Tuesday, September 16, 2014

"The White Building": What's Going to Happen to Pyare Square?

Family memory.
"There's the white building, Daddy!"
 --An observation my preschool son made every time I drove him home from Kids Play daycare in the late 1980s.

Pyare Square is located at 4610 University Avenue.....


......across the street and up the hill from Hilldale.

The 14-story, 82,000-square-foot building opened in 1969, housing the central offices for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.  The department moved to GEF 2 in the early 1979.


The building has remained mostly empty since 2005, when Capital Indemnity moved its offices to Middleton.  

I count 7 tenants listed on the building's current directory.


I was unable to ride the elevator to the 14th floor; I assume a key is needed.  Actually, I was surprised when the automatic doors opened as I approached the building's main entrance.  

Which is not the side facing University Avenue, now developing an unkempt appearance.


Pyare Square's recent history
  • 2008.  Owner proposes turning building into condos, floors 4 through 14, with 3 floors of parking -- sort of like a mini Marina City -- with 24 rowhouse condominiums constructed to the north.  Shorewood Hills officials give the plan a thumbs-down.
  • 2010.  An Illinois developer proposes razing the building and constructing 69 low-income apartment units.  Another thumbs-down from village officials.
  • 2013.  Another wrecking-ball plan.  Approval for an Oak Park Place proposal to construct 150 "continuum of care" units with first-floor retail expires, and as far as I can tell, the paperwork has never been resubmitted.  (Incidentally, Shorewood Hill's Tax Incremental District #4 Project Plan, Pyare Area, adopted January 19, 2010, is found here.) 

Bullet points source:   Pyare Square site eyed for senior housing. (Capital Times,7/24/2013)

The most likely outcome.  
Madison’s Pyare Square building is again facing a showdown with the wrecking ball.

My money is on the wrecking ball.

 All photos by Retiring Guy

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