Author: Amanda White

Mayor Rhodes-Conway has upheld the City’s commitment to move forward with the Madison Public Market, reflecting support for this community economic development project. In her 2020 Capital Budget Plan, released last week, she maintained the City’s commitment of funding just over half of the project costs.

In her Executive Capital Budget Memo released on September 3^rd, Mayor Rhodes-Conway stated: “The Public Market is a project we have debated as a community for a number of years. I recognize this project’s ability to support businesses and cultivate entrepreneurship, which is critical to realizing the goals of this [Economy].”

The Mayor has proposed shifting the City’s source of capital for the Market to the Tax Increment District that includes the project’s site (TID 36).

“My budget anticipates construction of the Public Market will continue as currently planned, but transfers the local funding share ($7.5 million) to revenue from the Tax Increment District,” said Mayor Rhodes-Conway in her recent Budget Memo. “I used the [money] saved here to invest in Bus Rapid Transit, Affordable Housing, and Land Banking with a focus on reducing the City’s debt obligations.”

According to City staff, this shift in the city’s internal financing strategy for the Public Market will have no effect on the Public Market’s timeline, design, or operating plan.

Included in her new budget plans, Mayor Rhodes-Conway calls for the Madison Public Market Foundation to raise an additional $500,000. The Foundation has currently raised $1.1 million of a $4 million capital campaign to support the development of the Public Market.

Thank you to Mayor Rhodes-Conway for continuing to move our Public Market forward!

Special thanks to our guest blogger, James Shulkin, member of the Madison Public Market Advisory Council!

Here in southern Wisconsin, we love our Farmers’ Markets! The Dane County Farmers Market located on the Capitol Square, is reportedly the largest producer-only farmers’ market in the country. While certainly the best known in the region, and a must visit at least a few times each season, this “jewel” of markets is supplemented by at least twenty farmers’ markets elsewhere in Madison and in communities like Baraboo, Beloit, Fitchburg, Fort Atkinson, Janesville, Middleton, Monona, Stoughton, Sun Prairie, Verona and Waunakee.

The proposed Madison Public Market will offer some of the same amenities as your local farmers’ market, plus more. A key difference between a Farmer’s Market and Public Market is that a Public Market is indoors, allowing it to be open year round, often 5-7 days per week. The City of Madison’s fleet services building at the corner of E. Johnson and First Street, will be home to our year-round Public Market, opening at the end of 2021. This retro space is a perfect Market home with 2 story ceilings and open space, floor to ceiling windows, several 2 story garage doors that will be open during the warm months, and a location near green spaces including Burr Jones Field, the Yahara River and several bike paths.

According to Jamaal Stricklin, Chair of the Madison Public Market Foundation, a non-profit tasked with operating the Market once it opens, shared, “At the Public Market, you’ll find items that you can’t get anywhere else in town all under roof ; ready-made food products, fresh produce, unique food ingredients and culturally diverse foods cooked on site that you can take home or eat there. We’re also planning to have a restaurant and cafe on site.”

Like your local farmer’s market, the Public Market will provide a fun and interesting gathering place to meet friends and co-workers while enjoying talented musicians and performers. However, the Market will have other amenities in that it will house community activities, meeting spaces, art exhibits, full-service restaurants, cooking classes, festivals and temporary pop-up vending events. In addition, the Public Market will provide a seasonal cold-weather option for farmers’ market vendors looking to expand their selling season.

The Madison Public Market Foundation is hoping to partner with local farmers’ markets by offering outdoor market stands during the growing season. “We’ve also had conversations with the Dane County Farmers’ Market to potentially relocate the winter market to our event space,” shared Stricklin.

According to Dan Kennelly, manager of the City of Madison’s Office of Business Resources, the Public Market’s main purpose is community based economic development. “We want the Public Market to be a place where an entrepreneur with a unique idea for a new food product, or a new business idea, can have a place where there will be foot traffic, where they can launch their business and bring that idea to reality,” adds Kennelly. “We expect that market participants who make an interesting sauce, or jam or some other kind of food product, can use the Public Market to develop a customer base and continue to grow into a brick and mortar location, or sell wholesale to grocery stores on a much larger basis.”

The Madison Public Market will also be an important part of the overall regional agriculture community. The synergies that will exist among agriculture-related companies, organizations that support entrepreneurs like those mentioned above, and the Public Market, will likely make Madison the best local food community in the country. One exciting partnership is with the Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin (DFW). DFW will host a Wisconsin Dairy Experience in the Market that will feature some of Wisconsin’s most beloved and delicious Wisconsin cheese vendors, cheese and dairy tastings, plus a fun, interactive experience that will foster our love of Wisconsin dairy! Suzanne Fanning, VP of Communications for Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin, shares, “We’re excited to create a destination within the Market for locals and visitors alike to celebrate the vast array of our state’s award-winning cheese and to honor the dairy farmers of Wisconsin.”

The concept that food-related endeavors are viable, actionable vehicles for entrepreneurship is already well established in the region. Southern Wisconsin boasts the largest agriculture employment base in the state. According to the Madison Region Economic Partnership, there are nearly 60,000 jobs directly related to agriculture, comprising 20% of Wisconsin’s total agricultural employment. Regional infrastructure supports food & beverage production, processing, packaging, and distribution.

Madison’s unique food infrastructure, traditions, and facilities, all play a role in supporting and strengthening our food system. For example, the Dane County Farmers Market is a beloved weekly event focused on sales of local agricultural products, the FEED Kitchens provides flexible commercial cooking opportunities for entrepreneurs and community members, the Garver Feed Mill is a new home to growing, “second stage” food companies, and Madison College offers a array of culinary training programs and credentials. The Madison Public Market is designed to complement and build on Madison’s existing strengths and assets in the food economy.

Kennelly believes the Public Market will be Madison’s next treasured public place. He and others who envision the Public Market’s success see it as a destination for everyone, where you can purchase fresh vegetables and baked goods, stop in for lunch, or have dinner and late night drinks with friends.

After all, says Kennelly, “We are a food city.”

Boardman Clark announced its flagstone corporate sponsorship during a special “Taste of the Madison Market” event, held on October 18, 2018 in Boardman Clark’s main office in downtown Madison. While the firm’s sponsorship includes a financial commitment of $250,000 over the next five years, the firm has also committed to providing programming and other nonfinancial support of the Market’s various community-focused initiatives, such as the Market Ready Program, which helps entrepreneurs build successful business foundations.

“We are very proud to be supporting the Madison Public Market,” said Richard Heinemann, Managing Partner at Boardman Clark (pictured left). “To us, this project is about more than creating a space to sell goods. It is an investment in the community, a chance to empower underrepresented entrepreneurs, and a great venue to sample Madison’s diverse foods, crafts, and culture.”

Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin is partnering with the Madison Public Market to create an interactive space that will showcase everything we love about Wisconsin Dairy and our rich heritage of cheesemaking. This special area of the Market will include interactive exhibits, education and delicious cheese and dairy products from Wisconsin.

“We’re excited to create a destination within the Market for locals & visitors alike to celebrate the vast array of our state’s award-winning cheese and to honor the dairy farmers in Wisconsin.” -Suzanne Fanning, VP of Marketing Communications for Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin.

Madison Public Market Foundation Board President, Jamaal Stricklin, shared the significance of Boardman Clark and Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin’s early commitments to the project. “This early support of the Market has helped us build momentum for making our Public Market a reality. We are so grateful for Boardman Clark’s early investment. When combined with Dairy Farmer of Wisconsin’s support plus other early gifts, we’re closing in on our first $1 million to support our $4 million capital campaign.”

It’s exciting to see the community step up in a significant way to support the Public Market. If you are interested in joining with us to help bring our project to life, you can donate here or call Amanda White at (608) 698-9104 for more information. Naming and other special, unique recognition opportunities are available.

After releasing an RFP in August and reviewing 11 different proposals from Madison and around the country, City staff is recommending that the City engage an architecture and engineering team led by Minneapolis-based MSR Design to complete the design of the Madison Public Market building. The recommendation will go to the Common Council for approval.

Dan Kennelly, City of Madison Office of Business Resources Director, shares, “MSR Design has unmatched experience working with the City of Madison to design high-profile civic buildings. We are confident that working with the City of Madison and Madison Public Market Foundation, MSR will create a home for our Market that helps achieves our goals around inclusiveness, diversity, public art, community-building and of course, creating a unique Madison culinary experience.”

MSR Designs’s past experience in Madison includes the downtown Central Library, the recent Olbrich Gardens expansion, and the newly refurbished Madison Municipal Building. MSR knows how to get important public projects across the finish line while creating vibrant gathering places for the community. MSR’s team includes local experts Saiki Design for landscape architecture and Vierbicher for Civil Engineering. These talented local firms bring knowledge of the site and will help create an inviting design that is authentic to Madison.

MSR’s team also includes a Wisconsin-based food service and kitchen design consultant (Steve Stern with Boelter) who will assist with the unique challenges of designing a public building that will include a variety of food preparation and food services uses.

MSR will bring strong expertise and experience to other important aspects of the Madison Public Market vision.

Inclusiveness and equity
The MSR Design team has reviewed the City’s equity impact analysis and is inspired to help the City implement its vision for a truly inclusive Public Market – a dynamic destination that welcomes the entire community and creates economic opportunity for diverse entrepreneurs.

Sustainability
With sustainability as an important focus of the Public Market, MSR has pulled together a team that has expertise in green design.  As they have done with previous Madison projects, the Public Market will implement the latest best practices in sustainable construction. The result will be a building that is not only LEED certified, but one that thoughtfully integrates sustainability considerations into every aspect of the design.

Art and local makers
With the Madison Public Library, MSR was instrumental in integrating unique artwork into the building and creating spaces for programs that build-on Madison’s emerging “maker culture”.  MSR will help uncover unique opportunities to connect Madison’s library system with the Public Market and build on Madison’s maker-based entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Community engagement
MSR Design’s proposal and interview demonstrated a clear understanding of the important of engaging the Madison community in the design process.  Their work plan includes numerous workshops with potential public market vendors, community members, city staff, various city committees and other stakeholders.

To stay informed on the timeline for the design process, you can check back on our Updates, follow our Facebook page, or sign up for our email news.