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Madison’s City Council unanimously approved plans to build two apartment buildings near the University of Wisconsin campus on West Johnson Street and Main Street at a meeting Tuesday night.
The proposed West Johnson Street apartment will include 250 apartment units and will comprise 60,000 square feet. The Main Street apartment building is set to contain 176 high-end apartment units.
Plans for a new apartment building on North Bedford Street were sent back to the Planning Commission.
Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, said the landlord requested more time to consider submitting different plans for the development.
Randall Alexander, CEO of Alexander Company, said the company’s plan to construct the apartment complex on Main Street will be a $40 million investment in downtown Madison.
“I feel good about this,” Alexander said. “We are excited. It has been a good experience with city leadership.”
Tony Michaels, a resident of downtown Madison since 2001, told the council he supports the majority of the Alexander Company’s apartment building plans. He noted his disagreement with the aspect of the plan that would allow one entrance for the apartment building’s parking garage.
Michaels said having only one entrance and exit will be a safety concern because it will not be able to accommodate the high number of cars that will be using the single entrance.
When Michaels asked the Alexander Company to compromise on the issue, it decided not to, he said. He added the company refused to compromise because it would be inconvenient for the company.
Verveer said the building plans for West Johnson Street, which have been proposed by Hovde Properties, would include retail and office space, along with a new home for the Madison Fire Department’s administration office. He added the MFD’s new offices would be located on the side of the building on Dayton Street.
Mayor Paul Soglin said Madison needs more apartments in the downtown area. He added it would help the city contain sprawl by increasing population density downtown and make public transportation more efficient.
“The downtown area needs more apartments, which meet a variety of income levels, such as those of students and recent graduates,” Soglin said.
He said when the new apartments go up, they will have higher rents, but after a decade, the new apartments will have rents that fit into Madison’s rental market better. Soglin said expensive housing is not turning away students, but rather the increasing price of tuition.
“You can always find more reasonably priced living,” Soglin said.
Verveer said the downtown area has a vacancy rate of less than 1 percent, a rate that is virtually nonexistent. This has led to a construction boom downtown, he said.
Soglin said UW provides less student housing than most other universities with similarly sized campuses, an issue the city can take advantage of by providing housing that is attractive to students.
