The Madison City Council and the Dane County Board voted Oct. 17 and Oct. 19 to add a combined total of $2.64 million to the Madison Public Market’s budget, according to the market’s website. The last piece of funding from the Dane County Board will allow the market to move forward with its construction, according to an update market’s website.
Chair of the market’s Marketing and Events Committee James Shulkin said there will at least thirty permanent vendors who have spaces in the building, while others may rent spaces at irregular intervals. The market is also expected to have entertaining events and opportunities to experience local music and art.
“[The market] will be the city’s favorite place to come visit, eat, play, hear music and enjoy all the cultural expressions that are really endemic to Dane County,” Shulkin said.
The Madison Public Market will be located at 200 N. First St., which used to be occupied by the City of Madison’s Fleet Services. Vice Chair of the Madison Public Market Foundation Board and Chair of the Development Committee Anne Reynolds said the old building will be renovated to suit the Madison Public Market’s needs and services.
The final vision involves a large marketplace in which citizens from diverse backgrounds can freely sell their wares and purchase those of others, Reynolds said. The market will also serve as a key destination for tourism and commerce during Wisconsin’s cold winter months.
“One of the things we’ve heard over the years is that Madison really lacks public spaces, and for the winter there aren’t many places where people can gather outside of private spaces,” Reynolds said. “So the public market’s going to offer that. I think it’ll be an incredible crossroads, from Madisonians and tourists and people all over Dane County, and it’s going to be a huge asset in summer and winter.”
The market will also feature the MarketReady Hall, a shared space for food-related businesses, according to the market’s website. The costs associated with using the hall will be kept low to support upcoming entrepreneurs and small businesses. The market website also said that its operations will benefit the region at large through the creation of jobs and business both within the culinary sphere and industries outside of it.
The recent $2.64 million in additional funding is an important step toward the market’s success after years of difficulty, Shulkin said. The COVID-19 pandemic had a large impact on the market, delaying construction on the project from 2020 to November 2023, Reynolds said.
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The Fleet Services building was used as a homeless shelter during COVID-19, according to the City of Madison. Shulkin said the use of the building as a shelter delayed the market’s construction. Reynolds said construction costs have increased significantly after the pandemic. While architects were already contracted, the market ultimately required more funding than previously expected.
The market is expected to open during the summer of 2025. Until then, construction will be underway, and the process of hiring an executive director and other staff members will help to ensure the right leaders are managing the market, Reynolds said.
“This market has a very important goal of bringing in a diverse group of vendors who, for whom this may be, a really fantastic opportunity to start a business,” Reynolds said.
