Work continues on the east side's Garver Arts Incubator. Common Wealth Development, a nonprofit community development corporation, plans to develop the site of the historic Garver Feed Mill as a public space where visitors will mingle with artists in affordable studios.
A referendum related to conveying the property to Common Wealth passed early in 2009. During the last year, the city Landmarks Commission unanimously approved the development's certificate of appropriateness. Registration of the site with the National Register of Historic Places is in process. The site has also been surveyed, and a civil engineer has been hired.
"The next big piece of work in this is fundraising," says Sarah Hole, facilities director of Common Wealth's Madison Enterprise Center. "Our campaign will be somewhere in the range of $4 million."
If successful, the arts incubator could open within the next two to three years, she says.
