News

Developer pushes fitness complex

Madison developer and Capitol Fitness owner Eric Minton is proposing to combine an apartment and his fitness center on the 400 block of West Washington Avenue, and so far there are only a few floors standing in his way.

Minton’s new, $11 million, nine-story downtown apartment complex was introduced by Madison architect John Sutton at a Thursday night Bassett neighborhood committee meeting.

The complex would feature a self-contained, 25,000-square-foot Capitol Fitness center to a crowd of supportive area residents. In addition it would contain eight to nine salons, an optometrist’s office on the fourth floor and three levels of partially underground parking.

Sutton describes the project more as a fitness center with apartments.

“The interesting aspect is that it wasn’t a client coming in, saying, ‘I would like to do an apartment building,’” Sutton said. “[Minton] developed this idea of a mixed-use [building], starting with the fitness center really as the nucleus of the project.”

While many area residents approved the project’s amenities, some were concerned about its height. Madison resident Sigrid Knuti was one of several attendees who questioned the building’s stature.

“West Washington is the only residential street leading up to the Capitol — there is one five-story [building] on the street now, and I am sorry it was ever built,” Knuti said. “I would certainly hate to set a precedence of having nine- and 10-story buildings on that block because we would lose one of the beautiful parts of the city.”

Knuti added part of what makes West Washington pleasing is the street’s trees and setback, and that the front facade of the building would run up to the sidewalk.

Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, reminded area residents the project will have to pass through a rigorous city approval process utilizing resident input before a building permit can be issued.

“I definitely feel that this project is a far way from being good to go yet,” Verveer said. “The main issue right now is the height. … Clearly the main concerns are that the project, at least as presented at this point, is not keeping with the scale and massing of that neighborhood.”

Verveer added he has long treasured the two blocks of West Washington between Broom and Bedford streets and is committed to preserving the scale and character of their original construction.

Currently, there is a single-story optometrist’s office occupying the lot of the proposed building that will need to be torn down. To resolve this issue, Eric Minton allocated the fourth floor of his building for a new one.

If passed, the Capitol Fitness center apartment complex would feature an outdoor lap pool, indoor basketball court, café, and a “mind and body center” on the roof and upper-ninth-floor penthouse for yoga.

Chet Droessler, assistant manager at both existing Capitol Fitness locations, said the new location would provide a closer, more personalized atmosphere than the University of Wisconsin fitness centers.

“It’s kind of like ‘Cheers’ — we all know your name,” Droessler said.