Empty block next to GEF 1 in downtown Madison is next isthmus redevelopment target

 

Photo by Retiring Guy

Wisconsin State Journal, 2/4/2025

Nicole Pollack reports:

The city-owned Brayton Lot has about 270 parking stalls and was used most recently as a construction staging area for Madison’s new Bus Rapid Transit route. Buildings there could be up to 10 stories tall, staff said, with the potential for a couple of additional stories if some units are set aside for lower-income residents. 

Using the Brayton Lot for BRT staging helped the city secure enough federal funding to build the $194 million Route A, which now runs directly past the site. Because of that arrangement, however, the Federal Transit Administration must sign off on any new development there. 

Any future project at the site must meet FTA standards, including having no more off-street parking spaces than the 270 that exist today and benefitting public transit by increasing demand for service in the area. It must also return $9 million — the value of the lot — to Metro Transit. 

Other East Washington posts:

2025

Low-income housing development proposed at site of WMC headquarters.  (3/8)

Baker's Place.  (1/28)

2024

Affordable housing development at 3401 East Washington Avenue.  (10/21)

Bakers Place.  (9/28)

Redevelopment project at 3401 East Washington Avenue.  (6/11)

Baker's Place.  (5/6)

Redevelopment project at 3401 East Washington Avenue.  (2/7)

151-room Moxy Hotel construction site visits.  (1/29)

New home of Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestra.  (1/29)

2023

15-story hotel proposed for Archipelago Village.  (10/17)

The Continental.  (7/25)

The Standard site visits series.  (2/23)

2022

Huge mural provides showcase for new mixed-use development.  (10/2)

Archipelago Village.  (3/3)

Low-cost housing proposed for former Bimbo Bakeries site.  (1/23)

Madison Youth Arts Center.  (1/2)

2021

The Valor.  (10/19)

800 block project revisited:  Love notes to the temporarily shuttered Sylvee.  (2/14)

2020

The Arden.  (12/18)

10-story apartment building proposed for 400 block.  (1/10)

Stone House mixed-use development on East Washington.  (1/9)

2019

Hotel Indigo.  (12/2)

NIMBY chronicles.  (11/12)

AC Hotel, Madison WI:  A view from the 10th floor bar.  (11/12)

Capital East parking garage.  (1/14)

2018

East Capital parking garage UPDATE. Late November construction progress report. (11/28)

Proposed hotel put on hold. (2/12)
StartingBlock construction as we approach the end of January. (1/30)

2017
The Lyric Apartments are ready for occupancy.  (8/30)
This stretch of East Washington Avenue in Madison, Wisconsin, has undergone a major transformation during the past 5 years.  (5/13)

2016
Madison East Washington Festival Foods is open for business.  (4/13)

2015
The balconies of the Constellation.  (4/19)

2014
The Constellation rises above the treetops.  (9/7)