Update: Madison weighing costly choices on Judge Doyle Square, negotiations to come
Update: Madison weighing costly choices on Judge Doyle Square, negotiations to come
By Dean Mosiman, Wisconsin State Journal
“Gebhardt Development, chosen to take over part of the Judge Doyle Square project Downtown, says the base of the structure nearing completion on the Madison Municipal Building block can’t support the building it hopes to construct without more modifications than initially thought.
Under Gebhardt’s initial plan, the nine-story building would have had an engineered wood frame. But the relatively new construction method isn’t yet recognized in the state building code. A concrete frame building, however, would be too heavy for the base, which consists of a five-level public underground parking garage, first-floor commercial space and two floors of above-ground parking.
Using concrete would also add to the cost and set the project back by up to six months in order to modify the base, the company said. A delay in opening the new public parking garage could mean a delay in demolishing the Government East parking garage, on the second block of the two-block development, and plans by Beitler Real Estate Services of Chicago to build a hotel on that block.
In response, the city is asking Gebhardt to explore steel framing for its portion of the project…”