The city is looking for new proposals from real estate developers on the Judge Doyle Square project, after a previous proposal from a developer turned out to come in with too high of a price tag.
The mayor’s office on Monday released a statement officially announcing its intent to implement a “mixed-use” development on the two-block square in the heart of Madison’s central business district, known as Judge Doyle Square.
City Council had previously attempted to pass a proposal, but it was rejected due to high costs and lack of financial parameters.
“The previous RFP produced a project proposal that was more expensive than the city was willing to pay,” Judge Doyle Square project director George Austin said.
The new proposal was unanimously approved during last Tuesday’s City Council meeting. However, debate was raised when Ald. Mark Clear, District 19, suggested adding the words “convention headquarters” to the hotel aspect of the proposal. Council members objected because of the wording’s specificity.
Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, said there were certain connotations with the new words that could have potentially added additional expenses to the project. This created a fear of moving backward in the proposal, so the suggestion was ultimately rejected.
Verveer said one of the biggest problems the square faces is its lack of hotel rooms to host potential conventions, noting that some conventions have passed up the opportunity to come to Madison due to the lack of hotel rooms.
The new proposal specified the need for a minimum of 250 rooms in the new hotel, Austin said. This specification provides more flexibility for potential developers, he added.
The previous proposal met concerns regarding extensive use of money from the public, but the new proposal limits the use of public funding to the parking component of the project, Austin said.
Verveer said limiting the use of public funding was a major reason for the approval of the new proposal. He said he believes the new proposal will attract significant attention from potential developers.
“I am optimistic we will get some good proposals submitted to us … and that there will be competition for the city council to consider,” Verveer said. “I hope we can redevelop these two prime blocks that have great potential and are really under utilized.”
Proposal submissions are due May 1 of this year. After those have been reviewed by the city’s negotiating team, the city’s Board of Estimates will review the candidates and make their recommendation. According to the proposal, execution of development will begin in 2016.
