SEA Design
A rendering of the 139 W Wilson project.
A back view rendering of Randy Alexander's proposed apartment tower, second from left, which would be a tight fit for West Wilson Street.
The Madison Plan Commission will consider on Feb. 26 a proposal to demolish Shorecrest Apartments, a four-story apartment building downtown, and replace it with something not seen in Madison: a narrow 16-story, 320-unit building with no parking and units about half the size of a typical city apartment.
Developer Randy Alexander says his redevelopment proposal for 139 W. Wilson St., which originally called for color-shifting purple metal panels on the exterior, is an outside-the-box idea to offer apartments with lower rents to residents living and working downtown.
“I’ve been doing this for 40 years, and I’ve always pushed the envelope and always done projects that are out of the mainstream,” says Alexander, who now does business under Torque Companies, started in 2016. His sons, Joseph and Nic Alexander, run The Alexander Company, which Randy founded in 1982.
Alexander says the smaller unit sizes — measuring less than 400 square feet — and lack of an expensive underground parking structure would allow for steep rent discounts compared to surrounding properties.
“All of this equates to about 30-40% less in rent for the same functioning unit…making it somewhat more affordable for people who are living and working in downtown,” he says. There is no minimum parking requirement for developments in downtown Madison. Plans say three shared vehicles will be available to residents.
A letter of intent for the project says it would create “more affordable housing” in the city, but the redevelopment has met with resistance.
The Urban Design Commission twice referred the project to future meetings before recommending on Jan. 24 that the Plan Commission deny approval. The commission cited traffic circulation among other concerns, saying the lack of parking would lead to an unmanageable flow of rideshares and delivery vehicles on the property at times.
In a Feb. 1 letter to the Plan Commission, Jonathan Cooper and Peter Ostlind of Capitol Neighborhoods Inc. say the neighborhood has had many conversations with the development team over the years but remains opposed to the project.
“The interior design, with one long hallway with no articulation on each floor with micro-units on both sides, none of which will have operable windows, seems to be a design for dismal living conditions,” Cooper and Ostlind wrote.
Developer Terrence Wall, who owns a building next door scheduled to open next year called The Moment, has harshly criticized plans for the property since they were first introduced in 2022, most recently likening the proposed building to a prison in Jan. 24 comments to the UDC.
Alexander acknowledges neighbors have pushed back against the project. “Because it’s different, I think people are having a hard time with it,” he says.
But Alexander, who at times has refused to develop in Dane County to protest local policies, insists he’s trying new things to compensate for the county’s high land prices and housing crisis.
The costs of both renting and buying a home in Dane County increased faster than almost anywhere in the country in 2023.
Alexander has recently developed Point Gardens, a single-family housing development in Poynette, which bills itself as an alternative to high housing costs in Dane County. Alexander says Point Gardens and the West Wilson project are aimed at workers who can’t afford typical market-rate prices for new construction in the area — service workers at the downtown building, and construction workers or police officers at the homes in Poynette.
“Everybody’s building the same thing, nobody’s thinking outside the box,” he says. “It’s gonna take that if you’re going to make it more affordable.”
