With the University of Wisconsin-Madison student body growing each year, excess demand for housing has prompted developers to bring new projects to Madison.
A host of prominent developers in the Madison area have new projects currently underway, including Core Spaces, a Chicago-based development company that previously built The James and Hub Madison, and Steve Brown Apartments, a Madison-based development company that previously built the Lucky apartments and several smaller complexes.
Here are five projects currently planned or under construction near the UW-Madison campus.
Hub Madison Bassett
The Hub Madison Bassett will finally open in Fall 2026 after a series of complications in its proposals.
Core Spaces originally proposed the project in June of 2023, which the Madison Common Council rejected originally because of its lack of affordable units. They reversed the decision weeks later after the Common Council found their decision --- denying rezoning solely because of affordability --- to be prohibited by state law.
The creation of the 12-story, 235-unit student housing building on Bassett Street required the demolition of 10 existing housing properties.
New Langdon
Steve Brown Apartments secured city approval for a new, lower-cost apartment complex on Langdon Street in September 2024.
The Langdon Street lot has been vacant since 2008, with other developers such as Core Spaces being rejected because of objections about affordability and building height.
The five-story, 79-unit apartment building began construction in Spring 2025 and will begin leasing for Fall 2026.
1223 Regent Street
The non-profit housing developer Wisconsin Housing Preservation Corporation is in the process of building a multi-use space on Regent Street to include commercial spaces as well as 50 mostly lower-cost housing units.
This required the demolition of an existing auto repair shop, which was approved by the Common Council in 2023.
The development plans to start leasing apartments for Spring 2026.
This development is one of many new student-housing developments in the Greenbush neighborhood on the south side of campus, including Atmosphere Madison, Clover Commons and Chapter at Madison.
LZ Ventures on N Brooks
LZ Ventures is a Madison-based property development company most known for their student housing developments like Grand Central and X01.
Their newest development will be a 15-story, 189-unit property situated next to their existing developments on University Ave and N Brooks Street.
However, the process of acquiring such prime real estate required LZ Ventures to come to a unique compromise with the existing owners of the land, Porchlight Inc.
Porchlight Inc. has owned their North Brooks Street property for more than 15 years, and hesitated to give up the property which housed and provided services to the Madison homeless population, according to WMTV.
However, in April of last year, LZ ventures proposed a new permanent housing project for Porchlight on East Washington Avenue in return for the demolition of the existing building and the right to build the new development.
This proposal was ultimately accepted by Porchlight, but the entire process of demolition and construction will take a few years to complete, according to Channel 3000.
State & West Gilman
The newest development will be proposed near the intersection of State Street and West Gilman Street.
The project is fronted by Georgia-based student housing developer Landmark Properties. The company has built student housing units near universities like the University of Minnesota, the University of Michigan and others.
According to the developer's plans, the property would include 261 residential units and 974 total beds, as well as over 1,500 square feet of retail space, a rooftop pool and 77 parking spaces.
Existing buildings such as the Fugu Asian Fusion restaurant and the Stratford Atrium apartments would be demolished for the project, although Landmark Properties plans to keep some of the materials from the current structures, according to the Wisconsin State Journal.
The proposal will be reviewed by the Common Council on Oct. 7.
Vanessa Gavilan is the city news editor for The Daily Cardinal. She has reported on Madison's school district, the Common Council, city elections and referendums. She also has written in-depth on housing affordability.
