Edgewater Hotel Proposal Is Environmental and Sprawl Test for Madison

The plans for expansion of Madison's Edgewater Hotel offers a real challenge to the city: A new city living room: Massive Edgewater redevelopment proposed.  As the Wisconsin State Journal reported:

Ledell Zellers, former president of Capitol Neighborhoods and a steering committee member, called Dunn’s maneuvering behind the scenes “disheartening” and said the project could harm the neighborhood by inspiring owners to let properties decline so they can be demolished for big buildings. (emphasis added)

Madison is going to have to come to grips with its future and face an environmental land use challenge.

Either we fight sprawl with higher densities. Or not.

The city made a commitment forty years ago to fight the decline of downtown. As enclosed shopping malls populated the landscape ofthe 1960's and suburbanization spread across the country, Madison made a commitment to a thriving downtown with a mix of residential, commercial, retail, and governmental uses.

This commitment meant higher densities. Those densities would mean more efficient use of infrastructure, avoiding the Washington D.C. syndrome of a dark desolate city after 6:00 pm. It meant less reliance on the automobile and greater utilization of public transit. It meant a commitment to encouraging student housing closer to campus, taking the pressure off adjacent family neighborhoods from Vilas to Tenney Park.

Madison has to choose.  It can have leadership that concludes that the Edgewater expansion will lead to the deliberate deterioration of property.

Hopefully it chooses leadership committed to slowing suburban sprawl and efficiently using the infrastructure of an urban community, and new and innovative designs that are energy efficient.

The place to start is to repeal the well intentioned but poorly designed five-story cap on construction in the Langdon Street area. When one developer proposed an overly ambitious seventeen story building a few years ago, the city overreacted with the five story cap. The cap is in an area that already had close to a dozen buildings eight to twelve stories or higher, most of which are over forty to fifty years old.

As for "maneuvering behind the scenes " Zellers is probably referring to meetings that were held and she was not invited.

Disclosure:for close to forty years as both a public and private citizen I have advocated new construction and higher densities in the downtown area. That led to my consulting business contracting with two developers who have an interest in new construction in downtown Madison. The same difficulties facing the Edgewater Hotel development face my clients. 

Comments

[Not Ledell Zellers]

"CNI gripped by rampant NIMBYism" ain't news in Madison. But it does raise an interesting policy question about how much power a neighborhood association or alder should have on issues with a city-wide impact.

[R.J.]

"well intentioned but poorly designed"

If I had a dollar for every time I've heard that...

[Anti-Sprawl Andy]

The Edgewater proposal would be a GREAT addition to downtown. It preserves the historic "view" of Lake Mendota from Wisconsin Avenue and actually opens up the lakeshore to public use with the terrific "bridge" from Wisconsin Avenue over the top of the hotel and winding down to the lake.

[rich]

I agree with this post.

However, could we also ask for better design in these buildings, particularly those on shoreline properties? The proposed Edgewater is halfway there.

But it's still a squat block of concrete smack on top of Madison's greatest asset.

A Union Terrace-like feature, flowing access to the lake, and better integration of building with neighborhood and lake would all vastly improve the current design.

Madison's shoreline begs for regenerative architecture that re-installs the ecological features of the lake-land interface --- yet every time, we fail to rise to a challenge so obvious it screams Invitation for Innovation Here! And every time, Madison falls further and further behind the ecological cutting edge.

Capture that south face, account for water capture & infiltration, incorporate a greenhouse amenity/living machine for those harsh winter days, blur the boundary between building and lake. But, please, at long last, don't give us crap.

Hitting the mark on efficient, sustainable building is not that difficult --- it's only been thirty years since the concept took off. It's better for the bottom line. It's a huge selling point for a hotel like the Edgewater. Sure they have a style to keep, but that hardly precludes softening the edges and going greener they have to.

Madison has for too long settled for less than the very best --- yes, that includes density --- and it will kill the 4-lakes goose that laid the golden egg of our quality & way of life.

Good luck on the expansion --- I want it to happen.

But density alone is not good enough. It'll just repeat the mistakes of conventional cities. And people wont' want to live downtown any more than they did before . . . not without literally greener and more vibrant public and private spaces.

To the degree the proposal doesn't do that, it's a huge disappointment

The renderings I saw were not bad. But if we settle for the status quo

[Sydney Hotels]

That would be a great plan for Edgewater Hotel. Good luck. I guess people will love it and it is a great addition to downtown.