Madison is considering a $2 million investment in a $29.2 million face-lift and renovation of the massive AT&T building Downtown.
Hovde Properties, which acquired the 10-story building, intends to add glass and windows to the facade to modernize and bring more light into the cream-colored, stone-paneled structure at 316 W. Washington Ave. Hovde also wants to add fire sprinklers to floors six through 10, improve elevators, deal with asbestos, renovate the interior to create space for future tenants, redo the front entrance plaza and side entrance, and upgrade landscaping.
Initial plans were unveiled last fall.
To do the project, Hovde would secure an $18.6 million bank loan and use $8.5 million in equity, leaving a $2 million gap that would be filled with a $2 million tax increment financing (TIF) loan, according to a city staff report. The TIF loan would account for 55 percent of the new tax revenue from the property in a new TIF district to be created in the area. The loan would be repaid in eight years.
The proposed loan will be introduced to the City Council Tuesday and decided later.
The building, constructed in 1970 as Wisconsin Bell’s corporate headquarters, has 180,000 square feet of space, of which 152,000 would be renovated as office and first-floor retail space, and two levels of underground parking.
The improvements would quadruple the property’s tax value to $21 million.
View original article by Dean Mosiman via the Wisconsin State Journal here.
