Spring break is over and as students filter back for the second half of the semester, State Street is also entering another stage of its entertainment district evolution as the Overture Center enters Phase II of its construction. This time it's two restaurants that are facing their final days as March draws to a close.
It's odd to see, given the street's steady pace toward restaurants and high-end retail-based upon the theory that the Overture Center is going to suddenly suck in ever-higher numbers of the suburban middle class for evenings at the theater. But, in order for Cesar Pelli's ugliest stepchild to edge closer to completion, the Radical Rye and Madison Masala will be closing their doors so their walls can come down. The end of business for them is certainly not a surprise. Masala moved into its current space after the project was announced and the location's former business took the chance to pre-emptively close.
The Radical Rye was also bought out at the same time, when its owner took the chance to cut and run. If all goes well, the Rye may be moving to a new location further down the street and it will not be lost to students, just moved closer to a customer base it shares with new arrival Pel'Meni. So in theory, Overture is doing well by students, at least in some marginal disconnected way, by potentially moving an eatery a little bit closer to campus.
But overall, Overture hasn't been kind to State Street or the students, and whether they'd acknowledge it or not, it hasn't made life easy for the city government over the past five years. State Street redesigns were suddenly very important, though most business owners would tell you that a total redo of the thoroughfare was not necessary, just better upkeep of the current constructions. Flashy new bus shelters, in keeping with the lump of steel and glass and light going up on the 200 block, are now a must-have, and the old-school brick planters and benches of the past few decades aren't good enough anymore. Lisa Link Peace Park, after years of benign neglect and apathy left it to the territory of gutter punks and a rotating cast of Madison's homeless population, is now in unavoidable need of it's own face lift.
Bookstores and coffeeshops, once a vital and vibrant marker of the area important enough to find their way into fiction like Neil Gaiman's \American Gods,"" find themselves in flux. With the recent opening of Fair Trade Coffee House, the coffee purveyors are taking the offensive, following years of defeat that included the loss of a Victor Allen's and Caf?? Assisi. Bookstores, however, are dropping like flies. Just within the direct area of State Street, McDermott's, More Books and Canterbury have all closed their doors within the last year, and Bookworks' impending demise makes it an even four. Avol's was only saved from the same fate by taking over Canterbury's space.
Ignoring the textbook emporiums, with their stacks of French dictionaries and accounting textbooks, there are only a few bookshops left, a full 50 percent lost within a single year. A shifting customer base, the Internet and the big box stores could all perhaps be blamed. But most owners are just as likely to blame their rising rents and increased property taxes. Overture led to some rabid property speculation as developers invented grand plans of condos overlooking an outdoor mall full of only the classiest retail chains and boutiques. Though these plans look solidly set to never happen, the damage has been done and many of the small business owners can't take the strain.
The next few years will see a cascade effect, as block after block will find business interrupted and reduced while one set of asphalt and bricks is torn up and replaced by another. Bookworks' closure, a decision based heavily upon the construction set to begin at the end of April, is only the first. Others will follow. Eventually the empty storefronts will fill up, but probably too many of them with chains who can afford the excess rent and too few with the unique shops that have created the character of the street. Yes, State Street, like any retail environment, is marked by constant change. But the rapid felling of business after business prompted by Overture's unexpected ripples cannot be something the city was expecting, and it certainly hasn't been good for the students. Higher ticket prices and worry over local access to the venues are only the most direct the end results of the architecturally mundane monstrosity have yet to be seen.
