The former Garver Feed Mill may look like a ruin to most people, but Madison's arts community sees an incubator waiting to be chipped from the crumbling brick and mortar.

A grass-roots movement to convert the century-old building, adjacent to Olbrich Botanical Gardens, to a place for artists of all kinds to create, exhibit, perform, teach and perhaps even live emerged Thursday at a meeting of a city panel charged with charting its re-use."

I've been hoping for something to go ahead with this place for a long time. Anyone who takes the Capitol Bike Path east has seen it many times.

That would be neat old place to fix up. I grew up a couple of miles from there, and my dad gre up a couple of blocks from there.

While I was waiting to see my advisor, I noticed Madison rated very high on a recent rating by Men's Health Magazine.

The rankings were calculated by (quoted from the website):

"...crunching the numbers in 24 categories, including life-and-death data on cancer, heart disease, and stroke. We also looked at lifestyle issues, such as annual income and daily commute, crime rates and college graduation rates. Lastly, we ran a sweat check, looking at how often, how long, and how intensely men exercise."

The Rankings:

The 10 Best

1. San Jose, CA
2. Honolulu, HI
3. Madison, WI
4. San Diego, CA
5. Fremont, CA
6. San Francisco, CA
7. Anchorage, AK
8. Raleigh, NC
9. Manchester, NH
10. Lincoln, NE

Full Link with rankings of 100 cities: Men's Health.com (http://www.menshealth.com/cda/article.do?site=MensHealth&channel=health&category=metrogrades&conitem=cf0e3adb5ef8f010VgnVCM10000013281eac____)

SATURDAY, Jan. 27, 2007, 1:24 p.m.
By Associated Press

Madison - The state government is hoping to cash in on downtown Madison's real estate boom by selling its 10-story downtown office building that overlooks Lake Monona.

Scott Larrivee, spokesman for the Department of Administration, said Friday that the building will soon be put on the market. It houses about 600 state workers.

State officials hope to make about $20 million in a sale and then lease the building for five to seven years while seeking another downtown location, Larrivee said.

"We can be in the downtown area at a nearby location but we don't have to be at a lakeside location," Larrivee said.

The building was completed in 1992 at a cost of $20.7 million. The Department of Administration and the Office of State Employment Relations are among the agencies in the building.

It's sometimes called the "Klaus Haus" for Jim Klauser, who headed the Administration Department under former Gov. Tommy Thompson when it was built.

A sale would benefit the city by having the property go on Madison's tax rolls, Larrivee said.

Madison one only of three cities east of the Rockies to make the list of top
cities for Hybrid vehicle ownership.


1. Portland, Ore. 9.21
2. San Francisco 7.28
3. Monterey, Calif. 5.83
4. Santa Barbara, Calif. 5.15
5. Los Angeles 4.70
6. Bend, Ore. 4.42
7. Washington, D.C. 4.35
8. Charlottesville, Va. 4.23
9. San Diego 4.18
10. Eugene, Ore. 3.76
11. Seattle 3.46
12. Honolulu 3.37
13. Eureka, Calif. 3.15
14. Sacramento, CA 2.97
15. Madison, WI 2.91

SOURCE: data from R.L. Polk and Hybridcars.com
-- Cities where hybrids are most popular
-- Hybrids per 1000 households*

damn hippies... jk

I like the Toyota Prius, not only is it good for the environment, saves $ on gas but it is surprisingly nice to drive and has a decent amount of space on the interior and trunk.

Those hippies must have some sizeable bank accounts! :)
Probably some from the big, organic farm cooperatives.
Wisconsin is the third biggest producer of organic foods in the U.S. (2005)> and now??
Some hybrids probably went to a community car program too.

http://fountaincam.engr.wisc.edu/default.html

This is a nice webcam I found on the web. Its live!

It wasn’t too long ago that many people across the state were excited about UW’s potential to create a strong bio-tech industry in Madison. However this article shows that many may not share this enthusiasm. I found this article published in the Madison Capital Times.

Mike Ivey: On growth, it's all relative
By Mike Ivey
Does Madison want to be a small big city or a big small town?
The question lies at the heart of many issues here and is emerging as a theme in the upcoming local election.

The conventional business wisdom is that growth is good. It creates jobs, brings in wealth and boosts the local economy.
But not everybody likes growth and more Madisonians seem to be saying enough is enough.

No more stinkin' high-rise condos.
No more stinkin' mixed-use development.
And no stinkin' trolley.

The growth question is central in many City Council races but especially in District 11 where incumbent Tim Gruber is facing two opponents in the Feb. 20 primary Gruber upset many in his middle-class west side district by supporting redevelopment of the Hilldale and Midvale Plaza shopping centers, two aging retail centers past their prime. Some opponents of those projects said they were happy with Hilldale and Midvale Plaza just the way they were - despite the worn appearance and vacant parking lots.

Gruber went against the wishes of many constituents by backing the developers on both projects. It will be interesting to see if his support for large scale "infill" development will cost him.
The four candidates for mayor also sparred over the growth issue last week during a debate at the Warner Park Community Center. The candidates were asked to respond to incumbent Dave Cieslewicz's comment that Madison is "no longer a sleepy little college town" and needs to embrace the inevitable growth.

Challenger Peter Munoz, on leave from his position as executive director of Centro Hispano, responded that he had lived in New York City and moved to Madison precisely because he didn't want his kids to live in a big city.

Go to http://www.madison.com/tct/business/index.php?ntid=118736 for the whole story.

Could this attitude deflate Madison’s potential?

i think that madisons growth is kind of inevitable. people should embrace it and try to plan for it, not shun it. im happy to see madison growing

Challenger Peter Munoz, on leave from his position as executive director of Centro Hispano, responded that he had lived in New York City and moved to Madison precisely because he didn't want his kids to live in a big city.

Nice. This is like saying, "I moved here from someplace else because that benefitted me, but now that I'm here I don't want anyone else to move in like I did."

As yakob said, the growth is coming. You can embrace it and plan for it, or you can bury your head in the sand about it, but it's not going away.

Ray Allen is running radio ads claiming Mayor Dave lied about funding for the trolley study, saying it came from federal grants, when it came out of city budget. The ad also states the trolley would cost $15-20 million per mile of service. I'm not sure how that ads up, or over what period of time, whether that is installation, or installation + operation over a set number of years, but if true, I oppose growth in that sense (trolley) as well. Screw that, that's a TON of money. However, I think that facts have been severely distorted, as they usually are in these types of ads.

Big game this afternoon, number one vs. number one!

Big game this afternoon, number one vs. number one!

Real big. I couldn't be any more nervous. Hopefully Wisconsin will not take 1000 three point shots and try to execute more inside. We need this.

Real big. I couldn't be any more nervous. Hopefully Wisconsin will not take 1000 three point shots and try to execute more inside. We need this.

You were saying?? :bash: What a shame they lost....although I think if Butch stayed alright we could have had it.

That game made me so upset. All the Badgers could do was pass the ball around the perimeter and try to take low-percentage shots.

Some optimism for 2007

Room to work: New construction hikes office market vacancies
By Jeff Richgels
Madison's office market slowed last year as new construction outpaced absorption of space, but a rebounding market is predicted this year, Grubb & Ellis/Oakbrook said in its annual Office Market Trends Madison report.


The local office market vacancy rate rose to 13.5 percent last year from 10.9 percent in 2005, but is projected to fall back to 10.9 percent this year, the report said. The vacancy rate had climbed from 7.8 percent in 1999 to 15.1 percent in 2003 before declining again in 2004 and 2005.

"I would say it was slower than we anticipated," company analyst Chris Richards said of 2006.

Construction activity hit its highest point since 2002 as 402,000 square feet of office space was completed, with all parts of the market participating. The highest profile new building completed last year was the 33 E. Main St. building that completed the Block 89 project downtown. The building was 82 percent pre-leased. But absorption, which had averaged 345,000 square feet from 2001-05 in the Madison market, fell to just 158,000 square feet last year.

Large users Epic Systems and CUNA Mutual Group vacated a combined 136,000 square feet of space. Epic left for its sprawling new headquarters in Verona and CUNA Mutual sold its mortgage business that was based in Fitchburg.

In addition, Farm Bureau, Rural Insurance, Madison National Life and RSM McGladrey vacated a total of about 100,000 square feet of space to occupy new buildings on the far west side in Old Sauk Trails Office Park, "and that hurt the market because the back-filling didn't occur in 2006," Richards said.

"However, since the report was done some back-filling is starting to occur, which should make 2007 a better year," he added.

For example, space abandoned by RSM McGladrey at 434 S. Yellowstone already has been occupied by other companies, Richards said.

In addition, booming Epic has absorbed about 50,000 square feet of CUNA Mutual's former Fitchburg space as the electronic medical records firm waits for additional space to be finished at its Verona complex.

"Our outlook for 2007 is positive," the report states. "Local companies are optimistic heading into the new year and many appear poised for expansion. Solid economic fundamentals and strong preleasing will push vacancy lower and drive rental rates higher in the coming year. The low absorption activity experienced over the past year appears to be a temporary condition as we expect absorption levels to exceed the five-year average of 253,000 square feet in 2007."

After a sizzling 2005, vacancy downtown increased by more than four percentage points, finishing the year at 13 percent, thanks in large part to tenants vacating other space for the new 33 E. Main building. The pace at which backfilling occurs will determine whether vacancy rises or falls downtown this year, the report states.

Despite the market's overall vacancy rate increasing, rental rates increased, seemingly flying in the face of supply and demand.

Richards said that in some cases, including CUNA Mutual in Fitchburg, that fundamental law of economics didn't apply because the leases remained even though the space was vacated.

"Landlords are still getting rent so they don't have to scramble to fill space at a lower price," he said.

The report predicts that asking rents in 2007 will keep pace with the 3-4 percent increases seen in each of the past two years.

"Significant increases in new construction and tenant improvement costs, along with rising interest rates and sharply increasing land costs are having a considerable effect on rental rates," the report states.

Rental rates in the Central Business District remained largely unchanged in 2006. Rates for Class A and B space increased slightly to $24.22 and $19.66 per square foot, below inflation, while rates for Class C space fell one percentage point to $18.66 per square foot in 2006.

Asking rents for new Class A buildings on the far west side are beginning to resemble rents seen downtown, as some properties under development are seeking a full service gross rent of $26 per square foot, which is comparable to the asking rent at the new 33 E. Main St. building. However, total occupancy costs remain substantially higher downtown due to parking expenses that can add $4-$6 per square foot to the cost of space, the report states.

Continuing increases in building and land prices also will impact the market, the report said.

"Buying an existing building can cost a little more just because the cost to build a similar building is so much greater," Richards said.

In the investment sales market, the largest real estate transaction in Madison's history occurred in 2006, as local developer T. Wall Properties purchased the Greenway Center portfolio for just over $140 million, or $153.55 per square foot for the buildings totaling 912,700 square feet.

This purchase alone accounted for more than three quarters of the dollar volume generated by the 18 office building sales in 2006, 14 of which involved investors.

However, even excluding the Greenway Center deal, the average price per square foot rose 9 percent last year to an all-time high of $107.53.

Activity slowed in the office land sales market, but values hit an all-time high of $7.28 per square foot, an 18 percent increase year over year.

Currently, there are five buildings totaling 239,000 square feet under construction, just under the five-year average of 286,000 square feet, the report states.

But Richards said much of that space is pre-leased, which bodes well for the market.

"I think we'll continue to see office sales volume and price per square foot increasing," he said.

The 2007 UW football schedule, with home games bold:

Sept. 1, Washington State

Sept. 8, at UNLV

Sept. 15, The Citadel

Sept. 22, Iowa

Sept. 29, Michigan State

Oct. 6, at Illinois

Oct. 13, at Penn State

Oct. 20, Northern Illinois

Oct. 27, Indiana

Nov. 3, at Ohio State

Nov. 10, Michigan

Nov. 17, at Minnesota

Times to be announced.

Michigan can eat our dust at home. lol

Madison could again get passanger rail service...
http://www.madison.com/wsj/mad/top/index.php?ntid=121224&ntpid=2

I had no idea there wasn't a rail line between madison and chicago since the 1970s, I think this is a travisty. I've been on the amtrak from La Crosse to Chicago plenty of times and it has always been a very enjoyable experience, and there seems to be plenty of demand. I can't believe that madison would be left out, expecailly with la crosse being a third of madison's size.

I think this is positive news that a rail line could be extablished to link madison, milwaukee and chicago. I'm all for it!

In neat news, Target is seriously thinking about going into the new University Square. I guess it would have to be a 2-floored target or a smaller one? Either way, I hate Walgreens and would love there to be another place I can buy things I need.

In neat news, Target is seriously thinking about going into the new University Square. I guess it would have to be a 2-floored target or a smaller one? Either way, I hate Walgreens and would love there to be another place I can buy things I need.

IF that is indeed real news that would be cool. An "urban Target" would match the Isthmus demographic well placing more emphasis on fashion and design and less on home appliances and needs.

The 2007 UW football schedule, with home games bold:

Sept. 1, Washington State

Sept. 8, at UNLV

Sept. 15, The Citadel

Sept. 22, Iowa

Sept. 29, Michigan State

Oct. 6, at Illinois

Oct. 13, at Penn State

Oct. 20, Northern Illinois

Oct. 27, Indiana

Nov. 3, at Ohio State

Nov. 10, Michigan

Nov. 17, at Minnesota

Times to be announced.

I realize that Wisconsin has big rivalries with Minnesota and Iowa. I also know that Badger success in the football makes the Michigan and Ohio State games huge.

But I personally think something is missing when the Big Ten identified rivals that are always played and rotated the others on the schedule. This is admittedly coming from a Chicagoland perspective, but there was a time not so far back when Northwestern always played Wisconsin. Now I know a huge state school like UW probably doesn't feel as close a relationship with a smaller, private university like NU, but the Badgers and the Wildcats have a long history and many years of the series, the two have been fairly competitive. NU was a regular on the UW schedule even though the Illini were not. I would say from a Wildcat perspective, UW remains one of the biggest rivals on the schedule.

I'm sure that from what I wrote, you can see I'm not suggesting that UW-NU is huge (it's not), but is there any sense in Madison (or in Wisconsin in general) that the UW-NU game should be a regular (and no, I'm not suggesting because it would be a Badger victory).

As far as I know you get to only choose two and Wisconsin chose Iowa and Minnesota. I've had fun going to Illinois for games alhtough that hasn't seemed to be much of a rivalry lately although that could change and NU just doesn't feel like a great rival, i don't know why maybe because when it's a road game for NU the wisconsin fans a lot of times out number the NU fans.

Madison could again get passanger rail service...
http://www.madison.com/wsj/mad/top/index.php?ntid=121224&ntpid=2

I had no idea there wasn't a rail line between madison and chicago since the 1970s, I think this is a travisty. I've been on the amtrak from La Crosse to Chicago plenty of times and it has always been a very enjoyable experience, and there seems to be plenty of demand. I can't believe that madison would be left out, expecailly with la crosse being a third of madison's size.

I think this is positive news that a rail line could be extablished to link madison, milwaukee and chicago. I'm all for it!

Instead of creating a new line for Madison
I would propose eliminating either the Columbus or Portage stop from the "Empire Builder" line. Historically (up until freeways took hold of America 1950s) the Wisconsin Dells depot, stop had high passenger totals from Chicagoans coming into town for the weekend but that's hardly the case in the 21st century. The existence of these stops illustrates how out-of-touch the feds are with the funding they allocate for Amtrak.

Okay I'll say it. Prevention Magazine voted Madison #1 walkable city in America for 2007.


Why? The residential density along the Isthmus, contiguous ped/bike right-of-ways and:


Tops on the list of what makes a place fitness walker friendly are safe streets, beautiful places to walk, mild weather, and good air quality. In addition to crunching the numbers, Prevention and the American Podiatric Medical Association consulted with Dan Burden, who has personally evaluated walking conditions in more than 200 cities as the executive director of Walkable Communities Inc.

Here are some of the specific criteria we used to create the list. Each criteria was weighted as heavy, medium or light in terms of importance.
+ % of pop that walks for exercise
+ Use of mass transit
+ Parks per square mile
+ Points of interest per squre mile
+ Avg winter/summer temperatures
+ % of athletic shoe buyers

Else where in the region, only Omaha and Lincoln cracked the top 25 ranking #23 and #24 respectively.

Been kind of dead around here (myself not pardoned), despite some interesting tidbits hitting the wire lately:

From the "Gee, is there any surprise there is resistance?" category:

High Rise Pressure Hits Home
The Capital Times :: BUSINESS :: A10
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Mike Ivey
Two new upscale apartment projects eyed for "Old University Avenue" should test how much urban density longtime Madisonians can embrace.

One proposal is from the Mullins family for a 14-story, 190-unit high-rise apartment tower at University Avenue and Highland Avenue, behind the venerable Lombardino's restaurant.

The Italian eatery would stay but just about everything else on the 2500 block of University will go, including Lulu's restaurant which is eyeing a move just a block away.

Last week, Brian Mullins presented plans to the neighborhood for a lone high-rise building with street level retail and four levels of parking, one below ground. The apartments would start at level four, rising over 150 feet high while offering views of Lake Mendota and the west campus.

Although the Mullins plan is very preliminary, it's already drawing fire from neighborhood residents. Among the most outspoken critics is UW-Madison engineer John Jacobs, who lives within eyeshot of the site.

More:
http://www.madison.com/archives/read.php?ref=/tct/2007/03/13/0703130223.php


From the "Hill Farms continues it's explosion" category:

State Proposes Development At Hill Farms Site

Dot Would Stay Amid Greenspace, Hotel, More
The Capital Times :: METRO :: B1
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
By Katjusa Cisar Special to The Capital Times\ The writer retains the copyright for this article
About 120 west side residents urged preservation of their community garden and voiced other reactions Tuesday night to a redevelopment concept for Hill Farms, the 22 acres of state-owned land between University Avenue and Rennebohm Park.

The Department of Administration wants to see the land transformed from a windswept expanse of asphalt to an urban environment where businesses, greenspace and housing create a miniature 24-hour city where the lights don't all shut off at 5 p.m. as workers head home.

Retaining Department of Transportation offices on site is the "first and foremost goal," Brian Munson told assembled residents in a short slide show presentation Tuesday evening at the Van Hise Elementary School/Hamilton Middle School cafeteria.

Munson is a designer for urban planning consultants Vandewalle & Associates, which has divided the land into six "bubbles" -- offices, a DOT building, a hotel, and three other areas designated for "mixed-use" development such as residential units, small businesses, structured parking and open space for a farmer's market and other "programming."

More:
http://www.madison.com/archives/read.php?ref=/tct/2007/03/14/0703140318.php


From the "Small but cool enough to mention" category:
Willy co-op to seek OK for funding expansion
By Lynn Welch

Members of the Willy Street Co-op will vote next month to OK funds for a second store.

With a handful of Madison area locations in mind, the co-op's board and management will ask voting members to approve funds to expand the popular natural and organic grocery to a second site. Members recently received information announcing the vote in a letter from the co-op's board of directors.

More:
http://www.madison.com/tct/business/index.php?ntid=122065&ntpid=2


...and more about height-resistance (this time on East Wash):

East Wash: How Tall Is Too Tall?
The Capital Times :: BUSINESS :: D8
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
Mike Ivey
There's a big brouhaha brewing over the height of new buildings on East Washington Avenue and nobody is even close to turning a shovel of dirt.

After two years and over 20 public meetings, the city's East Washington-Capitol Gateway Build Steering Committee was ready to make its final recommendations about reshaping the "Gateway to the Downtown."

In true Madison fashion, however, there remains no consensus.

The committee convened by Mayor Dave Cieslewicz is recommending buildings up to 15-stories on the south side -- the Mautz Paint side -- from the 600 to 900 blocks of East Washington. Heights would scale down to 10 stories before jumping back to 12 stories at the Yahara River.

More:
http://www.madison.com/archives/read.php?ref=/tct/2007/03/06/0703060265.php

Madison could again get passanger rail service...
http://www.madison.com/wsj/mad/top/index.php?ntid=121224&ntpid=2

I had no idea there wasn't a rail line between madison and chicago since the 1970s, I think this is a travisty. I've been on the amtrak from La Crosse to Chicago plenty of times and it has always been a very enjoyable experience, and there seems to be plenty of demand. I can't believe that madison would be left out, expecailly with la crosse being a third of madison's size.

I think this is positive news that a rail line could be extablished to link madison, milwaukee and chicago. I'm all for it!


yeah this totally doesnt make sense that there isnt passenger train service to madison, it does go to portage though right?

I know I really enjoyed using amtrack to go back and forth to college from Chicago to urbana/champaign

Dunn Residents, Board Oppose Disease Lab
They Campaign Against Uw's Proposal For Federal Facility

This article from the State Journal deserves some discussion. I don't know if anyone has heard of Plum Island in New York. From what I understand it is lab that studies infectious disease in animals. They are looking for a new location and Madison is one of 14 finalist cities. This will bring several billion dollars into the state's economy from federal funds and will raise the prestige of madison's standing as a leader in medical technology. There's resistance from locals who have worries about diseases being released, and of course the general resistance to development that you find across the state of wisconsin. I believe, however, that the benefits outweight the risks, expecially when you consider that facilties such as the centers for desease control have operated without incident for decades. There are fail-safe's in place to protect residents and workers. Would this be something you would like to see in madison or even wisconsin?

Wisconsin State Journal :: FRONT :: A1
Thursday, March 8, 2007
MATTHEW DeFOUR mdefour@madison.com 608-252-6144

George Corrigan doesn't consider himself the activist type.
But the 46-year-old patent attorney has mounted a campaign to stop the U.S. Department of Homeland Security from selecting land in the town of Dunn for the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility.

Opposition from Corrigan, the Town Board and other residents may hurt the case UW-Madison is making for landing the federal facility, which would lead the nation in animal disease research and inject billions of dollars into the state's economy.

The $400 million, 500,000-square-foot lab would employ as many as 400 people and study the world's deadliest animal diseases, seeking to develop drugs and vaccines.


Corrigan and other critics worry the big, busy lab wouldn't fit the town's rural character.
Some also fear the possibility of a security breach that would allow the release of a disease. Federal and university officials maintain that risk is minimal.

The university is one of 14 groups vying for the project. It would replace the aging Plum Island Animal Disease Center in New York, which was one of the original 29 contenders, but not selected as a semifinalist.

UW-Madison and supporters such as Gov. Jim Doyle and Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk have proposed locating the lab on 40 of the 160 acres the university owns across the road from its Physical Sciences Laboratory and the Synchrotron Radiation Center just west of Lake Kegonsa.

The site qualified in August as one of 18 semifinalists. Three finalists are to be announced this summer. Construction would begin in 2009 and the facility would open in 2013.

Opposition campaign When Corrigan learned the facility could be built less than a mile from the stone cottage where he lives part of the year, he wasn't concerned at all. "I thought it was a small place that would fit in," he said.

The Appleton resident wanted to learn more after he found out it would be three times the size of a Wal-Mart Supercenter and it would replace Plum Island, which had to address security issues raised by the U.S. General Accounting Office in a 2003 report.

Corrigan was one of more than 100 people who attended a town of Dunn meeting on Nov. 30 to ask questions. He said university officials were "woefully unprepared" to provide answers, which "made me dig farther," Corrigan said.

He began posting information on a Web site: stopnbafkegonsa.com. He sent out 1,800 letters and began distributing more than 800 black-and-white yard signs.

When federal officials visit the site on April 30, Corrigan plans to set up more yard signs along roads. He's also asking residents to park their cars along the road with signs in the windows to punctuate their opposition, which has fomented since November.

In December, the three-member town of Dunn board voted unanimously to oppose the site. Board Chairman Ed Minihan, who took a neutral position when originally asked last February, said he found the project to be "highly problematic" because of its size and the type of research being conducted.

"This thing is (currently) on an island for a reason," Minihan said. "I don't dispute that that work should be done, but there are places to put it where you have less exposure to large populations."

Minihan noted the town of Dunn site is next to property the town is protecting from development.

Last week, Dane County Board member Patrick Miles of McFarland submitted a resolution calling on the County Board to oppose the location. Miles said he wants to establish the board's position before, rather than after, the federal government narrows the list.
Like Corrigan, Miles focuses on how the project doesn't fit with the rural setting. Both are also concerned the size of the project will increase runoff and create environmental problems for nearby Lake Kegonsa.

Chazen Museum of Art gets a small nod in the NY times . . . some good articles in the section though.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/28/arts/artsspecial/20070325_MUSEUM_GRAPHIC.html

yeah this totally doesnt make sense that there isnt passenger train service to madison, it does go to portage though right?

I know I really enjoyed using amtrack to go back and forth to college from Chicago to urbana/champaign

There's an Amtrak station in Columbus, which is closer to Madison than Portage is.

Ha, so Chi Town and NY are important enough to get censored . . . I feel a little slighted that no wis cities are on that list!

Yeah I noticed that just having read some threads in the C-h-i-c-a-g-o forum. What's up with that?

I get it now. Apr-il 1st. Duh. I stopped playing that game when I was like, 8.

Cieslewicz expected to win another 4 year term. Looks like the results wen't as close as the media was saying.

Mayor:
Ray Allen 37.42%
David J. Cieslewicz 62.08%

The USPTO (United States Patent and Trademark Office) has upheld challenges by the greedy Californian based "Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights" to three stem cell patents held by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, thankfully WARF is standing by the validity of the patents as the legal process continues to unfold.

Great for greedy California not so good for Madison and Wisconsin.
Hopefully WARF will win round two.

It Defiantly has not been very active around here, but I'll keep tying to engender some conversaton...

Should this be a concern for madison?

The Madison Trust for Historic Preservation recently questioned both mayoral candidates, Ray Allen and incumbent Dave Cieslewicz, about a number of topics relating to development, the isthmus and historic preservation.

One of the questions was about the city's staff preservation planner in the Department of Planning and Development, who assists the Landmarks Commission. Longtime planner Katherine Rankin would like to retire next year, in 2008. The trust asked if the upcoming vacancy would be filled, and whether it would be full time.

Allen said, "I will certainly retain the preservation planner on staff. A city the size of Madison with the number of historic buildings we have should have a full-time preservationist on staff."

Cieslewicz, however, waffled. "Staffing decisions are always a matter of competing budget pressures and the unique characteristics of each budget," he said. "I will evaluate this position in the context of the budget issues we face at the time the vacancy occurs."

Mayor Dave either cannot budget a year in advance, or he's already sharpening his axe.

From the Wrath of Madison blog.

Is historic preservation an important part of urban planning in madison... or anywhere for that matter?

The USPTO (United States Patent and Trademark Office) has upheld challenges by the greedy Californian based "Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights" to three stem cell patents held by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, thankfully WARF is standing by the validity of the patents as the legal process continues to unfold.

Great for greedy California not so good for Madison and Wisconsin.
Hopefully WARF will win round two.

This is a huge source of income for UW madison and the state, millions of dollars are made each year on marketing out rights for the use of stem cell cloaning technology.

In terms of that historical building thing I think the state historical society does a lot of that work and not the city. For instance my next door neighbor in Madison is an architect who works for the state historical society and does historic building stuff.

boooo cali. first they steal the dairy industry, and now they are going after the boitech industry

The new Deer Park Buddhist Temple for the Monastery is really rising up quickly.
http://www.deerparkcenter.org/nt_1_8_07/index.html

And California didn't have his holiness do this:

"The (first) temple was initially built as an open pavilion for the Kalachakra initiation given by H. H. the Dalai Lama in 1981--the first such initiation bestowed in the West."
Deer Park URL: http://www.deerparkcenter.org/

Madison has one of the largest populations of Tibetans in the U.S. = one restaurant, and two retail stores in downtown MAD.
And his Comic-ness is back to take a peek this May (?) 2007.

It appears that the Dane County Rail System is heating up. That is, a modern-looking "rail" hooking up Middleton to parts of Madison (such as the East Town Mall and Dane County Airport) to Sun Prairie. I personally think it would be awesome! I would definitely ride it. Better than taking the beltline, and much more eco-friendly. Furthermore, everyone knows that parking downtown is a total nightmare.

Mayor Dave thinks streetcars are more important though. Streetcars would be nice, but I think this is much more important.

It appears that the Dane County Rail System is heating up. That is, a modern-looking "rail" hooking up Middleton to parts of Madison (such as the East Town Mall and Dane County Airport) to Sun Prairie. I personally think it would be awesome! I would definitely ride it. Better than taking the beltline, and much more eco-friendly. Furthermore, everyone knows that parking downtown is a total nightmare.

Mayor Dave thinks streetcars are more important though. Streetcars would be nice, but I think this is much more important.
That's fine and dandy for people getting around *within* the Madison area, but he seems to be dilly-dallying on a transport issue of critical statewide economic importance, that being the intolerable levels of US 18/151 through traffic on Verona Rd between the Beltline and McKee Rd and those turns between the Beltline and Verona Rd. ANYTHING less than the proposed freeway-freeway connection there is nothing more than putting a Band-Aid on a bleeding malignant melanoma. And unlike what some are claiming, the plans favored by WisDOT would return Verona Rd to the neighbors with only local traffic to contend with on the resulting Verona Rd boulevard and have overcrossings at every cross street and further, it can be done in such a way as to turn that area into a true aesthetic showpiece.

As for the Middleton rail proposal, what are the reasonable ridership projections vs. expected cost numbers looking like?

Mike

Sequoya Commons building begins which will replace the decrepit looking midvale plaza. The new development includes retail, an addition to the sequoya branch library, and condos.
http://www.madison.com/images/articles/wsj/2007/04/25/44003.jpg

vs,

http://www.madison.com/images/articles/wsj/2006/07/12/30074.jpg

If you'd believe it there was a huge outcry against the proposal from area res. I find it hard to believe, but I guess 4 or 3 stories is just to much for madison residents to handle...Luckally the project made it through.

I think the opposition to the Sequoya Commons project is from long-term residents who don't want the change in their neighborhood. I don't know if they're worried about increased traffic or more noise in the neighborhood, but that has already happened. It's best to fill in underused areas in the city than watch it pop up somewhere distant while what remains starts to fail. This kind of rejuvenation is vital to a city's well-being.

:bash:

I think the project looks great and it's fantastic that the library is included in the mix.

A new 12-story boutique hotel (http://www.madison.com/tct/business/index.php?ntid=131033#) is going up by Hilldale:

http://www.madison.com/images/articles/tct/2007/04/25/44040.jpg

A new 12-story boutique hotel (http://www.madison.com/tct/business/index.php?ntid=131033#) is going up by Hilldale:

http://www.madison.com/images/articles/tct/2007/04/25/44040.jpg

It's unusual in that there are no objections... yet.

http://www.madison.com/images/articles/tct/2007/04/25/44043.jpg

Nice to see some updates on there. The Midvale plaza looks nice, it's too bad the landowner basically kicked out Bergmann's Pharmacy though because it was a nice local neighborhood store also it was funny that they repainted the facade of midvale plaza after the project was approved.

Also, that developer of the Hilldale area certainly has a lot of plans. Westin Place, that other high-rise condo proposal and now this hotel.

we haven't really had any pics of university square....http://www.brownhousedesigns.com/USQ.html
http://www.news.wisc.edu/news/images/sketch1.jpg
http://www.news.wisc.edu/news/images/sketch4.jpg

Also, that developer of the Hilldale area certainly has a lot of plans. Westin Place, that other high-rise condo proposal and now this hotel.

I'm not sure if I entirely understand what you're saying, but to clarify just in case; Weston Place was developed by Peter Frautschi, a Madison native. Hilldale is owned by Joseph Freed and Associates out of Chicago.

Are those old renderings of University Square? I thought it was redesigned.

Yes...they are very old, but that's still what they have posted on the UW website...the link here http://www.brownhousedesigns.com/USQ.html has a live project cam for the development.

Also here's an interesting article about university square...more students are able to live the luxury lifestyle that University Square will offer it's student residents.

Upscale Campus Housing Attracts More Students
Kendl Friedman knows she's enjoying a lavish lifestyle, at least by college standards.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison freshman has a big bedroom, a private fitness room and even the availability of a personal trainer at her home at the University House Statesider, 505 N. Frances St.

From this experience, she's become a discerning shopper. Although the Bethesda, Md., native will live in a sorority house next year, Friedman is planning for 2008. She's put down a $100 deposit for a spot in the new condo-style luxury Lucky Apartments going up as part of the redevelopment of University Square, 777 University Ave...

...Although cranes soar over skeletal structures on the University Avenue construction site, 20 percent of the apartments set to open in August 2008 are already spoken for, Watson said...
http://www.madison.com/archives/read.php?ref=/tct/2007/04/27/0704270232.php
yuppies:ohno: lol

Oh i did not know that Jason. I thought all of those projects were from the Chicago developer.

The new Deer Park Buddhist Temple for the Monastery is really rising up quickly.
http://www.deerparkcenter.org/nt_1_8_07/index.html

And California didn't have his holiness do this:

"The (first) temple was initially built as an open pavilion for the Kalachakra initiation given by H. H. the Dalai Lama in 1981--the first such initiation bestowed in the West."
Deer Park URL: http://www.deerparkcenter.org/

Madison has one of the largest populations of Tibetans in the U.S. = one restaurant, and two retail stores in downtown MAD.
And his Comic-ness is back to take a peek this May (?) 2007.

The Consul of China in Chicago sent a letter to the mayor of Madison requesting that the city not put up the Tibetan flag when the Dalai Lama visits (y'know cuz you don't to attract attention to the fact that COMMUNIST China is illegally occupying Tibet and has murdered 1.3 million Tibetans. And that Tibet is a sovereign nation.) But thanks to the cajones of the mayor and common council the Tibetan flag is flying high in front of the city government, buildings in downtown Madison. :lol:

The Dalai Lama is in Madison for three days giving a speech and reciting his teachings as well as visiting the emerging Tibetan temple in Deer Park. According to the architect managing the historic details, much of the wood carvings and details are being done in India, and that this building will be the most authentic, and complete temple in the Western hemisphere.
Tours of the temple are being offered on Saturday.

I'd be willing to bet that if Milwaukee was hosting the Dalai Lama the thought of raising the Tibetan flag over City Hall wouldn't even be under consideration, because the Mayor and Council would be afraid of pissing off the Chinese government, as of course China is supposed to be an emerging market and business partner for area companies.

As you consider where to build a $400-million federal laboratory to conduct research to fight animal and human diseases, you should be aware of the public support for putting the lab in Dane County.

Yes, there is local opposition as well, which was represented in the Dane County Board's vote last week to oppose construction of the lab in the town of Dunn. But the vote was only an expression of board members' early opinions.

There is time to persuade opponents. The overwhelming evidence of the lab's benefits to national health and security, its contributions to the Wisconsin economy and its compatibility with local land use plans make a winning case.

We in Dane County understand that we are competing with 16 other sites in 10 other states to become the home for the lab, known as the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility.

The opposition here is generated, at least in part, by fear of the unknown. At first, opponents feared risks they imagined would be associated with the research the lab will do on high-level animal and human disease and bioterrorism.

But as the opponents have been informed about the safety of the research, the fear has subsided.

Most of our local concern now is based on land use. The Dane County site you are considering, which was proposed by UW-Madison, is in the town of Dunn. Some residents fear the impact of a 500,000-square-foot biological and agricultural lab on the town's rural character, even though the town land use plan permits agricultural labs.

There will be opportunity to ease residents' fears when it comes time to discuss exactly what the lab will look like and what accommodations can be made.

There will also be opportunity to excite the county about the economic benefits the lab offers — 200 to 400 high-paying jobs, the opportunity local research businesses will have to grow by collaborating with the lab, and the potential to make the Madison area the nation's premier location for agricultural and biological research.

So as you prepare to trim the list of potential sites to a few finalists, please consider the advantages that the UW-Madison proposal offers. And understand that most of Dane County would welcome the lab.

i think that this lab would be a great addition to dane county. sure theres risk involved in building this thing, but i think it is very important that we continue to bring jobs to the community

And if there is such a negative reception from those in Dunn Township, maybe they could annex the site to a city that would be a bit more receptive.

<ducks>

Yes, I do consider such 'growth controls' as PDRs, etc, to be ultimately futile against market forces in a fast-growing metro area such as Madison. What is to say that someday the township (or any successor government) might not decide sell those development rights to a developer - and for a tidy, irresistible profit?

Anyways, if Dane County wouldn't want that lab, I'm certain that there would be lots of interest up here in the Appleton area.

;)

Mike

Here's some pictures of construction projects. These are all on campus but I'll try to get over to Capital West and some of the non university projects.

The new Ogg Hall looks just about done.
http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/3504/hpim2233xp2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Here's the Grianger Hall Addition
http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/143/hpim2234po1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
A church being turned into student housing
http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/4647/hpim2237om5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
And now a few of University Square
http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/9109/hpim2242fw1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/9005/hpim2246oi0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/2296/hpim2249ia3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Metropolitan Place II looks just about finished
http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/1738/hpim2319vx0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

The Main project of Capital West is moving along again
http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/3893/hpim2311vv5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/760/hpim2314fd8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Yes...they are very old, but that's still what they have posted on the UW website...the link here http://www.brownhousedesigns.com/USQ.html has a live project cam for the development.

Also here's an interesting article about university square...more students are able to live the luxury lifestyle that University Square will offer it's student residents.


http://www.madison.com/archives/read.php?ref=/tct/2007/04/27/0704270232.php
yuppies:ohno: lol

Coasties, not yuppies.

And really nice pics, Attain.

I don't want to sound like I'm dumping on Madison here, but I've got to say the Metropolitan Place condo development is one of the blandest, most uninteresting designs I've ever seen. Hopefully Capitol West will be better.

I don't want to sound like I'm dumping on Madison here, but I've got to say the Metropolitan Place condo development is one of the blandest, most uninteresting designs I've ever seen. Hopefully Capitol West will be better.
I'm often in your corner, but I think you swung a bit wildly at Metro. Place. It's a traditionally inspired -- the exterior, at least -- project which evokes a certain kind of big-city pre-war apartment building, and, within the constraints of modern costs, materials and work skills, does a pretty decent job of it. It fits comfortably in and enhances a district which is an orderly and alternating assemblage of old and new, has varied materials and complimentary colors, including a bow to Madison's very handsome sandstone block, and pretty much maintains a good sense of proportion, especially considering its bulk. I guess more Oakland Ave. than Prospect Ave., to make a very rough comparison.
Madison has a different kind of aesthetic vibe than Milwaukee, and perhaps one has to be here in person to appreciate how this building actually tones up its surroundings and respects its neighbors. Capitol West, just across the street but radically different, will probably be able to pull off the same trick.
Now, if you want to experience the opposite effect, (University Square excepted) , the clash and clamor of really bad taste and inept attempts to be unique and different, walk a few blocks over to University Ave. Just make sure your last meal is already well on its way down the digestive tract. Public or private, parking ramp, housing, classroom ,conference space or foundation headquarters, such a collection of turkeys hasn't been seen hereabouts since Hartwig was plucking gobblers.

I'm really starting to dig the Hilldale area. In a few years this place will be dense, or sparse, depending on actual sales, and with a lot of things to do in the area (Great Dane, Sundance 608, Muramoto's, Fleming's, etc.). I could see a need for one more non-food entertainment option, which should probably become more obvious to developers once the big hotel at Hilldale gets underway.

Plan in place for Hilldale condos
By MARV BALOUSEK
608-252-6135
mbalousek@madison.com

The first shovelful of dirt hasn't been turned yet, but grand-opening events are scheduled this week for two condominium towers near Hilldale Shopping Center.

http://www.madison.com/images/articles/wsj/2007/06/13/47067.jpg

More:
http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/biz/index.php?ntid=193032#


A map, or even better, a drawing of everything planned for the area would be, well, neat.

Upon further investigation, there is a map on the Joseph Freed Associates website:

http://www.liveathilldale.com/images/HilldaleSiteMap.jpg

I enjoyed this short interview with the CEO of the Greater Madison Convention and Visitors Bureau....

http://www.madison.com/wsj/mad/business/index.php?ntid=198495

Ironman to me has been one of the most important recent additions of events/conventions we've drawn to the area. It's too bad about losing the Great Outdoor Games, but I think there's bigger puppies out there we could get our hands on. The Dells though, as the article points out, is becoming a scary competitor, and it's just minutes away.

Madison, Wis. - The United States Department of Energy will invest up to $375 million over five years in three new Bioenergy Research Centers, including $125 million for a center led by the University of Wisconsin-Madison, to promote the development of cellulosic ethanol.

The Madison bioenergy research facility, which will be called the DOE Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, will operate in collaboration with Michigan State University and be directed by Timothy Donohue, professor of bacteriology at UW-Madison.

The center, which will focus on plant-drived biomass, is part of the broader Wisconsin Bioenergy Initiative.

The state of Wisconsin will allocate $104 million for the center, including $100 million for a bioenergy building on the Madison campus and $4 for new faculty hires.


Gov. Jim Doyle compared the bioenergy research center to another research facility that is being added to the UW-Madison campus.

"This center will be the centerpiece of our state's efforts to lead the country toward energy independence," Doyle said in a release, "and just like the Institutes for Discovery, this will be an economic engine that will translate new discoveries into high-paying jobs."

Cellulosic accelerators

The centers, which also will be located in Oak Ridge, Tenn. and near Berkeley, Calif., are being created to accelerate basic research in the development of cellulosic ethanol and other biofuels. They will feature multidisciplinary teams of scientists, and collaborations of academic, corporate, and national laboratory researchers.

The funding is part of President Bush's “Twenty in Ten” initiative, which seeks to reduce U.S. gasoline consumption by 20 percent within 10 years through the development of renewable, carbon-neutral energy sources.

Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said in a release that the centers, which were chosen as part of a competitive review process, will provide the “transformational science” needed to make cellulosic ethanol cost competitive with gasoline by 2012.

Cellulosic ethanol would be made from feedstocks other than corn, and biomass material like agricultural residues, grasses, poplar trees, inedible plants, and non-edible portions of crops.

A major focus of the centers will be to re-engineer biological processes to develop more efficient methods for converting the cellulose in plant material into ethanol or other biofuels.

Madison directive

The centers, located in distinct geographic areas, will use different plants for laboratory research and for improving feedstock crops. According to the DOE's Office of Science, the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center will conduct genomics-based research to remove bottlenecks in the biofuels pipeline, upgrade the procedures for processing plant biomass, and improve the biological and chemical processes used to convert biomass into energy.

Donohue said scientists and engineers will be working on new processes to convert plant material into ethanol and other biofuels or electricity. "We have a lot of existing technology that we can improve on and some we can modify or tweak," he said. "In about six to 10 years down the road, there will be a whole new group of technologies that will be developed."

One business collaborator in the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center will be Lucigen Corp. of Middleton. In 2006, Lucigen spun off another company, C5-6 Technologies, to commercialize enzymes that have been found to increase yields in the production of ethanol from corn.

David Mead, president and CEO of Lucigen, and John Biondi, president of C5-6 Technologies, said the two sister companies will basically take the same approach to collaborating with the research center that they do in the private sector. Lucigen will develop the gene cloning tools used to discover new types of enzymes from previously inaccessible sources, such as the extreme heat of hot springs, and C5-6 will screen for enzymes that break down biomass into simple sugars that can be fermented into ethanol.

The federal funding for the bioenergy research center "is a pretty exciting development," Biondi said. "We're thankful to be part of it with the university."


One of only three bioenergy research centers in the U.S.
This will create new spinoff technologies, and businesses
in the Madison region.

Also, surprised it hasn't been posted, but the Madison Light Rail seems to be official now. Middleton to East Towne they say - but I don't see how they can't take it to the airport.

Badgers; Could you give the link to the story. Will this be running on the exisiting track along/near university ave, or a streetcar?

Also, surprised it hasn't been posted, but the Madison Light Rail seems to be official now. Middleton to East Towne they say - but I don't see how they can't take it to the airport.

Because the Middleton -> Sun Prairie line is already there. To connect to the airport would add significant cost.

Nothing is official really. Falk and Dave proposed a hike in sales tax to raise $40 million in order to organize a transit authority office. Once the office exists, they can utilize that sales tax hike to get light rail moving along. We are still a very, very long ways away from seeing rail transit.

Because the Middleton -> Sun Prairie line is already there. To connect to the airport would add significant cost.

Nothing is official really. Falk and Dave proposed a hike in sales tax to raise $40 million in order to organize a transit authority office. Once the office exists, they can utilize that sales tax hike to get light rail moving along. We are still a very, very long ways away from seeing rail transit.
How would/will they reconcile such a transit service on an existing railroad line that, IIRC, is still used for serving 'common carrier' rail freight customers? The FRA has very strict and restrictive rules regarding such dual uses of track.

Mike

How would/will they reconcile such a transit service on an existing railroad line that, IIRC, is still used for serving 'common carrier' rail freight customers? The FRA has very strict and restrictive rules regarding such dual uses of track.

Mike

It would depend on what type of cars they are using. If they are using metra-like cars it would be no problem. However, if they are using genuine streetcar cars, they would only be able to make it work if they restricted the freight to certain times of the day.

Calling it light rail is an overused buzzword, that's probobly leading much of the confusion.

The streetcar proposal was a different proposal, a Mayor Dave pipedream that included streetcars running up and down the middle of E. Washington Ave., and a few select other locations (State St. probably being one), but Dave has more-or-less ended up endorsing anything that can get done. He wants to leave transportation improvements on his legacy, one way or the other. My point is only for conditioning to what Jesse said, that they could, I guess use the same rail by using a specific type of car, which will not be like streetcars.

I'm not sure how active these lines are, or if they are used at all east of downtown, or even how they would juggle that. My office is right next to one on the far east side overlooking the East Towne area (on the way out to Sun Prairie) and it's been years since I've seen a train out here. I know they haul coal and stuff in and out of the MG&E plant downtown. And now that I look at the rail map, there is existing line to the airport that hooks up with the westbound line in the rail corridor between 1st and Blair, so I was wrong there. My buddy who lives near Atwood has trains going through his backyard every day on that line. My familiarity with the Middleton-bound line dwindles dramatically... I avoid the west-side like the plague. I suppose one of those old articles explains it.

There is another line heading south towards Oregon. I wonder if the majority (or all) of the traffic comes in/to from this direction), and there would be little opportunity for conflict. As you can see, I know little about the innerworkings of rail, but I'm trying to help.

http://www.transport2020.net/alts/alt2a.jpg

http://www.transport2020.net/alts/alt2a.jpg

this will get done before anything in Milwaukee, good luck...

I have a Madison question.

Is there a 650-room hotel in downtown Madison that was used to host the Conference of Mayors in the last ten years?

I have a Madison question.

Is there a 650-room hotel in downtown Madison that was used to host the Conference of Mayors in the last ten years?

Not even close. I believe the biggest hotel downtown, the Concourse, has 360 rooms, and the next closes would be the Hilton at 240.

Thanks!

go middleton! :nuts:

Money names Middleton best place to live
Middleton - This small town in the shadow of Madison has its own reason to boast.

Money magazine announced today that Middleton is the "Best Place to Live" in America for 2007, citing its tight-knit community and proximity to the cultural and economic benefits of Madison.

That city, the state capital and roughly 14 times larger than Middleton, was named by Money as the best place to live in 1998.

With a population just over 17,000, Middleton was praised by Money for its small-town charm, booming economy and extensive parks and bike trails.

Many of its residents commute the seven miles to Madison for work, but enjoy the amenities a smaller town brings, Money said.

"Those places tend to do well on these kind of lists," said Money executive editor Craig Matters.

Middleton is also home to Capital Brewery, which revels in Wisconsin's beer heritage and has an expansive beer garden where patrons are encouraged to pack a picnic and stay to watch movies or listen to a band.

The American Girl dollmaker is one of Middleton's largest employers.

Sarah Witter, 37, moved to Middleton from Madison four years ago. She lives in a 105-year-old house near the downtown center with her husband and two young children.

Witter said Middleton has a "comforting, happy feeling" that sets it apart from Madison.

"Everybody is extremely welcoming," Witter said. "I've never lived anywhere in Madison where I've known all my neighbors within a couple months. I always feel like I'm in this 'Leave it to Beaver' world almost."

Money's focus this year in its annual best places to live issue looked at 2,876 places with populations between 7,500 and 50,000.

Middleton was followed by Hanover, N.H., Louisville, Colo., Lake Mary, Fla., Claremont, Calif., Papillion, Neb., Milton, Mass., Chaska, Minn., Nether Providence, Pa., and Suwanee, Ga.

Three other Wisconsin towns also made the top 100: Germantown at No. 30, New Berlin at No. 41 and Franklin at No. 90.

The rankings were based on a series of factors including economic vitality, job availability, safety, residents' health, ethnic and racial diversity, cultural amenities, green space and other economic and quality of life measures.

Good work Middleton! It's representing Wisconsin in a positive way!

I've been to Middleton a thousand times, have friends and family there, and even lived there briefly about 10 years ago, and all I can say is that I just don't get it.

I realize that Wisconsin has big rivalries with Minnesota and Iowa. I also know that Badger success in the football makes the Michigan and Ohio State games huge.

But I personally think something is missing when the Big Ten identified rivals that are always played and rotated the others on the schedule. This is admittedly coming from a Chicagoland perspective, but there was a time not so far back when Northwestern always played Wisconsin. Now I know a huge state school like UW probably doesn't feel as close a relationship with a smaller, private university like NU, but the Badgers and the Wildcats have a long history and many years of the series, the two have been fairly competitive. NU was a regular on the UW schedule even though the Illini were not. I would say from a Wildcat perspective, UW remains one of the biggest rivals on the schedule.

I'm sure that from what I wrote, you can see I'm not suggesting that UW-NU is huge (it's not), but is there any sense in Madison (or in Wisconsin in general) that the UW-NU game should be a regular (and no, I'm not suggesting because it would be a Badger victory).

I'm quoting myself here because when I was in Madison a couple of weeks ago, I saw a new book about UW football that covered all aspects of Badger football. It had a rivalry section that included, in order, Minnesota, Iowa, Northwestern, and Michigan, in that order. Michigan was different from the rest because it wasn't geographic in nature but due to the power of the Wolverines (in an almost AL-sense that makes every team see the Yankees as a rival).

While recognizing that Minnesota and Iowa were #1 and #2, it did put NU in that three way category of being the main geographic rivals (Northwestern being closest in distance) and in mentioning that prior to the protected rival scheduling int he conference, the Badgers and Wildcats played each other every year.

I think there may be a bit more of a UW-NU rivalry than some may realize.

(again...sorry to place this on this thread, but it really is the only place to discuss Madison...which I love..on the board)

Anyone know when the University square development is supposed to be finished? I remember reading about that project back in 2000 or something and was a freshman still. It took that long to get moving, and then all of sudden I visited the city and was like, holy shit, what is that? Looks pretty cool, but the theatre that was there was also pretty cool, Ill miss it.

The theater was indeed cool. Stop by the Sundance cinemas sometime though - very cool! Awesome sound system and superior screens, too. But anyway, that project should finish around next June (2008). It's gigantic; bigger than either of the malls. The first two floors will be retail, the rest will be offices and apartments for the East Coast population.

The first two floors will be retail, the rest will be offices and apartments for the East Coast population.

Haha! Guess those guys grew out of the Towers by now huh? They're taking over the whole campus! Thats scary....

I will definitely check out the Sundance theatres when its all done. Just miss the experience of getting tipsy in that University Square theatre while eating some hotdogs.

I would personally pass on Sundance. It's both overpriced and reeks of arrogance.

It's gigantic; bigger than either of the malls. The first two floors will be retail, the rest will be offices and apartments for the East Coast population.

I hope you're not trying to say it has more retail space than either mall (I presume you are speaking of East and West Towne, because there are several other, smaller malls in town), because it clearly does not. The entire structure will include 1.1 million square feet (http://www.emi-mgmt.com/projects_univsquare.php), while East Towne has 840,000 and West Town has 915,000 (http://www.cblproperties.com/cbl.nsf/cbl_malls). If you're only referring to total space, that's just a weird-ass comparison, like me pointing out the Camp Randall seats more people that East Gate Cinema does. The malls are just malls, not mixed use spaces.

Madison is a backdrop for this indy film coming in 2008 (can't figure out when exactly):
http://youtube.com/watch?v=l9YmGunGKXY

The theater was indeed cool. Stop by the Sundance cinemas sometime though - very cool! Awesome sound system and superior screens, too. But anyway, that project should finish around next June (2008). It's gigantic; bigger than either of the malls. The first two floors will be retail, the rest will be offices and apartments for the East Coast population.

Who started the rumor that Target would locate at University Square?
If Target builds in a downtown area the merchandise doesn't change
to reflect the demographics like Sears does when they locate in a
downtown area like State Street in Chicago or in a hispanic area where they carry different styles and smaller size options for clothing.

The Sundance Cinemas are nice. The lobby use different materials like stained wood and stone it looks like hypersized Starbucks but without
the chainstore feeling or vibe.

I would personally pass on Sundance. It's both overpriced and reeks of arrogance.





Pricey movies, yes, and a somewhat high-end snackbar too, but anyone is welcome to enter and enjoy the very pleasant lobby and public spaces free of charge at any time. I would hardly call that arrogant. (unlike, say, Sam's Club, where you have to pay for, and display a membership card before being immersed in the elegant surroundings of a bare-bones warehouse filled with oversized bargains and often overpriced discontinued factory closeouts). (and no shopping bags either!)

Anyone know when the University square development is supposed to be finished? I remember reading about that project back in 2000 or something and was a freshman still. It took that long to get moving, and then all of sudden I visited the city and was like, holy shit, what is that? Looks pretty cool, but the theatre that was there was also pretty cool, Ill miss it.

I was in Madison this last weekend and drove past the University Square site. It's getting pretty big and it looks like it will be an impressive addition to the campus.

With the impending demise of Ogg Hall pretty soon I won't recognize my alma mater anymore!

I've been to Middleton a thousand times, have friends and family there, and even lived there briefly about 10 years ago, and all I can say is that I just don't get it.

I too have friends and family that live in Middleton, and in fact when I'm in the Madison area I usually spend the night in Middleton.

Considering that Money Magazine this year focused on smaller towns (less than 150K) for it's "Best Places" list I think it makes sense Middleton was named. Compared to other suburbs it's got a lot going for it. It has a recognizable downtown, relatively walkable neighborhoods, and beautiful lakeside parks. And it's like a two minute drive from the UW and downtown Madison.

The place is opressively bland for me, but remember this Money Magazine we're talking about. Diversity and character are hardly at the top of their list when ranking cities.

I was in Madison this last weekend and drove past the University Square site. It's getting pretty big and it looks like it will be an impressive addition to the campus.

With the impending demise of Ogg Hall pretty soon I won't recognize my alma mater anymore!

The only thing I would add is that "University Square" is a private for profit venture not owned by the University of Wisconsin in anyway.

Who started the rumor that Target would locate at University Square?


I've never heard that one. Even though the development as a whole is big and has a grand total of 140,000 square feet of space earmarked for retail, I really wonder if there would even be a single open space within the development large enough to appeal to Target. I imagine Target requires a minimum of say, 90,000 square feet to garner consideration, even when in an urban, multi-level setting.

I found this (http://pressroom.target.com/pr/news/target-stores/fastfacts.aspx):


Formats
Target operates three store formats:

*
General Merchandise stores (P04) are typically one-level, free-standing stores within major community or regional shopping districts. This is our most prevalent store format which is approximately 126,000 square feet in size. Our merchandise offering includes general merchandise and selected grocery products and may also include other amenities such as photo processing services, a pharmacy, a Food Avenue® restaurant and often a Starbucks®.
*
General Merchandise stores (P+) are a somewhat expanded version of our general merchandise store for use in higher traffic trade areas, representing approximately 145,000 square feet in size.
*
SuperTarget stores extend the Target brand beyond fashion and home décor by providing guests with a pleasant and convenient grocery shopping experience in addition to the traditional Target store experience. SuperTarget offers a full grocery line, including a bakery and deli, meat and produce selections. With an average size of 174,000 square feet per store, SuperTarget’s mix of grocery and merchandise delights our guests by offering the convenience of one-stop shopping.

Formats
Target operates three store formats:

*
General Merchandise stores (P04) are typically one-level, free-standing stores within major community or regional shopping districts. This is our most prevalent store format which is approximately 126,000 square feet in size. Our merchandise offering includes general merchandise and selected grocery products and may also include other amenities such as photo processing services, a pharmacy, a Food Avenue® restaurant and often a Starbucks®.
*
General Merchandise stores (P+) are a somewhat expanded version of our general merchandise store for use in higher traffic trade areas, representing approximately 145,000 square feet in size.
*
SuperTarget stores extend the Target brand beyond fashion and home décor by providing guests with a pleasant and convenient grocery shopping experience in addition to the traditional Target store experience. SuperTarget offers a full grocery line, including a bakery and deli, meat and produce selections. With an average size of 174,000 square feet per store, SuperTarget’s mix of grocery and merchandise delights our guests by offering the convenience of one-stop shopping.
I found this (http://pressroom.target.com/pr/news/target-stores/fastfacts.aspx):

Thanks Jason for the research. The "Urban" Target as some people call is a scaled back store than their typical footprint and involves two floors of merchandise space similiar to the flagship store in downtown Minneapolis. I am not aware of the other American downtowns that Target has opened these smaller two storey stores in.

The "upscale" department store "Von Maur" from Des Moines was looking at downtown Madison and the Madison area to
locate a new store in. Now with the stockmarket precipitiously falling, and the devaluation of the dollar I wonder if all the retailers are contemplating
scaling back their expansion plans for 2008.

Thanks Jason for the research. The "Urban" Target as some people call is a scaled back store than their typical footprint and involves two floors of merchandise space similiar to the flagship store in downtown Minneapolis. I am not aware of the other American downtowns that Target has opened these smaller two storey stores in.

The "upscale" department store "Von Maur" from Des Moines was looking at downtown Madison and the Madison area to
locate a new store in. Now with the stockmarket precipitiously falling, and the devaluation of the dollar I wonder if all the retailers are contemplating
scaling back their expansion plans for 2008.

Roosevel & Clark, South Loop, Chicago.

I was the one who started the rumor about Target going in University Square. I looked further into it, and it's not happening (that I know of). I e-mailed one of the women in charge of the development, and she told me Target was looking into at one point. It would be awesome, absolutely. But she said that it wouldn't work out and wasn't going to happen. Hopefully we get SOMETHING similar there, though. Walgreens on State is the only place you can go to for a lot of things, and it's dark, unpleasant, and overpriced.

"University Square" will not bring any unique retail into downtown Madison.

You don't know that. I think it will bring some good things. With as much space as it has, it is bound to.

Downtown madison is such a limited area, that I think the urban planners there need to be extremely careful about what they approve. The area is essentially that land corridor between the two lakes, and it doesn't leave much room for expansion, especially with the UW taking up so much space.

I think one viable option would be high rise development, but the city and state is very opposed to that, which I think is rediculous. if its stifling economic growth in madison, why in the world would they keep doing it? the capital would still be there, and it would certainly still be visible.

Downtown madison is such a limited area, that I think the urban planners there need to be extremely careful about what they approve. The area is essentially that land corridor between the two lakes, and it doesn't leave much room for expansion, especially with the UW taking up so much space.

I think one viable option would be high rise development, but the city and state is very opposed to that, which I think is rediculous. if its stifling economic growth in madison, why in the world would they keep doing it? the capital would still be there, and it would certainly still be visible.

You mean it's an "isthmus"? No way.

The state has little (or nothing) to do with Madison's old height restrictions, it was strictly municipal. And actually, those restrictions have been relaxed. The East Washington corridor for example allows for development of properties in excess of 20 floors, which was previously hard for the planning commission and city council to swallow. However, nobody in Madison is willing to pony up for that kind of development right now. So any height-restriction ordinance is of little consequence anyway.

Downtown madison is such a limited area, that I think the urban planners there need to be extremely careful about what they approve. The area is essentially that land corridor between the two lakes, and it doesn't leave much room for expansion, especially with the UW taking up so much space.

I think one viable option would be high rise development, but the city and state is very opposed to that, which I think is rediculous. if its stifling economic growth in madison, why in the world would they keep doing it? the capital would still be there, and it would certainly still be visible.

Height restrictions are for those structures within a mile of the Capital.
East Washington Avenue for example, was the site for a large complex proposed by Curtis Brink with several residential, and office structures over 20 stories and his development was rejected by the city, the neighborhood and the FAA. Each group had their reasons neighbors were concerned with the scale of the development and how it dwarfed the current neighborhood structures. The FAA didn't want Brink's behemoths in the flight path.

I've said it a million times and I'll say it a million more. Brink is a clown. The guy owns a bar and a small apartment building. He is hardly a "player". The biggest players in Madison by far include McGrath, Alexander, and Frautschi. Nobody else holds a candle to this group, including Brink. His vision was nothing more than a pipe dream, and everyone on the council knew it. It was rejected on technicalities, but it was simply just laughed off the floor. If anything, maybe the guy deserves a little credit for "opening eyes" that maybe, just maybe this is a big city we live and it has these kinds of requirements. The bad news is that it's not, and it doesn't. There is no requirement for a development of that size in this city, and all of the real developers in town already know that. That's the real reason we don't see more high-rise developments, not because of some scapegoat height restriction that ultimately moves over for the approval process or is only utilized as the excuse when something doesn't make enough sense to pass through. Developers can't justify the cost of doing more, as this city has pretty much everything it needs sans efficient transit and a 500-room hotel. Union Corners has come to a screeching halt and interesting project like the redevelopment of the Don Miller property have died more in part due to a lack of interest and money than what they city council has turned away. I'm so tired of hearing the blame put on ordinances and processes, and I used to do it too, but it's just plain propaganda to blind Madisonians of the blatant truth that this city is not that in need.

At least downtown, Steve Brown seems to be a big player. He owns quite a bit of student housing.

Brink is also in charge of the project that is (eventually?) going up on the Casa Bianca lot. It was supposed to be under construction now, but it is of course going through a bunch of Madison red tape. I do want a redesign though.

I kid you not, 2 days ago after visiting my mom I drove by and told my wife that it was a shame that this place was vacant, and had to be considered pretty prime real estate for a nice development. I grew up a few blocks from the location. Today this was posted in the paper:


Urban Solutions will buy Royster Clark site
By Nathan Leaf
608-252-6126
nleaf@madison.com

After sitting dormant for more than a year, the site of the former Royster Clark fertilizer plant on Madison 's East Side could be humming with activity again soon. But don 't expect to find workers sweating over machinery.

It 's likely the Madison company buying the land will convert the 27-acre site into a mixed-use development.

More:
http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/biz/220314

I've said it a million times and I'll say it a million more. Brink is a clown. The guy owns a bar and a small apartment building. He is hardly a "player". The biggest players in Madison by far include McGrath, Alexander, and Frautschi. Nobody else holds a candle to this group, including Brink. His vision was nothing more than a pipe dream, and everyone on the council knew it. It was rejected on technicalities, but it was simply just laughed off the floor. If anything, maybe the guy deserves a little credit for "opening eyes" that maybe, just maybe this is a big city we live and it has these kinds of requirements. The bad news is that it's not, and it doesn't. There is no requirement for a development of that size in this city, and all of the real developers in town already know that. That's the real reason we don't see more high-rise developments, not because of some scapegoat height restriction that ultimately moves over for the approval process or is only utilized as the excuse when something doesn't make enough sense to pass through. Developers can't justify the cost of doing more, as this city has pretty much everything it needs sans efficient transit and a 500-room hotel. Union Corners has come to a screeching halt and interesting project like the redevelopment of the Don Miller property have died more in part due to a lack of interest and money than what they city council has turned away. I'm so tired of hearing the blame put on ordinances and processes, and I used to do it too, but it's just plain propaganda to blind Madisonians of the blatant truth that this city is not that in need.

im just wonderin, in ur guys oppinion, when will madison be able to support some of these larger developments. madison is projected to continue to grow, and seems like its only a matter of time before more of these largers projects come along

Height restrictions are for those structures within a mile of the Capital.
East Washington Avenue for example, was the site for a large complex proposed by Curtis Brink with several residential, and office structures over 20 stories and his development was rejected by the city, the neighborhood and the FAA. Each group had their reasons neighbors were concerned with the scale of the development and how it dwarfed the current neighborhood structures. The FAA didn't want Brink's behemoths in the flight path.

for the FAA I can see why. I fly into madison a lot and taking off there usually takes you right over the area Brink proposed. further west I can see more potential.

I was reading that a big, 14-story, 160+ unit student apartment complex may go on the corner of W. Johnson and Mills (by the glassy Chemistry building).

Also, what is that tall building that you can always see looming over the student section in Camp Randall? Every time I drive by the dilapitated engineering area (which will soon be transformed thanks to the new union south and WID), it makes me want to throw up. That NEEDS to come down.

Also, don't count a department store out of the Square yet.

http://www.madisonmagazine.com/article.php?section_id=918&xstate=view_story&story_id=231920

Seems like they are still trying to get a department store in there. A department store downtown, I think, would be awesome and help a lot. There is so much stuff as a student without a car that you just can't get downtown.

I was reading that a big, 14-story, 160+ unit student apartment complex may go on the corner of W. Johnson and Mills (by the glassy Chemistry building).

Also, what is that tall building that you can always see looming over the student section in Camp Randall? Every time I drive by the dilapitated engineering area (which will soon be transformed thanks to the new union south and WID), it makes me want to throw up. That NEEDS to come down.

Also, don't count a department store out of the Square yet.

http://www.madisonmagazine.com/article.php?section_id=918&xstate=view_story&story_id=231920

Seems like they are still trying to get a department store in there. A department store downtown, I think, would be awesome and help a lot. There is so much stuff as a student without a car that you just can't get downtown.
It's the Engineering Research Building. Not pretty

I worked at Erdman very briefly in the late-90s, so I'm familiar with the property. That and having driven by it thousands of times. There won't be any high-rises by any means, but it could make for an interesting piece.


Erdman eyes project for Irish Waters property
Mike Ivey - 9/08/2007 9:21 am

Erdman Real Estate Holdings is buying the former Irish Waters pub on Madison's west side and eventually plans to develop a signature project it hopes will rival Middleton Hills in its impact.

More:
http://www.madison.com/tct/business/227392


Location:
http://www.terraserver.com/view.asp?cx=298969&cy=4772281&proj=32616&mpp=0.75&pic=img&prov=gx19&stac=1541

http://s97833625.onlinehome.us/erdman.jpg

Hilldale hotel, condo plans changed
Barry Adams
badams@madison.com
Even the plans are changing at Hilldale Shopping Center.

Joseph Freed & Associates, which bought the shopping center in 2004, said Wednesday that it would delay the construction of the nine-story, Centric MetroLofts and replace the 90-unit condominium building with the six-story, 150-room Hotel Indigo.

The new location for the boutique hotel, originally planned for eight stories, moves it along University Avenue instead of being connected to the west side of the shopping center. Officials hope to open the hotel in the first quarter of 2009.

...

The change does not affect The Heights, an 11-story, 112-unit condominium building that is planned to front University Avenue, or the 55,000-square-foot Whole Foods planned for the corner of University Avenue and Segoe Road.

In it's entirety:
http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/biz/239753


and so...


Hilldale next: Second phase brings hotel, condos, Whole Foods
Lynn Welch — 9/12/2007 11:59 am
Goodbye Peking Palace. Hello Hotel Indigo.

The next phase of development of the Hilldale Shopping Center kicked off today, with the start of deconstruction of the former Hilldale Theatre, Peking Palace restaurant and three former Humana office buildings.

More:
http://www.madison.com/tct/business/239058


My beef? Not that one of the buildings shrunk, but that we STILL won't have a 500-room hotel in Madison.

Where is Segoe road? Is it the street after Midvale? Also, it seems as if there is going to be a Sentry, a Whole foods, and a Copps all within a stone's throw of one another.

I think it was a good idea to move the hotel on University Ave. myself.

Where is Segoe road? Is it the street after Midvale? Also, it seems as if there is going to be a Sentry, a Whole foods, and a Copps all within a stone's throw of one another.

I think it was a good idea to move the hotel on University Ave. myself.

They already are all right next to eachother. Whole Foods is only moving (and expanding) a couple of blocks.

New Athletic Facilities Master Plan Proposal

The Athletic Department has recently embarked upon a facility master planning process. More details on the priorities listed below will be available upon conclusion of the master plan in Fall 2007.



University Ridge Golf Course Expansion- $3,500,000
Proposed Construction Date: 2008
This project calls for the construction of an indoor hitting and practice area with digital video recording capabilities, practice stations for hitting full shots into a practice net or pitch shots onto a green, and a pitching and putting green with a playing surface that would simulate play characteristics of real grass and practice bunkers. Such a facility would rank among the best indoor collegiate instructional facilities in the country and provide an exclusive and convenient instructional area for our men’s and women’s golfers to train throughout the year.

Plans also include the expansion of the current clubhouse and construction of team locker rooms, meeting rooms and office space. At present, there is no such facility available to the UW golf teams. Additionally, the dining room will be expanded and a full-service kitchen added in an effort to better attract and service intercollegiate, interscholastic and external golf tournaments and golf outings.



Hockey Facility- $20,000,000
Proposed Construction Date: 2009
This project calls for the construction of an on-campus practice facility for the men’s hockey program and an on-campus competition facility for women’s hockey.



Student-Athlete Support Services Facility- $35,000,000
Proposed Construction Date: 2009
This project includes the construction of a multi-purpose facility to provide academic, sports medicine and strength and conditioning support services. Expanded team locker rooms and meeting space area also part of the plans. The current support facilities do not accommodate the needs of Wisconsin’s 750 student-athletes.



Outdoor Tennis Stadium- $1,500,000
Proposed Construction Date: 2011
Plans call for the construction of additional outdoor tennis courts in an effort to better serve our men’s and women’s tennis teams as well as host conference and NCAA championships. Plans also include the construction of team locker rooms, meeting rooms and office space. At present, there is no such space available to the UW tennis teams at Nielsen Tennis Stadium.



Indoor Track- $5,000,000
Proposed Construction Date: 2012
Plans call for the construction of banked indoor track with permanent grandstand seating.



Soccer/Track Stadium- $10,000,000
Proposed Construction Date: 2016
The track/soccer stadium must be relocated as a result of the campus master plan. Plans call for the construction of separate stadiums for track and soccer. This project will include the construction of one multipurpose building to serve four intercollegiate varsity teams – men’s and women’s track and field and men’s and women’s soccer – and to provide permanent grandstand seating. The building will house locker facilities, training room, meeting room, player's lounge, press box, concession area and restrooms.

Final design for the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery was unveiled yesterday. It is smaller than I want (Phase 2 will take up the lot behind the building, but it isn't a sure thing yet), but it is still a HUGE improvement over what is there, and will improve the areas in other ways too (on top of the new Union South)

Check out the pictures here:

http://www.ballinger-ae.com/WIDMIR/design_images_PF.html#

Thank you John Morgridge!

Final design for the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery was unveiled yesterday. It is smaller than I want (Phase 2 will take up the lot behind the building, but it isn't a sure thing yet), but it is still a HUGE improvement over what is there, and will improve the areas in other ways too (on top of the new Union South)

Check out the pictures here:

http://www.ballinger-ae.com/WIDMIR/design_images_PF.html#

Thank you John Morgridge!

This interior rendering was in today's Journal Sentinel (Milwaukee):
http://graphics.jsonline.com/graphics/bym/img/oct07/discover2100207.jpg

Hello,

I'm curious if any of you have an opinion of T. Wall Properties. Seems they may be in line to get a planning option for a MAJOR piece of Downtown Green Bay (the Port Plaza mall site).

Projects list on their website (http://www.twallproperties.com) include:

Downtown Fitchburg
East Prairie Commons
City Center West
Tribeca Village

Seems like a bunch more office parks and such, and a lot more proposals than completed projects. Anyway, thanks for any input.

Hello,

I'm curious if any of you have an opinion of T. Wall Properties. Seems they may be in line to get a planning option for a MAJOR piece of Downtown Green Bay (the Port Plaza mall site).

Projects list on their website (http://www.twallproperties.com) include:

Downtown Fitchburg
East Prairie Commons
City Center West
Tribeca Village

Seems like a bunch more office parks and such, and a lot more proposals than completed projects. Anyway, thanks for any input.

I'm sitting in a T. Wall building on the east side of Madison. If you're interested in getting inside his head a little bit, he wears his opinions and emotions on his sleeves, and has a column in InBusiness magazine. Here's his latest installation: http://www.inbusinessmagazine.com/commentary.jsp?id=27984

^^ Thanks! I'll take a look at that. What are your opinions on the quality of the building/development you work in? Quality stuff?

^^ Thanks! I'll take a look at that. What are your opinions on the quality of the building/development you work in? Quality stuff?

My building, not really. It's just an average building in an average office park. I think his more recent stuff is more multi-purpose and green.

Just a little anecdote here, I was in Madison this past weekend, and noticed how much more developed the downtown area is becoming. Especially going east down University avenue, with the new University square, the dorms on the right, and metropolitan place and alexanders’ capital west farther down. All the new apartments, like Pallisades and equinox, also really contribute to the density and streetlife on this stretch. It is crazy how much the area has changed the last 6-7 years or so, or even since the Monona Terrace. Now if only they could start working on the east side of the capital!

Oh dear...

Neighbors' blood boils over proposed high rise on Old University

Mike Ivey — 10/24/2007 1:44 pm

A battle is brewing along Old University Avenue, where one of Madison's leading real estate families is pushing the envelope on tall buildings in an established neighborhood.

The Mullins Development Group is pursuing a high-rise apartment complex at Campus Drive and Highland Avenue, across from the Best Western Inntowner hotel. It would be aimed at professionals, students and staff at the nearby hospitals, potentially including a future transit station for trains or buses.

The project would consume the entire triangular-shaped 2500 block of University Avenue. Lombardino's restaurant would stay, but the balance of the block would be razed.

Preliminary plans call for a single building with street-level retail and four levels of parking, one below ground. The apartments would start at level four, rising over 150 feet high and offering views of Lake Mendota and the west campus.

More:
http://www.madison.com/tct/news/stories/252953

http://www.madison.com/images/articles/tct/2007/10/24/54997.jpg

If you are familiar with the UW Hospital and it's facilities, you know that there are thousands upon thousands of people working in this area with very, very little high-density residential in the area. Doctors (whom I know many of personally) are snatching up mediocre housing on the near west side for ridiculous sums to be near the complex.

The Business School just got an 85.5 million dollar donation from a number of people, including John Morgridge who seems to never stop giving his billions away to the school. We were a highly ranked business school anyway, but this should help since our business school needs absolutely no upgrades construction-wise since the Grainger expansion was just completed on separate funds. This money will all be used on attracting the best professors, etc.

More good news about our school:

UW-Madison has moved up to the 2nd biggest research institution in the US and THE biggest public school, behind only John Hopkins U. They were previously behind Michigan, which is now 4th.

That is really amazing and cannot be understated. UW-Madison is the 2nd biggest research institution in the US and probably the biggest public research institution in the entire world. 905 million dollars... wheeeew!

Another potentially huge stem-cell breakthrough for Wisconsin.

Patent it!

http://www.madison.com/tct/news/stories/257875

MON., DEC 3, 2007 - 8:50 AM
Panel will consider proposed high-rise near UW-Madison
Judy Newman
608-252-6156
jdnewman@madison.com
A proposal for a new high-rise apartment building near the UW-Madison campus is up for an important hearing tonight and the big question is likely to be the fate of two historic buildings, each more than a century old, that stand in its way.

full story http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/local/index.php?ntid=259972&ntpid=1

^ Approved. They found a place for the Conklin house. Read about it. (http://www.madison.com/tct/business/262771)

What do you think of the exterior renderings for the Hotel Indigo being built
near the Hilldale Mall? Go to the Hotel Indigo web site and look at their
hotel in Nashville's West End. You will see photos of that Nashville
hotel's lobby very contemporary looking and likely to be what the Madison
hotel's interior will resemble.

What do you folks think of the Grandview Commons (http://www.veridianhomes.com/neighborhood_detail.php?neighID=4)? From what I've seen, it appears to be one of the biggest (if not the biggest) new urbanism developments in the state.

http://www.arashakbar.com/scrap/Grandview.jpg

Anyway, as it turns out I might end up accepting a job in Sun Prairie, and am looking at this neighborhood; particularly the Grandview Townhomes (http://www.condosatgrandview.com/). From what I can tell it appears a good chunk of the neighborhood is completed, and there seems to have been a good number of urban attributes added to this area. (Small lot sizes, mixed use, mixed income, narrow streets, wide sidewalks, parks, garages in rear, etc).

Do any of you have any experiences or know much about this neighborhood and the developer?

I personally dislike jumping over needed infill development for these "new urbanism" developments, but if you dig it, more power to you. However, you might want to take a peak at a real infill/urban development that is actually IN Sun Prairie, Cannery Square (http://www.cannerysquare.com/) (downtown Sun Prairie nonetheless). There are townhomes available, and you are within walking distance to many amenities, which is not really so at the Grandview development.

Seeing you're an IT analyst, and you're gonna take a job in SP, my guess is General Casualty. Any accuracy in that?

In my opinion the New Urbanist developments like this one are purely cosmetic. If you live on the edge of town you are going to drive your car. Period. To me it's a glorified subdivision. A step in the right direction, to be sure, but I'd be surprised if this development actually leads anyone to curtail their driving. If anything, it encourages more driving because it's yet another development at the edge of town far removed from employment and retail closer into the city.

There's another New Urbanist development in Middleton called "Middleton Hills." I have family nearby, they shop at the grocery store there, and I can honestly say I have never once seen a soul walking to that grocery store.

And there are no grocery stores, or any retail at all at Grandview, just a crappy trendy restaurant, a bank or two, and a dentist office... so far.

Edit: Funny, after looking at the website again. Check this:
Shopping
10 minutes from East Towne Mall
22 minutes from West Towne Mall

Hospitals
17 minutes from Meriter Hospital
17 minutes from St. Mary's Hospital

Airport
12 minutes from Dane Country Regional Airport


I don't care what mapquest says... I've lived in the Madison area for 30 years, and none of those drive times are possible in 99% of all conditions and times of day.

yeah if that's in sun prarie then you're practically at east towne when you get to the interstate. I've heard of 15 minutes from east towne and west towne but that was late at need and speeding. Also to get down east wash to downtown in 7 minutes you'd have to make every single stoplight which i'm quite sure is impossible

as long as i just posted here it appears that the capital-west project on west washington is coming along pretty quickly

http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/1320/hpim3662zn9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

...

Seeing you're an IT analyst, and you're gonna take a job in SP, my guess is General Casualty. Any accuracy in that?

Spot on!! I take it GC is known in the SP area for having a huge IT presence?

I kind of shrugged away from actually living in Sun Prairie because I wanted to live IN Madison, which this new development is a part of. It would be great to live so close to work though in a similar quality neighborhood.

I would move to downtown Madison in a heartbeat, but I am priced way out of any decent 2 bedrooms downtown at this time. My realtor is going to do some more digging for me though, so we’ll see.

In my opinion the New Urbanist developments like this one are purely cosmetic. If you live on the edge of town you are going to drive your car. Period. To me it's a glorified subdivision. A step in the right direction, to be sure, but I'd be surprised if this development actually leads anyone to curtail their driving. If anything, it encourages more driving because it's yet another development at the edge of town far removed from employment and retail closer into the city.
...


I agree.

However in a city growing as fast as Madison is, new developments along the outskirts are a necessity. Why not encourage quality ones like this one? I was doing some quick math using the following figures:

Total area of this development: Roughly 0.33 sq. Mi

Total Residential units upon completion: 1,800

People per unit: Conservative estimate of 2. (I think its actually closer to 2.4 in the US, but lets take vacant units and other possible factors into consideration.)

This means the residential density alone of this piece of land will be 10,910 ppl/sq mile. Very few other established neighborhoods in Madison can come close to this. Add to that the same land also includes mixed-use units, several parks (including a very large one), retail components, and general quality urban planning practices (mixed-income, wide sidewalks, narrow streets, community centers/attractions, garages in back alleys, variety of styles) and this is quite an impressive development. Given my price range limitations, I would much rather support this type of development than any of the other typical subdivision crap.

I read somewhere that of the 20+ current developments by this developer, Grandview Commons has been their fastest seller. This developement's success could really shape the future of outskirt development in Madison, and hopefully the rest of the state.

I personally dislike jumping over needed infill development for these "new urbanism" developments, but if you dig it, more power to you. However, you might want to take a peak at a real infill/urban development that is actually IN Sun Prairie, Cannery Square (http://www.cannerysquare.com/) (downtown Sun Prairie nonetheless). There are townhomes available, and you are within walking distance to many amenities, which is not really so at the Grandview development.

Wow, that is a great development. I've never been to Sun Prairie, so I'm curious as to what's currently there. And if it's in fact nothing, how did a chunk of land that large end up downtown?

Spot on!! I take it GC is known in the SP area for having a huge IT presence?

Not necessarily. It's just the only company in Sun Prairie with a presence at all. It is by far its largest employer. Then there's Washington Mills (was Wisconsin Porcelain), a Famous Footwear distributorship, and Wisconsin Cheesmen.

American Family is about a mile from the Sun Prairie city line and employs more people in IT than GC employs in total. Most people I know living in SP that work in IT are at AmFam (not me though).

Wow, that is a great development. I've never been to Sun Prairie, so I'm curious as to what's currently there. And if it's in fact nothing, how did a chunk of land that large end up downtown?

It used to be a large cannery (fruits and veggies). Hence the name. It was Dole, then Chaquita, I believe, or the other way around. Most of it was torn down, some of it was revitalized, like the building the Cannery Grill is located in. Within a 5-10 minute walk there are 8-10 restaurants and dozens of other businesses (downtown Sun Prairie business listing (http://www.downtownsunprairie.com/listings.html)). If it isn't enough, Cannery Square is off Main Street, which on the other end is where the major retail hub (Pick N' Save, Wal Mart, etc.) in Sun Prairie is, and is only about 2 miles away.

I encourage you to look at it before committing to anything else.

I've been looking at the website since you sent me the link. I know Sun Prairie is the second fastest growing city in Wisconsin (right behind Madison), but is developement in downtown Sun Prairie keeping pace? Other than this particular developement, are there other signs of life downtown? I don't really want to feel like I'm living in some small townish kind of place (especially since this will be my first home) and I'm afraid that would be the case in downtown SP.

BTW, General Casualty was recently bought out by QBE regional, which is now the name it carries. This is good news for Madison because QBE Regional (http://www.qberegional.com/) is also headquartered in Sun Prairie, and owns several other insurance companies including Unigard (http://www.unigard.com/) over on the West Coast. I believe it has coverage in over 30 states.

I've been looking at the website since you sent me the link. I know Sun Prairie is the second fastest growing city in Wisconsin (right behind Madison), but is developement in downtown Sun Prairie keeping pace? Other than this particular developement, are there other signs of life downtown? I don't really want to feel like I'm living in some small townish kind of place (especially since this will be my first home) and I'm afraid that would be the case in downtown SP.

BTW, General Casualty was recently bought out by QBE regional, which is now the name it carries. This is good news for Madison because QBE Regional (http://www.qberegional.com/) is also headquartered in Sun Prairie, and owns several other insurance companies including Unigard (http://www.unigard.com/) over on the West Coast. I believe it has coverage in over 30 states.

Sun Prairie continues to receive new development (that actually includes tenants), but not particularly in the downtown area. The next big wave is hitting across Hwy 19 from GC (QBE - name not catching on yet in SP) where they are implementing their Westside Plan (http://cityofsunprairie.com/docs/sub.php?sub_id=2135). I reside about a half mile from the heart of this. The growth, though not targeted downtown, will still benefit downtown SP though, because of the effort planners are making to keep downtown relevant. Which is why I'm convinced it always will be. I'm not sure how well they are catching on, but newer events/festivals held in the area were strategically placed there for that reason, and Sun Prairie's existing best draws for entertainment are already also based in the area, including Angell Park (Corn fest and midget races), and the highschool (football fridays, etc.). And, IMO, pretty much all of the best eateries are right there (Cannery Grille, Market Street Diner by the Food Fight group, etc). Your access to all of the best amenities on the east side of Madison are extremely accessible too.

Whether or not you're going to feel like you're still in a small town is dependent on you, but I can't imagine it's any less urban than living in one of those "new urban" developments on the outskirts of Madison. Sun Prairie by the way, is more or less a part of Madison now. There used to be some division, but that barrier has been broken down.

I feel like a Sun Prairie salesman now. I have no kind of agenda to sell you on it, it's just straight from my personal experiences after living in Madison for 23 years and in Sun Prairie now for 7.

Approval sought for revised hotel plan (http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/local/index.php?ntid=267092&ntpid=3)

Patricia Simms
Wisconsin State Journal
608-252-6492
psimms@madison.com

After two-and-a-half years, four proposals and 44 meetings, veteran Madison architect Bob Sieger has almost given up on building anything on the corner of Regent and Monroe streets.

Lofts. Condos. A hotel. A smaller hotel. No matter what he proposes for 1501-09 Monroe St., Sieger says, a small group of opponents in the Vilas Neighborhood Association will shoot it down. "I 've got the feeling I could build a park here, and it wouldn 't be good enough," Sieger said.

So far, the Madison Plan Commission has rejected four of Sieger 's plans for the site because of complaints from neighbors, the last decision on Dec. 17 citing concerns his hotel would hurt the neighborhood.

Still, he's going to try again this month, bringing the Plan Commission a plan for a four-story hotel with a modest penthouse and paying another $500 application fee.

In some ways, the dispute is simple. Sieger's proposed hotel meets zoning regulations, city planner Tim Parks said, but Sieger needs a demolition permit to take down the 16,000-square-foot building that's there, empty of tenants except for Sieger.

The Plan Commission has to approve the demolition permit, and members can consider the building's proposed use and its effect on the neighborhood as a factor in the decision.

So far, the Plan Commission hasn't blessed Sieger's project.

Parks said planning staff felt that a hotel was appropriate for the property if the commission didn 't have a problem with the height. But "the Plan Commission disagreed that hotels were appropriate and clearly expressed their concerns about the height in their action on Dec. 17," Parks said.

Neighbors also worry about the effect of a hotel on traffic and partying. "There are continuing problems with liquor abuse, noise, and unruly behavior associated with football games that adversely affect the neighbors around the intersection of Monroe and Regent Streets," said Daryl Sherman, president of the Dudgeon Monroe Neighborhood Association.

Sherman said the hotel would have a ground-floor bar that opens onto the street and extremely large balconies on the second floor. "Will this be a hotel or a noisy residential bar on football Saturdays?" he said. "Our game day problems could be made worse by this plan."

Continued... (http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/local/index.php?ntid=267092&ntpid=3)

Madison's "Historic" Capitol Square:
http://www.madison.com/wsj/projects/landmarks/index.html

I personally dislike jumping over needed infill development for these "new urbanism" developments, but if you dig it, more power to you. However, you might want to take a peak at a real infill/urban development that is actually IN Sun Prairie, Cannery Square (http://www.cannerysquare.com/) (downtown Sun Prairie nonetheless). There are townhomes available, and you are within walking distance to many amenities, which is not really so at the Grandview development.


Well, after careful analysis I took the bait and bought a condo in Cannery Square in downtown Sun Prairie. Of course I would have loved to buy in the isthmus area, but appeared to be priced way out of there at this point. Plus with my job also in SP, this seemed like a good compromise.

I like the downtown SP environment, and the fact that it seems to be on a major upswing. Hopefully SP's growing population will continue to fuel more retail and additional development in downtown SP (as well as appreciate my condo). It seems like there are plenty of old mechanical shops and warehouses that can come down in the area in order to add more developable upscale space in the area.

Have any of you been to downtown Sun Prairie recently, and if so, would you tend to agree with my observations?

Well, after careful analysis I took the bait and bought a condo in Cannery Square in downtown Sun Prairie. Of course I would have loved to buy in the isthmus area, but appeared to be priced way out of there at this point. Plus with my job also in SP, this seemed like a good compromise.

I like the downtown SP environment, and the fact that it seems to be on a major upswing. Hopefully SP's growing population will continue to fuel more retail and additional development in downtown SP (as well as appreciate my condo). It seems like there are plenty of old mechanical shops and warehouses that can come down in the area in order to add more developable upscale space in the area.

Have any of you been to downtown Sun Prairie recently, and if so, would you tend to agree with my observations?

Congratulations.

I do agree. I live in SP, just not downtown.

As long as SP retains its city planner (Scott Kugler), positive developments will continue. The old industrial spaces behind your new place that haven't already been renovated are replaced, will be, eventually, as they roughly sit between you and where the new highschool will be going. That land will only continue increase in demand.

Metropolitan Place has hundreds of condos and has been a part of downtown Madison for years.

However, in the past two weeks, two banks have filed mortgage foreclosure court actions against Metropolitan Place and the manager, Clifford Fisher, WISC-TV reported.

The documents, filed on Jan. 29 in Dane County court, begin foreclosure proceedings on phase two of the Metropolitan Place, which boasts 164 condo units.

The court documents said that the Metro Place LLC Buckingham and Fisher have defaulted on a $43 million loan.

For the first time in ten years, there are not three or more cranes hulking over the Isthmus. I wonder how this will affect construction downtown.

For the first time in ten years, there are not three or more cranes hulking over the Isthmus. I wonder how this will affect construction downtown.

This forclosure on Metropolitan Place sounds quite similar to a case here in Milwaukee. The developers of First Place on the River are filing for receivership because they owe $39M to various vendors and contractors on the construction of the project. This is a huge project just nearing completion, and clearly sales aren't working out as the developer thought they would.

Right now in Milwaukee we've got four big condo projects actively being constructed. One of these, "the Edge" condos (lame name, I know) took a year and a half to reach enough pre sales in order to break ground. Another is a massive project, Park Lafayette, which will have hundreds and hundreds of units in two 22 story towers. One local developer put a major planned project on hold due to what he called a softening of the condo market.

These condo developers are mainly investors in housing, and housing is a sector of the economy that isn't doing so hot right now. The "subprime crisis" is leading to a big wave of forclosures, and it's happening not just in the economically depressed sectors of big cities. It's happening everywhere.

Mortgage rates going up = more forclosures and more people "tightening their belt" and making do with their current house, which = more houses on the market and fewer people buying them, which leads to lower condo sales and lower prices for existing units. None of this adds up to anything good for condo developers. I think Milwaukee and Madison (and almost every other place in the country) will see an end to the condo boom that's been happening for the better part of the last decade.

I just hope it doesn't tip us all into a full blown recession like the early 1990s.

If a slump in downtown condo construction is on its way, it will be temporary just like the housing slump. People in general will continue to want to move downtown in any city, as they have over the past decade. Once the housing slump is over, we can expect downtown housing to once again increase just as we will expect suburban housing construction to increase.

I highly doubt that downtown condo construction will be permanently affected. We might just have to wait for a couple of years for the housing slump to end.

In Madison I think it is the condos that are having a slump not single family homes. They just built too many too quickly it looks like.

I remember years ago overhearing a developer complaining about how tall the city was letting him build and now they can't even sell enough of the shorter buildings but regardless of that, I think in Madison's case the developers just overbuilt the demand for downtown condos in Madison.

^^ Shhh don't tell me that, I just bought one!

I've been told that all condo construction in the Madison area has come to a complete stop though. So hopefully it will all stabalize in a year or two.

Madison is pretty insulated from economic problems and there is no housing bubble in Madison so I wouldn't be worried.

Madison is pretty insulated from economic problems and there is no housing bubble in Madison so I wouldn't be worried.

http://www.madison.com/tct/mad/topstories/271448

Jansen said several factors were continuing to drive foreclosure rates higher. They include a record number of mortgage defaults, adjustable rate mortgage resets and a soft housing market.

(not so isolated)

...

Now, after nearly three years of discussion and more than two dozen meetings, the Capitol Gateway plan was finally approved by the City Council this week. It clears the way for new projects, like Marling's, while also giving developers flexibility to construct new buildings up to 15 stories tall along the city's most-traveled boulevard.

...


Read On (http://www.madison.com/tct/business/271580)

http://www.madison.com/images/articles/tct/2008/02/08/62490.jpg

http://www.madison.com/images/articles/tct/2008/02/08/62491.jpg

That's interesting Jason, It had always seemed to me that Madison was mostly immune to those sorts of things, I guess I was wrong or that this particular problem is worse than normal.

Also that Capital Gateway looks nice. There is so much potential on East Washington and there's no reason it can't look like the west side of the capital espcially with the Central Park.

The idea that Madison is insulated from reality is a very commonly held myth among Madisonians.

Perhaps that might explain the overbuilding of the condo market there. The developers and lenders thought they could never lose, since Madison was so "insulated."

Now one of the biggest condo projects in the state is being foreclosed upon. That's huge. The last thing a bank wants to do is take over a property through foreclosure. This will have major ramifications for the banks involved since the foreclosure was on such a large property.

Don't hold your breath. It's going to be a long, long (long) time before that section of East Wash looks anything like that picture.

It's going to be many years before Milwaukee's North End gets filled out to the 400 residential units envisioned on that site -- and the site is currently controlled by a developer, cleared and ready to go. It's going to take a long time because the housing market is in the doldrums right now. The developers know it, and most importantly, the banks know it (see Metropolitan Place).

I think the main problem with the condo market isn't that the market was overbuilt, but is instead that the potential buyers are reluctant to sell their current homes because it will take so long to sell them, and the value is decreasing. I think that the condo market will be one of first sectors of the housing market to rebound though since it isn't as overbuilt as the housing market.

(not so isolated)

The idea that Madison is insulated from reality is a very commonly held myth among Madisonians.



Although Madison is not completely insulated, it does appear to be somewhat. The cause of the current housing situation is largely caused by the current sub-prime loan crisis. The following quote is from the State Journal, November 5, 2007:

"According to the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council, only 14 percent of loans in Madison were sub-prime in 2006, the fifth-lowest rate among metropolitan areas. The national average was 29 percent. "

Although Madison is not completely insulated, it does appear to be somewhat. The cause of the current housing situation is largely caused by the current sub-prime loan crisis. The following quote is from the State Journal, November 5, 2007:

"According to the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council, only 14 percent of loans in Madison were sub-prime in 2006, the fifth-lowest rate among metropolitan areas. The national average was 29 percent. "

The thing is the subprime crisis has national ramifications that go beyond metropolitan boundaries. The Midwestern states are much better off in terms of foreclosures and housing values than the West Coast, which had a true housing bubble that recently burst in a big way. Homes in California are seeing double digit declines in value.

The financial world is more interconnected than ever before. If you own a home, chances are your mortgage is serviced by a huge multi national conglomorate, even if you went and got your mortgage at a local bank or credit union. When millions of people (no matter how far away) lose their homes and big banks and the secondary market start to lose their shirts, then interest rates go up everywhere for all kinds of borrowing.

More expensive money means fewer people buying homes and condos, taking out car loans or business loans. What happens in California has a huge impact on the interest rates that banks in Madison charge, because of the vast interconnectivity of the financial world today.

Madison won't "feel it" as much as other places, because it's a far more affluent place than most other towns. But that doesn't mean the impact won't be felt.

Looks like downtown may have another chance at finally get its 500 room hotel.

Big, new hotel is discussed
By Dean Mosiman (WSJ)
2/9/08
608-252-6141
dmosiman@madison.com

Madison and Marcus Corp. are discussing a much-desired Downtown hotel -- perhaps the largest in the city -- to serve Monona Terrace and other needs.

...

Mayor Dave Cieslewicz met with top Marcus officials Friday -- their second meeting in eight weeks -- and the Milwaukee-based hotelier unveiled concept drawings, mayoral spokesman George Twigg said.

The mayor 's office and Marcus officials declined to share details, but Twigg said the early concept is of the scale being sought by the Greater Madison Convention and Visitors Bureau and others, who want a hotel with about 500 rooms and meeting space.

Continued... (http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/local/271736)

Just saw this new picture of the beautiful Wisconsin Institute for Discovery that is replacing some of University Avenues ugliest and most useless buildings.

Hopefully that tall engineering building with randomly placed windows will be destroyed soon.

http://www.discovery.wisc.edu/news/slideshow_townHall/frontRendering.jpg

Also, it is only inevitable that eventually East Washington near the capitol will get heavily developed. With popular areas such as Williamson nearby, as well as BARGAIN prices for location, I imagine in 20 years it could look something quite comparable to that picture, especially if we get LIGHT RAIL.

Judging from the new movie "Definitely, Maybe", Ryan Reynolds and some cute girl went to our proud university in the early 90s

Today I flew into Madison for the first time (we got diverted there because Appleton had low visibility) and the view of the Isthmus from the East with State Street in the background is absolutely amazing! It makes Madison look incredibly dense from that angle. That is by far the best angle I've seen of Madtown. Too bad photographing it would require a helicopter shot.

The rest of the city's neighborhoods look significantly denser from the air as well; more so than the ground feel. I think this could possibly be because of the abundance in trees making things look not as urban from the street in certain areas.

I'm a bit excited to learn that Megabus is going to start serving Madison on 3/13.

http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/biz/274629

I'm a bit excited to learn that Megabus is going to start serving Madison on 3/13.

http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/biz/274629

Don't toss your VanGelder tickets just yet. This isn't the most convenient of schedules:

"The following NEW timetable is valid from March 13 2008 and includes the new destination of Madison."http://www.megabus.com/us/schedules/madison_chicago.php?newdate=130308

Madison, Dutch Mills Park and Ride - - - - 5:00 PM - - 3:30 AM
Chicago, Union Station arrive - - - - - - - 7:30 PM - - 6:30 AM

Chicago, Union Station leave - - - - - - 12:00 PM - - - 10:30 PM
Madison, Dutch Mills Park and Ride - - - 2:30 PM - - - - 1:00 AM

Lake Mendota was mentioned in Time's most recent issue. Anyone catch it?

Lake Mendota was mentioned in Time's most recent issue. Anyone catch it?

No. What was the context?

Was it this?
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1718561,00.html

On 9/12/07 (see post #370) we learned that the changes at Hilldale were not going to effect the 11-story condo tower. Well, we learned Friday that further changes will eliminate the tower and replace it with a relatively small 3-story office building.

http://www.madison.com/tct/business/274906

All of the Hilldale development, while obviously beneficial to the property and the area, have kind of worked out to be a little underwhelming. Ho Hum.

I can't help but to wonder what the original intentions really were. Perhaps all of these changes were just self promotion?

No. What was the context?

Was it this?
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1718561,00.html

Yep. It's weird they didn't say Madison or UW though.

All of the Hilldale development, while obviously beneficial to the property and the area, have kind of worked out to be a little underwhelming. Ho Hum.

I can't help but to wonder what the original intentions really were. Perhaps all of these changes were just self promotion?

This endless winter has you reaching too deeply into the conspiratorial recesses of your imagination. Scaled-back plans and slow-to-fill space do not good self promotion make. Clearly the current market and financial atmospheres account for these alterations.

I completely agree that the new Hilldale projects have been, at best, very mixed achievements. It's unfortunate that the previous ownership was heading the center into almost complete failure, so I hope the current one can ride out it's own missteps and the present economic winds. Compared to most other malls anywhere, Hilldale still remains a pleasant experience.

This endless winter has you reaching too deeply into the conspiratorial recesses of your imagination. Scaled-back plans and slow-to-fill space do not good self promotion make. Clearly the current market and financial atmospheres account for these alterations.

I completely agree that the new Hilldale projects have been, at best, very mixed achievements. It's unfortunate that the previous ownership was heading the center into almost complete failure, so I hope the current one can ride out it's own missteps and the present economic winds. Compared to most other malls anywhere, Hilldale still remains a pleasant experience.

Ha! You're probably right. Though you would have to admit, would be a clever (and cheap) marketing philosophy.

And "thanks" for opening up my mind regarding the relative success the new owners have had with the mall (and area). It has indeed been a turnaround of almost epic proportions. I just get grumpy when there's a lack of truly epicness (new word?).

It is a good word if it isn't actually one it should be.

SAT., MAR 15, 2008 - 1:39 PM
Fitchburg plans for a sustainable village
GENA KITTNER
608-252-6139
gkittner@madison.com

A "sustainable village," complete with natural sewage treatment, a school of organic agriculture and businesses powered by the sun, wind and renewable organic fuel could find a home in Fitchburg.

...

http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/local/277151



Here is an excerpt from the article:

"Plans for the carbon neutral eco-village include 30 modest homes, a five-car community garage, four-seasons farmers' market and a "bike and breakfast" inn."

I don't understand if this means all 30 homes will have to share this 5 car garage? That would be quite a developement in the suburbs if that were the case.

Wow tons of stuff happening in Madtown...anyone know where I can see some photo updates of University Square?

subscribing to thread...someone let me know :)

Wow tons of stuff happening in Madtown...anyone know where I can see some photo updates of University Square?

subscribing to thread...someone let me know :)

Better yet... live webcam: http://square4cam.fpm.wisc.edu/view/index.shtml

Better yet... live webcam: http://square4cam.fpm.wisc.edu/view/index.shtml

ooooh wow!! thanks!!

This page has renderings, in case you haven't seen them:

http://www.emi-mgmt.com/projects_univsquare.php

None of these are good pictures but this is Sequoia Commons on Midvale Blvd.
http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/3323/hpim3797xt0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/2899/hpim3798zn9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
It includes the new home for Madison's most heavily used branch library. The Sequoia Branch.

And this is a new building along the beltline near todd drive.
http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/7925/hpim3795qv6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/1451/hpim3794os4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

^Thanks. I haven't seen Sequoia Commons. I used that library a lot when I was a kid.

Boring to look at, but those 2 new joints on Todd Drive, I think they're called Arbor Gate or something like that, are a step up from what was there. I just wish some of that same philosophy and effect filled in E. Wash.

I was so looking forward to this. It's near my mom's house:



Developers Pull Out Of Project
Wisconsin State Journal :: LOCAL :: C1
Friday, March 14, 2008
By PATRICIA SIMMS psimms@madison.com 608-252-6492
Neighbors will wait a little longer to know the future of the 26.7-acre Royster Clark property on the corner of Dempsey and Cottage Grove roads.

Ald. Larry Palm, 15th District, said Thursday that Urban Solutions Inc., a Madison-based real estate development firm, and Silverstone Partners have pulled out of a deal with Agrium U.S. to buy the site of the former East Side fertilizer plant.

More:
http://www.madison.com/archives/read.php?ref=/wsj/2008/03/14/0803130436.php


On a slightly smaller scale, another delay:

Monroe Street condos delayed

Mike Ivey — 3/20/2008 9:00 am

A tenuous market for new homes is delaying construction of the $15 million Wingra Shores condominiums on the city's near west side.

More:
http://www.madison.com/tct/business/277830

Lots of cool condo projects hitting the dust lately in Madtown. :(



A harsh winter and changes to the design of the project are forcing delays in the second phase of construction at Hilldale Shopping Center.

Officials with Joseph Freed & Associates said Friday that the construction of a Whole Foods grocery store, an office and retail building and parking structure will not begin until July and that construction on the six story, 140-room Hotel Indigo would be delayed until September or October.

...

http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/biz/279378

Google Street View just hit Madison. Creepy, and cool at the same time.

Any thoughts on the pending Verona/Verona Township merger, being voted on today?

Me? Since I have seen reports that the City of Madison's concerns over that merger have been addressed (a binding boundary agreement reserving the area of Verona Township generally north of County 'PD' (McKee Rd) for transfer to Madison over the next 30-40 years), I am wholeheartedly in favor of it.

As I have often stated in other forvms, ANYTHING that works to reduce the over-the-top excessive levels of local government balkanization in the State of Wisconsin can only be a *GOOD* thing.

Mike

Thanks for the heads-up, Jason. I'll be taking a few trips down memory lane via Google Street View.

Google streetview really made me realize how badly the Casa Bianca lot needs to be filled. It's a shame all the neighborhood opposition stalled that project.

Also, that parking lot on the corner of Gorham and University would be PRIME location from some sort of mixed use plan of apartment housing and some restaurants or something. University Ave is lacking in commercial activity and that corner could use it.

Ugh, I hate how much the Overture Center kills that block of State Street. Shame on Pelli. I don't know what happened because his buildings are usually incredible.

Oh, and I hope Madison charged Google a pretty penny to drive down State Street.

Oh, and I hope Madison charged Google a pretty penny to drive down State Street.

Shouldn't it be the other way around? After all, it is Google that seems to be doing Madison a favor here by promoting the city on the web?

Shouldn't it be the other way around? After all, it is Google that seems to be doing Madison a favor here by promoting the city on the web?

No

Any thoughts on the pending Verona/Verona Township merger, being voted on today?

Me? Since I have seen reports that the City of Madison's concerns over that merger have been addressed (a binding boundary agreement reserving the area of Verona Township generally north of County 'PD' (McKee Rd) for transfer to Madison over the next 30-40 years), I am wholeheartedly in favor of it.

As I have often stated in other forvms, ANYTHING that works to reduce the over-the-top excessive levels of local government balkanization in the State of Wisconsin can only be a *GOOD* thing.
Unfortunately, the merger went down (passed BIG in the city but failed in the township), so life will go on about as it has. The area will continue to develop and due to the township's lack of available sewer/water, it will be in both cities (Madison and Verona), with the two continuing to progressively spread out as they have and the township continuing to shrink as it has.

And if they have not already agreed to such, I also expect Madison and Verona (cities) to agree on a future mutual boundary line roughly along County 'PD' (McKee Rd).

Mike

Ugh, I hate how much the Overture Center kills that block of State Street. Shame on Pelli. I don't know what happened because his buildings are usually incredible.


Personally I think Pelli is way overrated in general, and this appears to have been a throwaway project for his firm. The exterior could have fit comfortably in a 1960's upscale shopping mall (like Mayfair or Old Orchard) and there was absolutely no attempt made to integrate or even acknowledge the older facades they were asked to preserve, and the less said about the dopey glass dome the better. The Overture Hall itself, thank goodness, is superb, both aesthetically and sonically.

Agree with you 100% looksee. The Overture Hall is great, and the lobby is well proportioned (albeit boring,) but the rest is garbage. On Pelli being overrated, I'm not sure. Their Skyscrapers in Charlotte and Minneapolis are two of the most fantastic I've seen. (Well, I like Charlotte's Hearst tower best) But maybe he's a one trick pony, and skyscrapers are his bag. Oh well, you live and you learn. I'm just sorry that State St became a casualty.

Now let's just pray that the Orpheum doesn't take a dive because then that block would be completely screwed.

Oh PS - Holy crap! Google attacked the entire region! Every freaking tiny little town between Chicago, Rockford, Madison and Milwaukee has been EXPOSED!!!

Yeah, I realized that. Cities like Whitewater and stuff - EVERYTHING - is in Google image now. It's really, really creepy.

I'm disappointed with how Madison looks on it. It is much prettier and more exciting than it shows. It looks so dead, and really makes me realize how the few empty lots there are downtown really need to be filled quite badly.

As for the Overture, I don't think its nearly as good as it could have been, but it certainly isn't ugly. It just is too glassy and modern, and it could have really been something much better.

I was also thinking about how dead the city looks on Streetview. No cars, no people, nothing. And these shots were taken at different times of the day. I noticed on a stretch of Gorham, near its intersection with Pinckney, furniture and other discarded items lining the curbs--a sure sign it was move-in/move-out day. Google must have gone through sometime in late summer. Does Madison really empty out that much during the summer? It seemed livelier when I lived there.

I was also thinking about how dead the city looks on Streetview. No cars, no people, nothing. And these shots were taken at different times of the day. I noticed on a stretch of Gorham, near its intersection with Pinckney, furniture and other discarded items lining the curbs--a sure sign it was move-in/move-out day. Google must have gone through sometime in late summer. Does Madison really empty out that much during the summer? It seemed livelier when I lived there.

Only very briefly at the time you suggest, but it also becomes the best time to really soak in the beauty of the place.

I haven't gone to the Streetview Madison site yet, but if it captures the hundreds of expertly tended naturalistic frontlawn gardens and if you can imagine the fragrances and birdsong choruses, you'll get an idea of what it's like to walk or bike round.

And it does become just as lively as ever after that couple weeks hiatus.

I'll be stopping through this summer for three days to take pictures. I can barely contain my excitement. Let me know if you're interested in getting a beer at Paul's Club.

I'll be stopping through this summer for three days to take pictures. I can barely contain my excitement. Let me know if you're interested in getting a beer at Paul's Club.

Sounds like a great opportunity to have a Madison meet up.

Madison is proposing a bold, $60 million housing project that would boost the fragile Truax neighborhood on the East Side.

The new master plan would dramatically reshape the publicly owned, worn, 147-unit Truax Park Apartments near Madison Area Technical College.

...


Article (http://www.madison.com/wsj/mad/top/280416)

Construction starts for office buildings in the Madison area have hit their highest level since 2000, according to a report by the Grubb & Ellis/Oakbrook real estate firm.

More than 760,000 square feet of office space is being built now. That's comparable to the size of the glass-walled U.S. Bank building on the Capitol Square — times two.

...



Article (http://www.madison.com/wsj/mad/top/279998)

Edit to Delete

I wonder if the Google Streetview people intentionally take photos at times of day when there aren't that many people out. So as to not capture too many images of innocent bystanders.

I believe that Terrance Wall really, really loves this city, but I also believe he despises the red tape all around it. Just read his column in InBusiness magazine sometime. So I was a little surprised to hear that after he planned his escape from Madison (by starting major developments outside the city), he's diving right into the heart of it...


Plan features new Downtown library
By Dean Mosiman
608-252-6141
dmosiman@madison.com

Developer Terrence Wall is making a bold proposal to bring a striking new library to Downtown Madison.

T. Wall Properties is proposing to demolish the worn, 43-year-old facility on the 200 block of West Mifflin Street and replace it with a $45 million, nine-story structure with ground-floor retail, a three-story library and private offices above it.

More:
http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/local/280832


Oh how awesome such an addition would be.

Streetview of the current/old library:
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&client=firefox-a&q=200+west+mifflin+madison+wisconsin&ie=UTF8&ll=43.077117,-89.387362&spn=0.01047,0.019097&z=16&layer=c&cbll=43.07406,-89.38733&cbp=1,193.9590834504379,,0,-6.746599861877193

Looks like a nice development as a vast improvement.

Your description sounds like what Alexander did too. He got fed up with the city and worked outside of it but then eventually got a big project approved.

I like that plan for a new library a lot. I've always talked about how retail *needs* to spread out from state street - especially into that long dead area with the somehow successful piano store by the Overture Center. Plus, that building is just ugly and new offices are always welcome downtown.

I like their design too - I think it will make the somewhat disappointing overture center look quite a lot better.

If Madison misses an oppurtunity like this mixed use library, Ill be pissed.

Microsoft purchased Madison based Jellyfish.com for $50,000,000 and kept its 25 employees in town. Announced yesterday Microsoft is opening a research lab downtown and employing 6 people.

Yeah, I realized that. Cities like Whitewater and stuff - EVERYTHING - is in Google image now. It's really, really creepy.

I'm disappointed with how Madison looks on it. It is much prettier and more exciting than it shows. It looks so dead, and really makes me realize how the few empty lots there are downtown really need to be filled quite badly.

As for the Overture, I don't think its nearly as good as it could have been, but it certainly isn't ugly. It just is too glassy and modern, and it could have really been something much better.

If you look here there's a lot of people http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=madison&ie=UTF8&ll=43.0892,-89.381847&spn=0.028081,0.080338&t=h&z=14&layer=c&cbll=43.07479,-89.39173&cbp=1,287.44268902461477,,0,6.353633545246203"]http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=madison&ie=UTF8&ll=43.0892,-89.381847&spn=0.028081,0.080338&t=h&z=14&layer=c&cbll=43.07479,-89.39173&cbp=1,287.44268902461477,,0,6.353633545246203. Funny thing is if you click forward in either direction on State or Gorham the pictures were clearly from a different day. Wonder if that was intentional?

"Madison's profile in the high-tech world just received its second boost of good news in less than a week.

The Capital Times confirmed that Internet giant Google has set up an engineering office downtown to focus on hardware and software systems design." 4/28/2008

Google's Madison office has been open for several months and currently has 10 employees and is hiring more people. Today was the official news of Google's opening an office in downtown Madison.

The library board approved RFPs for a new downtown location. This means Wall's $45million idea can become an official proposal.

http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/local/284341

Was around Madison, boy is that university square project massive.

Here's part of the view. I apologize for the blurriness of the picture.
http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/2820/hpim3871tx4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Also here's a picture of the main Capital West condo building that is almost finished.

http://img383.imageshack.us/img383/6870/hpim3882st8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

FRI., MAY 16, 2008 - 9:04 PM

Upscale hotel proposed along John Nolen

An upscale 136-room Aloft Hotel and Fratellos Waterfront Restaurant are part of a $20 million development proposed for John Nolen Drive near Rimrock Road.

Most hotel rooms and the restaurant will have views of Lake Monona, said Jay Supple, chief executive of Supple Group, the project developer.

He said the restaurant may open late this year or in early 2009. Hotel construction could begin next year.

...

http://www.madison.com/images/articles/wsj/2008/05/16/70496.jpg


Continued... (http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/biz/286814)

Continued... (http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/biz/286814)

Weird. Jay Supple (jr) went with my sister to Prom in Oshkosh. The Supple's own two Fratello's restaurants in the Fox Valley already, and neither are very good. The presentation is top notch, no doubt, but the food is overpriced and leaves a lot to be desired... I guess that would be no different than a lot of Madison restaurants though.

Either way, I like the "hipness" looking of the project - the colors will go well with the vibes of the John Nolen area, which kind of has a sort of coastal attitude to it. Too bad it's not really downtown.

Microsoft purchased Madison based Jellyfish.com for $50,000,000 and kept its 25 employees in town. Announced yesterday Microsoft is opening a research lab downtown and employing 6 people.

I was wondering when (or if) Jellyfish.com would ever be bought. 50,000,000 is a lot of moolah, too. Good for them.

Looks like this could be BIG NEWS for Madison.



Apex Group proposes 14-story mixed-use development for Downtown Madison


The Apex Group, one of Madison's largest purveyors of rental property, is trying to build support for an approximately 14-story Downtown development being pitched as an environmentally friendly alternative to suburban sprawl and a boon to the city's tax base.

Preliminary plans for the mixed-use project show a 300-room hotel with residential and office space on eight lots on the southeast corner of South Henry and West Wilson streets, across from the Dane County Courthouse. The site currently contains seven buildings — mostly small apartment buildings — and one parking lot.

...

Bruce Bosben, chairman of Apex Group, envisions it as a "facility where people could live, work, eat and lodge.

...

Developers say they would pursue LEED certification for the building, a designation from the U.S. Green Building Council that identifies a structure as energy efficient and environmentally sound; build wind turbines to provide electricity to common areas of the development; create green roofs; and take other steps to make the project environmentally friendly.

...

Bosben said the development would generate about $2 million in property taxes a year on a site that now generates about $55,000. And he said because of the height limit, Madison loses out on the kind of tall, dense urban development that can provide the taxes needed for services in other parts of the city.

...

The 400,000-square-foot project includes 150,000 square feet of hotel space and 150,000 square feet of office space. The rest would be apartments and condos. But Bosben made clear that Apex's development plans are not set in stone.

...



Continued... (http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/local/290022)

Viewing the skyline from Lake Monona, this project will rise up directly behind the 4 story apartment/condo complex which is the biggest eyesore in the skyline. This will help fill in a huge gap in the skyline, and help mask that small apartment building along the lakefront.

http://www.madison.com/images/articles/tct/2008/06/08/73274.jpg



Firm lands $82 million contract

The firm that built the world famous Santiago Calatrava addition to the Milwaukee Art Museum has been named construction manager of the new South Campus Union at the UW-Madison.

Milwaukee-based CG Schmidt will head the $82 million project, which includes demolition of the existing Union South and building a replacement at the same site on Randall Avenue. It will manage the job out of its Madison office, with work to begin in January, 2009.

...



Continued... (http://www.madison.com/tct/mad/breaking_news/290369)

Speaking of eyesores, Union South looks like something you'd find left behind in Chernobyl or some other dead Russian town. Truly a hideous, dark building. Glad to see it is finally getting torn down. Hopefully there is a movie theater in the new one.

From my latest issue of On Wisconsin, here's a rendering of "The East Campus Gateway."

https://download.yousendit.com/679918EB090DD24E

From my latest issue of On Wisconsin, here's a rendering of "The East Campus Gateway."

https://download.yousendit.com/679918EB090DD24E


Very nice! Thank you. Is that second "circle" in the Memorial Mall just the clock, or is it a new fountain? I've always thought that area was WAY too Concrete-heavy to the point it is practically hideous.

I rarely give a hoot about such small projects, but I get excited about these because this area on the lakefront has so much potential, and is a mile or two from where I grew up. Half a mile down the road (or less), the East Side Businessman's Club (or whatever it's called now, but that's how I remember it) is being razed in favor of a 5-story mixed-use sometime soon as well. Remembering back a few years before the newer apartments across from Olbrich Beach were built, an abandoned service station and some vacant land filled the space, and all of this is a beautiful site to see now. I have some friends who now live just blocks away, and their property value is seeing some climbs for the first time in a long time, despite a poor market. Hooray Monona Drive!

WaterCrest Condominiums:
http://www.madison.com/images/articles/wsj/2008/06/18/75543.jpg

I'll be a customer/rider if it resembles the one in MSP:


Officials file application for funding for proposed Dane County commuter rail system

MATTHEW DeFOUR
608-252-6144
mdefour@madison.com

Local leaders hope political support for commuter rail and progress at the state level on drafting legislation to authorize the creation of a regional transportation authority will bolster a federal funding application submitted Wednesday.

State, Dane County and Madison officials submitted an application with the Federal Transit Administration's New Starts program for a $255 million commuter rail system between Middleton and Sun Prairie that would cost $10 million a year to operate.

http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/local/292300

double post...

I'm no expert, but I think a commuter rail would greatly help this area. I know a lot of people would be MORE than willing to use it, especially if it dropped off at Union South (as is planned, I believe). It would allow some campus-locked students to get off campus for awhile or go shopping at real grocery stores, see movies, etc, too. It's going to be mega-expensive though, so I can't see it happening, especially in this town.

I feel like it would semi-legitimize Madison as a "real city," which Madison has been trying to do for decades...

American Apparel buildout is in progress at the former Reebok location - State and Gilman.

Has anyone seen a rendering of that 10+ story apt building going up on the corner of Johnson and Mills by any chance?

Very nice! Thank you. Is that second "circle" in the Memorial Mall just the clock, or is it a new fountain? I've always thought that area was WAY too Concrete-heavy to the point it is practically hideous.

Not sure.

I found a picture of the 14-story building I just mentioned, going up on the corner of Mills and Johnson. It looks kind of uninspired to me; almost exactly like the Equinox. Not terrible, certainly better than many of the others, but still pretty architecturally boring.

http://www.stevensconstruction.com/completed/projects/projectimages/multi_1022.jpg

I like the theme at the bottom, however. And I do think the building somewhat meshes will the nearby buildings on University Ave. Hopefully there is some retail at the bottom.

Looks pretty classy to me.

Looks like all the other buildings on University Ave. I like how that area focuses on a critical mass of buildings rather than 1 or 2 architectural gems; thus providing some real density. There's other areas in town that can focus on design. (Around the capital area for example).

Looks pretty handsome to me. I'd agree to take one up here in about .0001 seconds.

-Dan

how are all the construction projects on campus going?

how are all the construction projects on campus going?

Pretty good. Grainger is almost done. University Square is almost done. The 14-story I just mentioned is just beginning. The Wisconsin Institute for Discovery is in its very early stages as well, still in property cleanup perhaps. Union South is pretty close to getting torn down.

The US Bank building on the square is getting a facelift. My dad worked in this building in the 80s, so I spent a fair amount of time in there. I haven't been in there in 10+ years though. I remember feeling like it was an oven in the summertime.

http://www.madison.com/images/articles/wsj/2008/07/21/78963.jpg

Look better, IMO, and the energy savings is groovy.

Exactly the way I would have done it, (just never got around to actually putting it down on paper).

This article gives a very optimistic view of our prospects of getting LRT in the near future. I can barely contain my excitement while reading it, as one of the stops would be about 200 ft from my condo in downtown Sun Prairie.



Light rail on fast track
Newfound political will may finally make regional transit authority a reality

7/23/2008 8:17 am

After years of roadblocks, the stars are aligning for a commuter rail system in Dane County.

On Aug. 7, a state legislative study committee will begin work on drafting a bill to allow regional transit authorities -- local taxing districts that will manage and fund transit systems.

"The state legislation is really going to be the thing that sets the framework for what we can do here locally," said David Trowbridge, project manager for Transport 2020, an ambitious plan that could change the way Dane County residents get around.

State Senate President Fred Risser, D-Madison, said he expects the committee to come up with a proposal that can be introduced to the Legislature in the spring -- a fast track for any legislation, but even more so on an issue lawmakers in years past have been reluctant to embrace.

The centerpiece of the Transit 2020 plan is a light rail corridor stretching from Middleton to Sun Prairie. The rail line would connect a growing number of workers, students, sports fans and shoppers to state office buildings, cultural events, the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus, hospitals and businesses.

Continued... (http://www.madison.com/tct/top5/297339)

http://cdntn.madison.com/images/articles/tct/2008/07/23/79113.jpg
A commuter rail system like the one shown here in Charlotte, N.C., could be coming to Dane County.

If I remember correctly, the line actually will not extend into downtown Sun Prairie at first. Since there is no existing functional rail line there, they'll have to build an extension at some $40m later.

The new US Bank definitely looks way better. The one thing I really hated about the last one was the angles.

If I remember correctly, the line actually will not extend into downtown Sun Prairie at first. Since there is no existing functional rail line there, they'll have to build an extension at some $40m later.

The new US Bank definitely looks way better. The one thing I really hated about the last one was the angles.

That's the first I've heard that. Can you confirm it? There's been rail in that Sun Prairie downtown corridor, near the old cannery forever, which has only recently not been used for something or another. The entire redevelopment down there was built based on the prospect of it being used as a commuter connection someday, and I'd be surprised if the developers did not do their homework.

I for one will use it.

This article gives a very optimistic view of our prospects of getting LRT in the near future. I can barely contain my excitement while reading it, as one of the stops would be about 200 ft from my condo in downtown Sun Prairie.

That's right. I nearly forgot you moved there. How is that condo and neighborhood working out for you? I'll be down at the Cannery Square this weekend checking out the Taste of Sun Prairie.

That's the first I've heard that. Can you confirm it? There's been rail in that Sun Prairie downtown corridor, near the old cannery forever, which has only recently not been used for something or another. The entire redevelopment down there was built based on the prospect of it being used as a commuter connection someday, and I'd be surprised if the developers did not do their homework.

I for one will use it.

The first phase of the project falls short of Transport 2020's ultimate goal to run the rail line to a station in downtown Sun Prairie, Trowbridge said. The project uses existing rail lines, but the last two miles from Reiner Road to Sun Prairie are dilapidated, and a land bridge would be needed to span swampland, at an estimated cost of $30 million to $40 million.

http://www.madison.com/tct/top5/297339

That's the first I've heard that. Can you confirm it? There's been rail in that Sun Prairie downtown corridor, near the old cannery forever, which has only recently not been used for something or another. The entire redevelopment down there was built based on the prospect of it being used as a commuter connection someday, and I'd be surprised if the developers did not do their homework.

I for one will use it.

You're correct, the rail does currently go the whole way to and through downtown Sun Prairie, but the rail line will probably need to be re-built to meet high speed standards of LRT. Currently freight trains do use the line, but travel at very low speeds through the area and are usually only a few cars long. As the article mentioned, extending the rail out to downtown Sun Prairie is phase 2.

Once completed this will do more than help residents of Sun Prairie. This will give university students and other Madison residents a great way to visit an alternate urban environment without the hussle and bussle of downtown Madison, where they can shop, play, etc.

That's right. I nearly forgot you moved there. How is that condo and neighborhood working out for you? I'll be down at the Cannery Square this weekend checking out the Taste of Sun Prairie.

Moving here has been a great decision for me. It’s nice being within close proximity to my job and having the ability to live in an affordable, up-and-coming downtown environment, all while being fairly close to the action in Madison. Best of all I get a front row seat in watching this new downtown develop right before my eyes, and knowing that I played a part in its success. I would eventually like to move to the city once I’ve had a chance to build some equity and can more readily afford a comparably sized place in downtown Madison or one of its inner neighborhoods. But that day appears to be a ways away.

I was wondering how this project will work, are they going to construct another track so that trains can run in both directions, or are there already enough tracks? How would they be able to run a train on one track and have it go both ways?

I was wondering how this project will work, are they going to construct another track so that trains can run in both directions, or are there already enough tracks? How would they be able to run a train on one track and have it go both ways?

I'm not sure, but they would definitely need more than one train. Perhaps they build a short stretch of track where one can pull off while the other one passes?