City of Madison selects the Alexander Company for Park Badger Redevelopment; first public meetings held next week

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Site map of the proposed Park Badger redevelopment, including the former Metro South Transfer Point, the former Centro Hispano building, the former Badger Office Building, and the current South District police station
Image credit: The Alexander Company

The City of Madison’s Community Development Authority (CDA) has selected Madison-based The Alexander Company to help lead a public-private process to redevelop a prominent site near the intersection of South Park Street and West Badger Road on the City’s south side.  

Over the past several years, the City of Madison acquired commercial properties at 810 and 818 Badger Road through its Land Banking program, which seeks to buy and hold properties for eventual redevelopment for affordable housing and other economic development projects.

When combined with existing City-owned properties at 802 West Badger Road (the Metro South Transfer Point) and 825 Hughes Place (the Madison Police Department’s South District station), they form a contiguous 4-acre redevelopment parcel: the so-called “Park and Badger Redevelopment Area” that City staff identified as being suitable for high-quality, urban infill development on a key gateway intersection in South Madison.  

Preliminary plans for the Park and Badger Area call for the relocation of Fire Station No. 6 across Badger Road to a new home in one of the development’s new buildings, which in turn will allow for an expansion of the early childhood education program at Madison College’s Goodman South Campus. Preliminary plans also include a new 30,000-square-foot office and clinic space for Public Health Madison Dane County in the complex. Several hundred units of mixed-income and affordable housing are also planned for the site across two or three phases, depending on the timing of the eventual relocation of the MPD South station to the former Town of Madison Hall site on Fish Hatchery Road in the coming years. The CDA expects to complete the first phases of development by 2027.

The Common Council designated the CDA as the master developer for Park and Badger in October 2023, given its experience as owner and manager of a large portfolio of affordable and/or income-restricted housing units throughout Madison and its access to redevelopment tools and financial resources at the local, state and federal levels. The CDA was further empowered to seek development partnerships via a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) process, which culminated in the selection of a consultant team led by The Alexander Company at the April 11, 2024 meeting of the CDA Board of Commissioners.

Alexander is nationally recognized for urban infill development and revitalization achievements and is a leading force behind the creation of affordable housing communities and solutions with a history of success spanning over 40 years. The project will be co-developed by Captains Inc., a minority-owned real estate development and management firm with a combined 35 years of real estate experience that owns, operates, and manages more than 230 affordable and market-rate housing units in the Madison area and has developed or revitalized more than 100 properties. New Year Investments, a woman-owned real estate development and brokerage firm with a focus on creating thoughtfully designed, mixed-use, urban infill properties in Madison and the surrounding area, will also provide consulting developer services.

We are tested, informed, and ready to partner with the CDA to redevelop this site into an active anchor of the neighborhood and the City of Madison. The immediate benefit lies in engaging the community -- with all its diverse voices -- as empowered partners in the future of this redevelopment. We place great importance on stakeholder and community outreach, and focus on creating vibrant, inviting urban neighborhoods for all to enjoy new destinations for life, leisure, and industry.

Alexander Company President Joseph Alexander

The full team of consultants includes several other leading Madison-based firms, including Potter Lawson as master planners and architects, OPN Architects as lead designers of the new Fire Station No. 6, BrandNu Design as public art and engagement consultants, Saiki Design as landscape architects, and JSD as civil engineers.

The CDA and Alexander will soon enter into a letter of intent for the professional services requested in the RFQ related to the preparation of a master plan for development of new affordable housing, public health clinic, fire station, and related public/private amenities; leadership in the planning, application and project development process; a robust neighborhood engagement process; and expertise in leveraging financial tools such as Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC).  

The CDA and the development partner team will formally kick off the planning and visioning process in summer 2024, with the first community conversation scheduled for Monday, June 24. There will be an online presentation and Q&A at noon, and an in-person meeting at 6pm at the Urban League’s Black Business Hub at 2352 S. Park Street. The content of each meeting will be the same. Please register for the meeting and future updates by visiting the project website.

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