Madison in the Morning

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Madison Public Market all but scrapped, officials make plea for funding

MADISON (WKOW) - The City of Madison's ambitious public market project is on its last leg, as city alders all but shut down the project leaders' request for funding. 

The market, which was slated to begin construction this November, would host more than 100 vendors, create more than 100 jobs and bring an estimated $20 million in economic impact to the Madison area each year. The majority of businesses would also be minority-owned, in an attempt to create what the Madison Public Market Foundation calls "equity through entrepreneurship."

But over the past few years, the market has faced delay after delay.

The project was first delayed two years at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, after the site for the project became a shelter for homeless men.

Then earlier this year, it was revealed the project was suddenly more than $5 million short of its necessary funding, after inflated construction costs of $1 million caused federal investors to withdraw nearly $4 million of funding for the project. 

In light of the sudden funding gap, members of the public market's development committee went to the City of Madison's finance committee in September to approve a budget amendment which would make up the difference, but alders weren't on board. 

"I don't think this is a great location, I don't think this is a great use of public money and I think it's time to say that this is a mistake and we need to move on," finance committee member and alder for the 19th district Keith Furman said.

In their meeting, finance committee members raised concerns about taking money away from other city projects, particularly on the city's south side, and future inflation making the project even more expensive. Madison Economic Development Director Matt Mikolajewski pointed out concerns for rising construction costs continuing into the future.

"Even if we're able to have some additional federal funding and cut some costs of the project, the total gap might still be around $5 million," Mikolajewski said. 

Finally on Wednesday, the finance committee decided not to refer to the common council an amendment to the budget that would make up for the lost funding, saying the project was just too risky. 

That means the current budget, which leaves out the public market, only has to be approved by the Common Council on November 14, before it becomes final, and the public market project meets its end. 

It's a heartbreaking reality for Madison Public Market Foundation board member, and future vendor, James Shulkin. He says they've applied for federal grants in the past few weeks, but none have come through so far. 

Shulkin encourages the public to call their alders and ask for the funding for the market, as it's essentially the project's last hope. 

"It is safe to say that [ending] it could happen, but we're going to do everything we can to make sure that doesn't happen," Shulkin said. "So we'll see. Fingers crossed."

More at WKOW 27 News


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