Madison Wisconsin construction news: low-income housing development proposed at site of WMC headquarters

 

From this...

Photos by Retiring Guy

....to this

Wisconsin State Journal, 3/8/2025

Nicole Pollack reports:

A developer that has done several low-income housing projects in the Madison area is looking to build apartments at an East Washington Avenue site five blocks from Capitol Square that has long been occupied by Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce. 

Bear Development of Kenosha would demolish the WMC headquarters at 501 E. Washington Ave., which the business association built when it moved from Milwaukee in the 1980s, and construct a seven-story apartment building with 223 studio through two-bedroom units. The project would also have a parking garage with 68 stalls. 

The developer is aiming to break ground on the project by the end of this year and have it completed by 2027, Nick Orthmann, a project manager with Bear Development, told a meeting with neighbors in January. Later filings with the city put the construction start date in early 2026.

Other East Washington posts:

2025

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)