On Wednesday, December 2nd, the UW Real Estate Club hosted their final meeting of the semester with a focus on our own beautiful backyard of Madison, Wisconsin. The meeting started with a warm welcome by current Presidents Mark Schaer and Carolyn Kane, who shared information about the upcoming REC elections, and an introduction of next semester’s Presidents – Evan Zimmermann and Kevin Ford.
The baton was then passed to Matt Wachter, the Director of Planning for the City of Madison’s Community Development Authority. The discussion was centered around the Village at Park Development on S. Park Street. The Village at Park is a mixed-use development with the aim of elevating and serving the south Madison neighborhood. Mr. Wachter noted that it is a very important city project for the next 10 years. He also explained how, as a public-private partnership, it is vital that the local south Madison community has a sense of ownership over the development, with the ultimate goal of helping residents and integrating the South Madison neighborhood with surrounding areas.
Kris Koval, who works in asset management for the Community Development Authority, then spoke to the different aspects of the building. It is currently about 15% retail and 85% office tenants, with the ladder housing primarily educational and community services organizations. Ms. Koval noted that 13% of the space is currently occupied by minority small business owners. Ms. Koval and Mr. Wachter both touched on the ongoing development, including its capital stack, future uses, and expansion plans.
The mic was then passed to Merry Farrier-Babanovski, who is the Assistant Director of the UW Madison South Partnership. Ms. Farrier-Babanovski introduced to the Real Estate Club the Partnership’s mission and operations. The UW Madison South Partnership is a community organization that has physical space in the Village on Park on Madison’s south side. The Partnership has classroom spaces, community centers, and conference rooms, with the goal of encouraging meaningful and accessible engagement with UW Madison and the community. She explained that although the Madison South neighborhood is in close proximity to campus, the sense of integration with the school needs to be improved. It is vitally important that our neighbors feel as welcomed as we do in the UW-Madison community.
We thank all of our speakers for joining the Real Estate Club for this very informative and important discussion about our local community. It was an incredible learning experience for real estate club members to hear from experts about city planning, public-private partnerships, and the importance of these physical spaces to underserved communities. We appreciate the speaker’s time to re-iterate these important aspects that are foundational to any real estate career. Until next semester!
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