Madison gets second state grant to redevelop former Oscar Mayer site

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Madison will get a $250,000 state grant to help the city redevelop a building that’s part of the former Oscar Mayer complex into a commercial and retail space.

The Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. this week said it was providing the grant to support an ongoing overhaul of the 67-acre vacant Oscar Mayer property, which closed in 2017.

The award helps the property’s owners overhaul a 58,000-square-foot structure known as Building 20 into retail and commercial flex space. Renovations include sewer and plumbing work, construction of entryways, “significant” masonry work and energy-efficiency upgrades and an environmental remediation to remove asbestos, according to the agency. The overhaul is the first public-facing component in a larger redevelopment of the site, which calls for turning the former facility into a business and light industrial park called the Old Madison Station.

“Redeveloping the old Oscar Mayer site is critical for the city of Madison and a major piece of the continuing development of the city’s North Side,” said Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway. “This project capitalizes on both the unique character of these buildings and the central location of this site.”

The latest grant award comes after WEDC in 2018 awarded Madison a $500,000 Idle Sites Redevelopment Grant to help the building’s owner reconfigure outdated infrastructure at the site to deliver gas and electricity to each building on the complex. A joint venture of industrial liquidator Rabin Worldwide and Reich Brothers Holdings, a New York firm that buys and flips shuttered factories, bought the property in October 2017 with plans to repurpose the complex.

Orlee Rabin, of Rabin Worldwide, said the company is nearing improvements for Building 20’s first tenant, a “maker space” called The Bodgery.

Oscar Mayer established the facility in 1919 and used the site as its headquarters since 1957 before stopping production at the facility in August 2017.

“This 1939 building will be activated with multiple business tenants like The Bodgery, which is connected with the neighborhood and will provide all types of training and workforce skills for residents,” said Madison Alder. Syed Abbas. “I am truly looking forward to more of what is to come at the former Oscar Mayer site.” Follow @natebeck9