Developers presented plans for a proposed 33-unit apartment complex at the site of the old Planned Parenthood building at a West Mifflin Street neighborhood meeting Wednesday night.
Jerry Connery, a developer based in Sun Prairie, said he plans to collaborate with area architect Gary Brink to construct a new student and young professional-focused apartment building.
The project is still in its initial stages and Brink has not yet drawn up renderings of the project, but Connery said he plans to cooperate with the Mifflin Neighborhood Association to ensure the proposal receives the neighborhood’s approval before going to the city’s Urban Design and Plan Commissions for recommendations to the City Council.
Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, will hold a larger neighborhood meeting in the first week of May, after the Mifflin Street Block Party, to brief neighborhood members to Connery’s project. The meeting will also address any concerns about what Verveer said should be a less controversial project to construct a new four-story apartment building at 431 W. Dayton St.
In a further step toward the reconstruction of the central branch of the Madison Public Library, neighborhood members also considered plans for the library at their meeting.
Verveer said the library has been in desperate need of redevelopment for the past 15 years because of structural problems and the lack of amenities such as adequate Internet access for downtown residents with fixed incomes.
Mayor Dave Cieslewicz’s original proposal to build the central branch at West Washington Avenue initially received strong support from Verveer. After Cieslewicz decided not to continue with the West Washington plan, he proposed to redevelop the Central Library at its current West Mifflin Street location.
Verveer said he supports Cieslewicz’s new initiative and emphasized the importance he believes the project holds.
“If we wait for another private developer, we’re going to have another potential disaster on our hands with [the current building],” Verveer said. “The idea is you would not recognize the place when the new Central Library opens.”
Verveer said city officials and developers involved with the redevelopment want to begin construction on the new library by April 2011. He said the downtown branch will be temporarily relocated to two other downtown locations.
The new library will include a third story and cost approximately $30 million, Verveer said. Because of a subterranean creek and water table issues in the downtown area, the project will not include underground parking, he said.
The residents present at the meeting also listened to a report from Verveer about plans for this year’s Mifflin Street Block Party, which will include a beer garden with the capacity for up to 1,000 patrons at the former parking lot of the Mifflin Street Planned Parenthood clinic.
Verveer said he doubted the beer garden will be able to hold up to 1,000 people, but said twice the number of portable restrooms will be in the area to accommodate people attending the block party. He said this will be the first beer garden at the block party since the early 1990s.
