A local nonprofit development company has proposed the construction of an affordable apartment building on West Mifflin Street, an area filled with typically expensive housing options.
Madison Development Corporation proposed the construction of a four-story building on the 400 block of West Mifflin Street. The building will cater to low and moderate-income individuals who work downtown.
The corporation has owned several houses on the block, but recently acquired the last structure in a row of buildings, making it possible to build one larger structure, Frank Staniszewski, Madison Development Corporation president, said.
Many of the new apartment buildings in the downtown area have replaced some of the more affordable housing options, Staniszewski said. Though the condition of the older buildings made them poor living spaces, many of the more expensive replacements have made lower-income individuals unable to live downtown.
“Our property will be quality,” Staniszewski said. “It won’t have the amenities that some of the newer stuff has, but it will be a nice property. We will have some fairly good sized units for the prices we are offering.”
The building will have around 46 apartments. The building will be a mix of one-bedroom, two-bedroom and efficiency apartments, Staniszewski said. The building would be tax exempt as nonprofit-owned affordable housing, Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, said.
The building is not targeted at students, despite its proximity to campus. Instead, the targeted audience are young downtown workers, Staniszewski said. This demographic is employed, and is making somewhere between 30 and 80 percent of the median income, or $17,000 to $45,000 a year, according to the City of Madison website.
“There are many people who want to live and work downtown who are getting priced out,” Staniszewski said. “This will enable people to live closer to work and maybe prevent people from having to have a car, potentially decreasing some traffic downtown.”
None of the downtown development that has occurred in the last several years can realistically be considered affordable housing, Verveer said.
This proposal, however, offers brand new apartments at a more affordable cost than the going market rate, Verveer said.
The proposed building is similar to another recent apartment building built on Mifflin Street, which will help make the approval process more straightforward, Verveer said.
“Very little concern was expressed at our neighborhood meeting about the proposed design and use for the building,” Verveer said. “I don’t foresee any major problems as it goes through the approval process.”
The plan is almost ready to be submitted for city approval, Staniszewski said. The approval process should be completed around January 2016.
Madison Development Corporation hopes to break ground on the project by August 2016.
