As urban renewal and downtown revitalization efforts hit Madison, an explosion of residential housing could have a detrimental effect on students’ wallets and walking shoes, officials warn.
In tune with the nationwide trend of migration back to central cities after decades of urban sprawl, upper-end housing is shooting up around Capitol Square and edging toward student areas to the south.
The City of Madison saw 2,492 new housing units built last year, up almost 40 percent from 2000.
What was once a void in downtown housing for professionals is quickly being filled by the development of luxury condominiums in the shadow of the Capitol.
The finishing touches are being put on several condominium projects, including the Capitol Point Apartments and Metropolitan Place.
The $29-million, 14-level Capitol Point Apartments, bordered by Hamilton, East Mifflin and Pinckney Streets just off Capitol Square, opened just this past month and will contain 64 condominium units.
Apartments range anywhere from $200,000 one-bedrooms to $1.4 million penthouses. Over 80 percent of the building’s units have been purchased, according to an article at Madison.com.
Mayor Sue Bauman and her husband were among the first to move into their condominium at Capitol Point.
Metropolitan Place, a 15-floor condominium project on the 300 block of West Washington Avenue, is set to open this fall, containing 175 units costing up to $700,000 a piece, the article stated.
The growth in residential housing downtown, geared primarily toward young professionals and couples, is moving close to neighborhoods traditionally occupied by UW-Madison students.
Ald. Tim Bruer, District 14, is concerned the construction of so-called “luxury” apartment high-rises and condominium development downtown helps to further fortify the area closest to State Street as one reserved chiefly for wealthy professionals and students from wealthier families.
As a result, Bruer said, students will continue to retreat from the State Street and Capitol areas and move closer to Regent and Park Streets, the “outer ring” of the campus area where students will find more reasonable prices.
“The continued construction of upper-end apartments downtown could have a tremendous adverse impact on struggling students,” Bruer said.
Despite the fast pace of luxury-apartment construction in and around student neighborhoods, Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, said the influx may create a buyer’s market advantageous to students.
“Greater diversity in housing choices may very well help stabilize rent due to the increased competition,” Verveer said.
But Bruer, less optimistic than Verveer, predicts that with developers now eyeing the periphery of student areas, “it is only a matter of time” until the university will need to take action in order to maintain stability in the increasingly expensive student housing market by actively searching for land to buy and develop for student apartments.
In fact, the pace of construction continues to speed up. New apartments are planned for placement directly behind the Electric Earth Café on West Washington Avenue, and an 80-unit condominium complex is in the works for North Bedford Street. Both are in close proximity to the Bassett and Mifflin Street neighborhoods–areas currently dominated by student tenants.
