Judge Doyle Square is closer than ever to its long-awaited revamping.
The square, located in the quiet corridor between the Capitol and Monona Terrace, had until recently been eyed by four companies for development. With the backing-down of the original developer in November, and the failure of another to meet the Jan. 19 deadline for updated proposals, only two serious teams and visions for the Square’s future remain.
Plans for Judge Doyle Square took an unexpected turn last November after JDS Development, until then the only developer permitted to negotiate for the project, was taken out of consideration.
Exact Sciences, a medical screening company partnered with JDS Development, had intended to locate its headquarters in the Square but faced a major loss in stock value, making it unviable as a tenant.
Without Exact Sciences, the city’s preferred tenant, the original plans fell apart and the city began assessing the proposals of three other development companies, with Jan. 19 as the deadline for updated proposals, in line with the city’s requirements.
Unable to find a hotel company to partner with, another developer, Doyle Square Development, will likely not move on to the next round of negotiations.
The remaining developers, Beitler Real Estate Services and Vermilion Development, share many of the same visions for the square. The two remaining plans each propose four common features: a hotel, apartments, retail space and parking. However, the plans differ on three main points.
The first is whether to include office space, with Vermilion calling for 94,000 square feet and Beitler forgoing it in favor of more space elsewhere, Director of Planning and Community and Economic Development for the City of Madison Natalie Erdman said in a statement.
The second is how square footage is allocated overall. Beitler and Vermilion call for roughly the same amount of hotel rooms (252 vs. 279, respectively) but differ in apartment units (210 vs. 125) and parking stalls (927 vs. 1108).
Lastly, the plans differ in funding requested from the city, with Vermilion asking $49 million to update parking facilities and Beitler asking $26 million for parking and retail.
The City Negotiating Team will complete an initial review of the revised proposals for the Common Council and Board of Estimates by the end of February.
