Mark Clear
Imperial Garden at 2039 Allen Blvd in Middleton.
The restaurant, located alongside University Avenue, has been open for more than 40 years.
Middleton Chinese restaurant Imperial Garden and an adjacent Asian grocery store are safe from the wrecking ball, at least for now.
Tom Sanford, who assisted property owner Henry Chen in his proposed redevelopment plans, tells Isthmus that Chen “has decided not to redevelop the property at this time.” Sanford says Chen was “disappointed” that Middleton’s plan commission on Nov. 11 recommended the city council deny rezoning the property to allow for a 10-story, 195-unit apartment building.
“So, nothing will change and the Imperial Garden Restaurant will continue serving excellent Chinese food as usual,” Sanford says.
The project initially called for the razing of Imperial Garden and the adjacent Garden Asian Market, both tenants of Chen’s, to make room for the new development. Sanford told Isthmus in September that the restaurant could not be incorporated into any of the three planned commercial spaces in the development, as “the problem with Chinese food [is that] it's cooked over high heat, and does generate smoke and a lot of cooking aroma.”
He later reversed course, telling the Wisconsin State Journal in October that the restaurant and market would be incorporated into the redevelopment.
Some members of Middleton’s city government were skeptical of the project. Middleton Ald. Lisa Janairo, a member of the city’s plan commission, told Isthmus in September that she expected it would be challenging to convince the commission to “amend the [future land use] map to allow for a 10-story building.”
At an Oct. 28 meeting of Middleton’s plan commission, a majority of residents spoke against the project. Many worried it would worsen traffic congestion in the area and create safety hazards for pedestrians and cyclists. Middleton city staff in a Nov. 6 report recommended against the zoning change in order to maintain “consistency in planning along the corridor.”
