The city is negotiating an agreement with Missouri-based developer Drury Southwest to improve the look and safety of the site of the former Madison Area Technical College Downtown campus at 33 W. Johnson St. until a project gets underway, the Wisconsin State Journal reports. The news comes months after Drury suspended plans to redevelop the block near Capitol Square — one of several similar attempts since 2019.
Madison College retains ownership of the property, while the developer holds a ground lease. To make way for a hotel, Drury demolished the atrium of the building and parking lot, but the developer halted the project amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2022, Madison nonprofit Wisconsin Housing Preservation Corp. proposed a 12-story housing project on a vacant part of the site, and Middleton’s NCG Hospitality joined forces to transform the existing building into a hotel. The nonprofit abandoned plans due to rising construction costs and interest rates, and while NCG initially tried to take over the housing as well as the hotel, it said in August it would not move forward with the project.
The city is asking that the hole in the ground be filled and re-seeded, the block’s chain-link fence taken down, and the building secured from potential break-ins. It is finalizing an agreement and timeline with Drury, which has reportedly been receptive and already addressed some of the site’s issues.
