New Life For East Side Project?
Board Meets Tonight On Gorman Redesign

By Lee Sensenbrenner
The Capital Times, March 27, 2006

A major retail and condominium project for the 800 block of East Washington Avenue that once appeared stalled emerged with a new design over the weekend and could get a strong signal tonight from the city of Madison.

In another round of an ongoing negotiation, the city's Board of Estimates could signal its willingness to back the latest plans as it meets in closed session tonight.

Developer Gary Gorman's plans to reconstruct much of a city block on the near east side that's now occupied by a car dealership had failed to win the level of public funding he'd requested. The city stopped short of approving $4.2 million in tax incremental financing to help him build an $84 million collection of buildings, including a nine-story tower and several townhouses.

For a time, Gorman and the city appeared to be in a deadlock and both said the project, which had enthusiastic support from the neighborhood as well as planning and design officials, would likely not go forward.

The new plans -- which do away with the nine-story tower and scale back the project's cost to $58 million -- would seek roughly $4 million in tax incremental financing, according to Chris Laurent of the Gorman Co.

Mayor Dave Cieslewicz's office greeted the movement in negotiations warmly, but did not offer definite support for the new details of the proposed project.

"We're still talking. Everyone is still at the table," mayoral spokesman George Twigg said. "It's a very positive step that they've taken."

Ald. Brenda Konkel initially criticized the plans, presented at a coffee shop on Saturday, as becoming too geared toward cars and driveways, but said that she is still a supporter of it.

"I'd like something to happen as quickly as possible there," she said. "I still support the project, maybe a bit less enthusiastically, but I still support it."

Questioned about various design points, Twigg said that the mayor was "not going to get into that level of specifics yet."

"You often go through many rounds of back and forth before coming to an end point that everyone can agree on," Twigg said.