The revised design for a State Street hotel attempts to make the building feel less imposing on its neighbors.
A boutique hotel proposed for the 100 block of State Street cleared a significant hurdle Monday with approval from the Landmarks Commission.
The $40 million project, which spans 118 to 126 State St., was first proposed last fall and has gone through two revisions since then. At a May public hearing on the project, residents and city officials were concerned about the size, height and design of the hotel compared to the rest of State Street.
Perhaps most contentious is the proposed height, which exceeds height limit established by the Downtown Plan. The proposal calls for a nine-story building, with setbacks at the fourth and eighth stories. There is concern that the building will look imposing to its neighbor, the Lamb Building, an historical landmark adjacent to it that houses Michelangelo’s Coffee House.
On Monday, the development team presented refined plans to the Landmarks Commission attempting to address concerns. A notable change was to use more glass instead of limestone above the fourth floor to avoid the appearance of bulkiness, according to Ken Gowland, principal of architectural firm MetroStudio in New Orleans. The architects have also simplified the design to make it more compatible with State Street’s architecture. The fourth-story setback along State Street has also been increased by 15 feet.
Although the proposal remains nine stories, the building height has been reduced by 11 feet — the equivalent of one story — by making adjustments throughout the entire project, says Eric Nordeen of Ascendant Holdings, one of the developers.
"That helps us a lot because we’re so much closer to what is allowable under the ordinance," Nordeen tells Isthmus.
The elevation of the 8th floor cornice, at 95 feet, now sits 7 feet above the 88 feet of height allowable under existing zoning, according to the developers. The top of the 9th floor rooftop lounge, which is stepped back from the edge of the building, is at a height of 107 feet.
“[With this plan we’re] trying to be more sensitive, simpler in terms of building form, be respectful of scale and grain of the facades on State Street and integrating this new building with its surrounding and giving autonomy to the two buildings adjacent to it,” Gowland said.
Ald. Marsha Rummel, a member of the Landmarks Commission, is impressed. “I think you’ve improved it dramatically in that it’s a very attractive building,” she told the developers. “You were overpowering those smaller store fronts before and you took that away and cleaned that up and I think that’s the key change to this iteration.”
The Landmarks Commission members said the revised plan made vast improvements and voted unanimously to send a recommendation to the Plan Commission and the Urban Design Commission in favor of the project.
Rummel noted that the concerns about height restrictions are not part of the Landmarks Commission’s purview. The panel’s job is to determine if the proposed building would be so large and visually intrusive as to adversely affect the historic character of the nearby landmarks.
Public reaction to the project remains mixed. Attorney Fred Mohs, a downtown Madison property owner and historic preservationist, worries that approving the project would set a dangerous precedent.
“If I want my own self interest I would be arguing otherwise because I’ve got properties adjacent to State Street that could probably benefit — but we can’t walk away from the big picture,” Mohs told the commission. “If we say yes to these people, how do you say no to anyone else?”
Others, like Michelangelo's Coffee House owner Sam Chehade, told the commission it’s one of the most exciting projects in Madison and will make the 100 block of State Street more appealing.
The developers of the hotel project, a partnership between Ascendant Holdings, Central Properties and Provenance Hotels, will be focusing on obtaining necessary land-use approvals from city commissions. The project goes next to the Urban Design Commission on Aug. 8. If the project gets all the needed approvals, it is expected to be built by the end of 2020. It will be operated by Provenance Hotels, a boutique chain with locations in five other states.
