East Mifflin Street could see a new development project coming to the downtown area soon, as developers get ready to present a proposal for a six-story apartment building in the neighborhood next Wednesday.

The development could replace four houses and a large parking lot and would be located on East Mifflin Street, between 17 and 27 North Webster Street, according to a statement from Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4. The statement said the project’s developer is Rouse Company and the four houses that could be demolished were built between 1872 and 1904.

Ald. Ledell Zellers, District 2, said the six-story apartment building will target a general audience, including students, graduate students and professionals.

“Housing is a great use of the space,” Zellers said. 

Currently, the area is taken up by Reynolds Transfer and Storage’s crane lot, which is basically a large parking lot, she said. Zellers also said housing will be a better use of the area, adding it makes sense to do something there and not just have a parking lot in the space.

Zellers called the project promising and said she is optimistic that some form of the project will be built. She did say she expects some changes will be made as a result of city processes and community input, however. 

She said the apartment is being proposed to be built adjacent to a proposed hotel, which is at a similar level of development as the apartment, and both projects will likely be built at the same time. She said the hotel could create a stronger market for the apartment building.

Verveer said this proposal to build an apartment is part of a larger trend of the unprecedented downtown development that is either proposed or under construction. He said this is the most development downtown Madison has seen in recent history.

“New apartment buildings are either going up or scheduled to go up at a really breathtaking record pace,” he said.

He said developers believe the downtown housing market will be able to absorb thousands of additional bedrooms over the upcoming few years.

He said the city’s downtown zoning code, which has gone into effect within the last year, allows for taller buildings in many parts of downtown, which is why this proposal would be allowed to be six stories.

“It is particularly remarkable to me that developer after developer believe that there is such a deep and wide housing market in downtown Madison,” Verveer said.

Zellers said the project still has several steps to go through, the first of which is an information session next Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the U.S. Bank Building on 1 S. Pinckney St.

Verveer said the downtown hotel proposal and the apartment proposal are on similar timelines, however, they are being proposed by different developers. 

The proposal for the 10-story, 151-room hotel will be held next Tuesday at 7 p.m. on 211 N. Carroll St. at Madison College in Room D 240.