City officials will select a proposal to build new office, retail and hotel space on the Judge Doyle Square this summer, with construction possibly beginning at the end of 2015.
The Judge Doyle Square redevelopment plan comprises new construction at the current site of the aging Madison Municipal Building and Government East parking garage, located between the 200 block of South Pinckney Street and Martin Luther King Boulevard.
Four developers submitted their proposals for the project to the Common Council, which voted May 19 to negotiate exclusively with JDS Development Group.
All four proposals include a 210-room hotel, a public parking garage and office buildings, though the JDS proposal adds a corporate headquarters and research facility for Exact Sciences, a Madison-based biotechnology company focusing on colorectal cancer research.
"Welcoming an innovative tech company like Exact Sciences and bringing hundreds of highly-skilled workers downtown is an enormous opportunity," said Kevin Conroy, CEO of Exact Sciences, in a statement made after JDS released plans for the new headquarters.
Madison Mayor Paul Soglin praised the plans to revitalize the downtown area.
"The opportunity to develop such valuable and underutilized property in the central city will not happen again," Soglin said in a statement. "We were fortunate to receive several very exciting proposals."
The project, whose preliminary costs range between $186 million and $203 million, includes a mix of public and private properties, though city officials hope to keep public costs as low as possible. Under any proposal, Madison would only pay for parking costs, as requested by the Common Council.
City negotiators and developers face a tight deadline to reach an agreement because Exact Sciences wants to break ground by the end of the year. A preliminary agreement is due at the end of June. The Common Council will make its official approval in August.
