A Madison developer has big plans to further the dramatic transformation of the top of State Street near Capitol Square by demolishing a series of buildings to clear the way for a large project that could include a hotel and housing.
Hovde Properties has notified the city that it intends to seek permission to demolish five, century-old buildings with distinctive, terra cotta facades on the 100 block of West Mifflin Street, an area best known these days for being rundown and mostly empty for decades. The developer also would raze a three-story building at 15 N. Fairchild St. that’s behind the historic, 14-story Hovde Building, 122 W. Washington Ave.
Recently, Hovde secured an option to buy the lone occupied building of the set on West Mifflin Street that houses the Silver Dollar Tavern, established in 1933.
The properties are next to where the Wisconsin Historical Society soon will build a $160.5 million history center. The proposed site is also at an intersection featuring Overture Center, the Central Library, and redevelopment on the 100 blocks of State and West Mifflin streets, in a mix of new construction and historic preservation. The Wisconsin Veterans Museum is moving to demolish its facility at the top of State Street for a $140 million, five-story museum.
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Hovde also owns the historic, nine-story Churchill Building, 16 N. Carroll St. on Capitol Square, the city’s first “skyscraper” built in the neoclassical revival style in 1915, which backs to the developer’s other properties but is not included in the demolition notice.
The developer believes the proposed demolitions are needed for an orderly and safe development for the coming Wisconsin History Center as well as its own future project, Hovde President Randy Guenther said.
What Hovde would be build is still uncertain, Guenther said.
“We have not set a specific plan ready to submit and it is too early to specify a start date or specific uses,” he said. “However, when we do it will be high quality and integrate with the surrounding properties as Hovde has always done in its developments.”
Hovde Properties wants to demolish a set of buildings at the corner of West Mifflin and North Fairchild Streets, lower center, and also a three-story building to the immediate right. The property is next to the site of the coming Wisconsin History Center, center left, and the historic Churchill Building, right of the State Capitol dome. On the right is the historic Hovde Building.
Ald. Mike Verveer, 4th District, who represents the site, said that over the course of the last year or so, Hovde representatives have shared that the long-term vision for their properties is for a hotel and housing. They also have represented that the concepts include an adaptive reuse of the Churchill Building, he said.
A development’s plans and timing involve a variety of factors including market demand, costs, financing, city process, neighborhood inputs and others, which all need to come together to make a successful project at the right time, Guenther said.
“The site deserves a high-quality development and it is our intent to deliver just that when we are ready,” he said.
“This is a pivotal intersection in Madison,” said Jason Ilstrup, president of Downtown Madison, Inc. “It is important to have a high-quality usage with significant vibrancy at the top of State Street.”
The ‘Mifflin Arcade’
Once a “high class shopping district,” four of the five storefronts, which are roughly a century old, were acquired by Hovde more than 20 years ago and long held vacant for redevelopment. It’s made the area uninviting as a pedestrian thoroughfare, especially at night.
The neo-classical revival terra cotta buildings, designed by architect Philip Homer, were known as the “Mifflin Arcade” and home to a variety of commercial uses in their early years.
The “Mifflin Arcade” and its terra cotta facade as it appeared in 1956.
The buildings are not landmarks or in a local historic district. But they were considered as contributing to a potential State Street National Register Historic District that ultimately wasn’t approved due to objections of owners.
Hovde has twice tried to demolish the one-story buildings it owns there.
In 2019, Hovde sought to demolish four of five buildings and in the short term replace them with an enclosed space with a mix of landscaping and hard surfaces suitable for art displays, performances and other programming, but withdrew the proposal amid opposition. Two decades ago, the city denied Hovde’s request to raze the buildings for a temporary parking lot in anticipation of future redevelopment.
The Hovde properties have been in limbo at least partly because they were envisioned to be part of the site for a joint redevelopment involving a new history center and private spaces that could have been the largest project in city history.
But in October 2021, after changes in sites, the Historical Society announced it would demolish its current undersized museum and adjacent properties at 20 and 22 N. Carroll St. for a new facility, which now will be a $160.5 million, 100,000-square-foot history center in a stylish five-story structure with a glass facade and rooftop deck offering sweeping views of the State Capitol.
The historic Churchill Building, 16 N. Carroll St. on Capitol Square, owned by Hovde Properties, is not a target for demolition.
Maximize the site
The timing for demolition is now, Guenther said.
“We have been coordinating with the Wisconsin Historical Society on their planned museum project and as part of that, reviewing how to accomplish their desired construction while taking into account the impact to the surrounding properties which we own,” he said.
With the history center’s plans now complete, and demolition expected to begin in the spring, Hovde has been considering how the society’s project will impact access and other issues in relation to the Hovde properties at 122 W. Washington Ave., 16 N. Carroll St. and the other properties on West Mifflin and North Fairchild streets, he said.
“We have determined that without the demolition of the collection of properties referenced in our notice there will be significant issues that cannot be adequately mitigated otherwise,” he said. “The timeframe of our requested demolition next year is primarily being driven by the museum’s timeline for their project and the impacts that it creates.”
The neighborhood, however, doesn’t want to see buildings razed with no plans for the future, Verveer said.
“The Silver Dollar will be missed by many,” he said. “My major concern is the site may be cleared and it will be a number of years before we see development.”
The properties are zoned “Downtown Core,” which is the primary zoning district around the Square and State Street and the most intensive of Downtown districts allowing for a variety of retail, office, governmental, residential, lodging and recreational uses, city Principal Planner Kevin Firchow said.
The sites could be developed up to the Capitol View Height Preservation limit, which means buildings can’t exceed the elevation of the base of the Capitol building’s columns, he said.
“A redevelopment plan, when ready, will seek to maximize the site taking into account any constraints that are present,” Guenther said.
Photos: Bayview Foundation development progress
Xong Vang, bilingual housing coordinator at Bayview, at right, heads to his new townhouse, center, as construction nears completion on the second phase of the Bayview Foundation redevelopment.
Cynthia Ward, who does grounds and janitorial work at Bayview, lets daughter Adrianna Shanklin see their apartment for the first time in one of the new buildings in the Bayview Foundation’s $58 million, low-income redevelopment on part of the Triangle Downtown.
Cynthia Ward, who does grounds and janitorial work at Bayview, hugs Bayview Foundation Executive Director Alexis London, left, as she shows her daughter, Adrianna Shanklin, their new apartment for the first time on Oct. 24.
Nanceny Fanny, teen and young adult program coordinator at Bayview, checks out the apartment where her mother, brother and sister will reside.
Xong Vang, housing coordinator at Bayview, in his future home located in one of the new townhouses in the Bayview neighborhood in Madison on Oct. 24.
Construction proceeds on the Bayview community center, left, and newest apartments, right.
Nanceny Fanny, teen and young adult program coordinator at Bayview, right, checks out the new apartment for her mother, brother and sister, with Bayview Foundation Executive Director Alexis London.
A courtyard area with full-sized basketball court will be centrally located between the community center and townhouses in the Bayview redevelopment.
Cynthia Ward, who does grounds and janitorial work at Bayview, and her daughter, Adrianna Shanklin, look at the view of the state Capitol from their new apartment.
A view of the courtyard from housing coordinator Xong Vang’s townhouse.
Cynthia Ward, who does grounds and janitorial work at Bayview, and her daughter, Adrianna Shanklin, at left, link arms as they follow Alexis London, Bayview Foundation executive director, to see their new apartment.
Townhouses are under construction in the Bayview neighborhood.
Artists install a colorful mural on the Bayview Foundation’s four-story apartment building at the corner of West Washington Avenue and Regent Street.
Adrianna Shanklin, 18, helps paint a mural that will be installed in September on the Bayview neighborhood apartment building on Regent Street, at the community center in Madison, Wis., Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2023. AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL
Brian Anonah, 12, left, and Azael Perez, 11, work on a mural that will be installed in September on the Bayview neighborhood apartment building on Regent Street, at the community center in Madison, Wis., Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2023. AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL
The Bayview Foundation’s new four-story apartment building with top-floor community room at West Washington Avenue and Regent Street.