Liam Beran
The silo and wood barn at Voit Farm.
The silo and wood barn on the property are slated for demolition to prepare the lots for development.
One of the few remaining large swathes of undeveloped land in Madison is a step closer to development.
The city council unanimously approved a development agreement Tuesday that calls for the creation of a tax incremental financing (TIF) district to assist in developing more than 1,000 housing units across 25 acres of the 68-acre east-side property formerly known as Voit Farm.
Creating a TIF district for the Milwaukee Street property was floated as early as 2018, when Planning Division staff was drafting the Milwaukee Street Special Area Plan, says Matt Wachter, director of Madison’s Department of Planning, Community and Economic Development. TIF is a tool used by municipalities to promote development that would not occur "but for" city assistance. The taxes collected on the growth in value of the property are returned to the city to be used to pay for the improvements made to the property in the approved project plan.
“[We knew] this area could support a significant level of development. There's also a significant level of infrastructure that would have to come in here,” says Wachter. In an April 9 memo, city TIF Coordinator Joe Gromacki also pointed to a nationwide “unpredictable economic phase, including cost increases due to tariffs and potentially higher interest rates,” as a reason to provide some “financial cushion” for developers.
Starkweather LLC, a joint venture of Stone House Development and Threshold Development, purchased the property, which currently consists largely of empty farmland, in 2024 for $8 million. The council in June 2024 approved rezoning the land as a mix of higher and lower density housing.
Under the development agreement, Starkweather would make the lots “shovel-ready” and install $10.5 million in required infrastructure, such as roads, sewerage and stormwater improvements.
Starkweather or developers it sells the lots to are set to create 984 units of mixed-density housing across nine lots. The agreement would set aside $3.9 million in TIF funds to provide interest-free loans — either to Starkweather or other developers — toward the purchase or development of the nine lots held by Starkweather. Individual developers who seek the TIF funds must demonstrate to city real estate employees that construction will create a financial gap that could not be solved without the loan, Wachter says, and if city staff attest that there is a gap, the council may decide whether or not to grant the loan.
The city would use $4.1 million in TIF funds to purchase four “less-viable, low-density” lots through its land banking policy. Those lots are estimated to yield 58 affordable housing units, though Wachter says that number could change once an architect reviews the lots.
Starkweather has already identified nonprofit buyers — the Madison Area Community Land Trust and Habitat for Humanity of Dane County — to develop affordable housing on two of the city’s four lots. The city plans to continue negotiations to sell the lots to those two nonprofits. But the other two lots are at the city’s disposal — alders could direct the Community Development Authority to develop them, issue land and development loans or issue a request for proposals to see “what developers might come forward with,” Wachter says.
At the council meeting, Ald. William Ochowicz asked Helen Bradbury, president of Stone House Development, whether affordable housing is planned for the development’s first phase, slated for 2026-28. Bradbury said that Starkweather is “currently negotiating with a very large Section 42 affordable housing developer to build between 180 and 200 units,” but she doesn’t expect that development to be completed within the first phase.
City staff are already working on creating the TIF district, Wachter says. Under the development agreement, Starkweather has until May 1, 2026, to begin construction work.
