Mortenson closes on land purchase for nine-story hotel at Madison’s Judge Doyle Square

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Mortenson announced Monday that it has completed financing and acquired the rights to build a 262-room hotel at Madison’s Judge Doyle Square development.

The closing paves the way for the contractor to begin building a nine-story Hilton Embassy Suites hotel next year on one of two blocks in downtown Madison that are part of the project site.

The $175 million Judge Doyle Square development occupies two blocks split by South Pinckney Street and bounded by East Doty Street and East Wilson Street. Mortenson purchased half of the easternmost section of the site, known as Block 105, for $4 million.

The hotel is part of a redevelopment meant to better connect the Capitol to the Monona Terrace convention center. Mortenson is working on the project with the architect Kahler Slater, engineer Vierbicher and interior designer Wild Muse. The construction team plans to obtain final permits for the hotel over the next several months before breaking ground on the project next spring. The hotel is expected to open in 2024.

“This milestone represents a long-anticipated culmination of a successful public-private collaboration between the City of Madison, Destination Madison, Monona Terrace, numerous community stakeholders and the Mortenson team,” said Nate Gundrum, vice president of real estate development at Mortenson. “We look forward to executing on the City’s vision to transform this component of Judge Doyle Square into a modern hospitality destination.”

Mortenson bought the land for the hotel from Chicago-based Beitler Real Estate Services, which had initially won the rights to develop both blocks in the Judge Doyle Square project, Block 105 and Block 88, which lies across Pinckney. Beitler, however, gave up Block 88 in exchange for $700,000 from the city following disputes between it and Madison in 2019.

Stone House Development later won the rights to build a 159-unit affordable housing complex, called NoVo, above the city-owned Wilson Street Parking Garage on Block 88. The parking garage opened in June and Stone House has wrapped up the construction of the apartment complex. Stevens Construction served as the apartment’s general contractor, and J.P. Cullen built the parking structure.

Mortenson secured approval to purchase rights for the hotel construction from the Madison Common Council in October. The purchase gives the contractor the ability to build on the western half of Block 105 and lease 200 parking spaces from the Wilson Street garage across the street.

Beitler had initially proposed building an apartment complex on the second half of Block 105. The developer holds rights to that portion of the block through December 2022, although the firm has not released a specific plan for the area. Mortenson plans to use the vacant section of Block 105 as a staging area while it builds the hotel. Follow @natebeck9