Retiring Guy's Digest: Now there's a plan for the vacant Madison Central/MATC site

Monday, February 23, 2026

Now there's a plan for the vacant Madison Central/MATC site

From this...

Photo by Retiring Guy

... to this. Or so it has been proposed.

Rendering and headline: Wisconsin State Journal, 1/29/2026

Nicole Pollock reports:

The proposal approved Tuesday evening calls for a 205-room Drury Plaza Hotel facing Wisconsin Avenue on the former Madison Area Technical College Downtown campus. The hotel would neighbor the historic six-story MATC building, taking up the part of the block where developer Drury Southwest of Cape Girardeau, Missouri, previously demolished the building’s atrium and parking lot.
Plans for the hotel include a bar and restaurant, meeting room, fitness area and pool, along with around 180 enclosed parking spaces, some of which would be set aside for future users of the MATC building. Drury has said it’s seeking another developer to repurpose that building, which is listed in the national and state registers of historic places and would likely be converted into housing.

Photos taken at the site today: