Madison Ald. Mike Verveer is looking forward to the redevelopment of three state-owned buildings in his aldermanic district downtown, but the opportunity to bring Amtrak passenger rail service ranks as high to him as an excellent opportunity to address the city’s housing needs.
The historic State Office Building at 1 W. Wilson Building is set to become the site of a new Amtrak station that serves an extension of Amtrak’s Hiawatha rail line — one that connects Madison by rail to Milwaukee and eventually to Eau Claire and the Twin Cities.
The Wisconsin Department of Administration is proposing to accept a $10 million offer from Madison-based Landmark Development, the Wisconsin State Journal reported.
Verveer, who represents District 4, said bids to redevelop the historic building, which recently housed the state’s Department of Health Services, include housing, hospitality and an Amtrak rail station with some retail features.
“Of course, most downtown stakeholders will reference the beauty of the Art Deco original state office building on Wilson Street, and they have mentioned that they want to see it preserved and that is pretty much assured given the legal protections that are there,” Verveer said.
“That, I don’t think, will be an issue, and much of the original historic features inside the building, particularly the beautiful lobby, are well intact and will just be a great entryway to our community for passenger rail at some time in the future.”
The other state buildings for sale poised for redevelopment include the GEF-2 and 3 buildings on Webster Street.
All aboard
Verveer said Amtrak passenger rail, which was discussed April 21 during a public webinar with Amtrak officials, is compatible with residential use for the building.
During the webinar, Arun Rao, senior director of network development for Amtrak, said the proposed Hiawatha West extension from Milwaukee to Madison would start service in the early 2030s, if approved and funded as currently proposed.
Estimated project costs are between $215 million and $275 million, with existing federal grant programs covering up to 80% of project costs and state and local partners covering the other 20%. That will require approval from the city and the state Legislature.
Amtrak projects more than 260,000 annual passenger trips for initial ridership, slightly higher than earlier forecasts.
Among the benefits of an extension would be more than $20 million in projected visitor spending, Rao said.
Earlier this year, the city of Madison narrowed down possible station sites, with the Monona lakefront site, situated between John Nolen Drive and Wilson Street, as thepreferred option.
The site’s proximity to downtown Madison and connections to public transit make it attractive, and the use of the 1 W. Wilson St. building as the train station, with accompanying retail, could be part of the building’s redevelopment, Verveer said.
At the 422,087-square-foot 1 W. Wilson St.building, there are 11 stories above ground, but some of the square footage is in the four stories below ground, which Verveer said will be an interesting challenge for the development teams.
The prime above-ground views of Lake Monona will likely be a mixture of multifamily and hospitality, he said.
“The rail being obviously below ground, getting down to the tracks … and so when you think of a train station there, the thought is that there would be some retail that would go along with that, although not a huge amount.
“So, the prime views would certainly go to the mixture of hospitality and multifamily, and then it gets more interesting as you kind of go down in terms of how to utilize so much of that space that’s below street level.”
Verveer said Amtrak plans to build a temporary passenger rail location on the city owned property at East Wilson and South Hancock streets, the site of the Madison water utility’s Crowley station reservoir and well.
“That’s owned by the parking utility and so it’s very convenient that the city owns this property,” Verveer said. “We’ve communicated to Amtrak privately that we welcome that as an interim passenger rail station.”
That facility would be in place until 1 W. Wilson St. is redeveloped. Verveer said it is his understanding that there are Amtrak grants available to build out the temporary station and cover ongoing lease payments by Amtrak.
Looking further down the road, Verveer said it would be amazing if someday Madison could have light rail as well as Amtrak passenger service in Madison.
“I’ll take whatever we can get…. There is just tons and tons of excitement to bring passenger rail back to Madison after a hiatus of about 50 years,” Verveer said.
The public should know more in May, when the sale of the 1 W. Wilson property could be on the agenda of the State Building Commission.
