Welcome to Gorman :: News & Awards

Madison should bid as much as $5.8 million to buy 20 percent of the rental housing in the core of troubled Allied Drive, the city's financial committee recommended on Monday.

Also, the Board of Estimates directed staff to pursue a "new idea" by Mayor Dave Cieslewicz to revive developer Gary Gorman's comatose, $84 million redevelopment project on the near East Side.

Gorman recently dropped his Avenue 800 housing and retail project because of a $2 million difference with the city over public assistance.

To improve Allied Drive on the city's Southwest Side, the city should make a bid to buy 129 rental units in nine buildings -- 20 percent of the rental housing -- that were owned by Troy Hauk but fell into receivership earlier this year, the board said.

The properties, 2317 to 2409 Allied Drive, will be auctioned off by Amcore Bank next month. They are assessed at $5.85 million, but the bank note on the properties stands at $4.5 million.

The city is unlikely to bid up to the assessed value, but the board recommended authorizing an offer up to that sum so the city wouldn't give a competitive advantage to others, Twigg said. The City Council must approve any bid.

The mayor "feels strongly the neighborhood is at a turning point," Twigg said. "There is a cost to not acting."

The Gorman project, meanwhile, could be a major catalyst to reviving the East Side.

The board recommended against a proposal by Ald. Brenda Konkel, 2nd District, to give Gorman $2.2 million in tax increment financing (TIF) money for a $42.5 million first phase of the project and to find a creative solution to breaking an impasse on an additional $2 million Gorman sought to buy land for a $41.3 million second phase.

The board was also uninterested in a recent suggestion by Community Development Authority Chairman Stuart Levitan that the CDA -- rather than Gorman -- hold land for a second phase of the project until it's ready to be built.

Instead, the board said the city should refine Cieslewicz's new idea.

"We're still working on a solution," Cieslewicz spokesman George Twigg said, refusing to reveal details.

Konkel, who also declined to discuss specifics, said, "I would not say I'm overly optimistic."

In other business Monday, the board:

Endorsed a $50,300 contract with Radio Engineering Industries to put video surveillance systems in 15 Metro Transit buses.

Cameras, Metro officials say, would record incidents that threaten the safety of drivers or passengers, serve as a deterrent, and offer a sense of security to riders waiting at transfer stations. They will be placed on buses used most by students and on other problem routes.