MADISON- Cost and opportunity are high in Capitol Square redevelopment

The vision calls for new hotels, housing, offices, stores, restaurants, a bike center and a massive underground parking garage on city-owned property a block off Capitol Square.
And the cost, complexity and opportunity in redeveloping two blocks that now host the Madison Municipal Building and Government East Parking Garage are staggering, a new draft staff report says. According to the report, the redevelopment, which could cost $200 million and take seven years to plan and build, is “possibly as complex a project as the city has ever undertaken,” the 38-page report says. The project, which could add two hotels with a total of 430 rooms, 114 apartments, tens of thousands of square feet of retail and office space and 1,300 parking spaces, could generate $660,000 in property taxes and $600,000 to $1 million in room taxes annually, among other economic benefits.