Dane County housing starts dropped in February compared with a year ago and remain at historical lows going back a dozen years, records showed. There were 40 building permits issued in February for new single-family homes and duplexes, compared with 43 in February 2011, for a 7 percent decrease, according to MTD Marketing Services of Menasha.
CITY OFFICALS APPROVE BROOKS STREET APARTMENTS PROPOSAL
A city design commission granted final approval Wednesday for a proposed five-story apartment building, although a university planning official said it conflicts with future campus expansion plans. The proposed 14-unit apartment complex would be located at 202 and 206 N. Brooks St. near UW-Madisons Educational Sciences building and would target student renters.
CITY COUNCIL APPROVES PROPOSED JOHNSON STREET BUILDING PLANS
City officials passed a motion Tuesday supporting the continued discussion of incorporating a potential new fire station and administration facilities in a proposed building near the Overture Center. The city wants to include a new fire station and administration complex in Hovde Properties proposal for a multi-use residence building on the 300 block of West Johnson and West Dayton streets.
CITY COUNCIL APPROVES CONTENTIOUS GRANDVIEW COMMONS GROCERY STORE
Minds were persuaded and tears were shed, but it appears Grandview Commons will be home to a 58,000-square-foot grocery store after a two-year fight involving neighbors, council members and developers. The Madison City Council early Wednesday morning approved an amendment to the city's comprehensive plan to allow for the contentious Copps grocery store in the Far East Side community.
CRITICS SAY GRANDVIEW GROCERY IS NOT THE NEW URBANISM THEY BARGAINED FOR
Erin Thornley says she never would have purchased her home in the Grandview Commons neighborhood on Madison's far east side if she had known that the grand view she would be getting would be of a grand food store. But that's what the City Council approved Tuesday night, after a grueling 10-hour meeting that lasted until 4 a.m. Wednesday morning.
CITY'S RENTAL PROPERTY REGISTRATION GETS COOL RESPONSE
A new city of Madison ordinance requiring landlords to provide two local emergency contacts is causing headaches for city officials charged with collecting the information. City building inspection director George Hank says he has received hundreds of phone calls over the past weeks from property owners confused or angry about the law -- which also charges owners an annual fee of $5 per property.
DANE COUNTY LANDS FARM TECHNOLOGY DAYS
It may not salve the wounds of potentially losing the WIAA state basketball tournaments but Dane County has landed one of the states most prestigious farm shows for 2015. County officials on Monday said they filed an application to host Wisconsin Farm Technology Days, which old-timers might remember as Farm Progress Days.
The vision calls for new hotels, housing, offices, stores, restaurants, a bike center and a massive underground parking garage on city-owned property a block off Capitol Square. And the cost, complexity and opportunity in redeveloping the two blocks are staggering.
Another vision for State Street's 100 block was unveiled Monday, this time not by a developer but the chairman of the city's Landmarks Commission.
FISH HATCHERY INTERCHANGE WORK PAVES WAY FOR NEW PERKINS RESTAURANT
The reconstruction of the Fish Hatchery Road interchange at the Beltline will also mean a new Perkins restaurant. The existing restaurant, just west of Fish Hatchery Road, will be razed in June to make way for a new frontage road. Work on the new restaurant began last week.
Veridian Homes, Madison, received the 2012 Avid Gold Award for Best Customer Experience in the Midwest region, with a score of 276 out of a possible 300 points.
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