Real Estate Experts Praise Campus Vision, But Urge Better Process For Achieving It

UW–Madison should create a non-profit real estate corporation, foster better communication with city and state officials and nearby residents, and seriously review transportation needs — especially parking.

Those are some of the key recommendations made Sept. 26 by a panel of real-estate experts from the Urban Land Institute.

ULI’s Advisory Services Panel was asked by the university to examine how the university can make itself more attractive as a business partner to private developers and governmental agencies.

The group also considered ways to develop the southeast corner of campus and the south side of the 1200-1300 block of University Avenue, areas identified in the Campus Master Plan as ripe for public-private development.

Panel members spent four days scouring campus and interviewing more than 80 campus leaders, citizens and government officials before making recommendations during a presentation at the Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center.

“We are convinced that the university can create a strong base of support for these endeavors, but it must take the lead in developing successful partnerships,” said ULI panel member Frank Morrow, a former director of real estate at Stanford University.

Campus officials are reviewing the group’s initial recommendations and are anticipating receiving the panel’s written report in December.

“From a campus perspective, we are happy with how the process went,” says John Torphy, vice chancellor of administration. “The underlying recommendation is that we need to make some changes in our processes of dealing with the state, the city and community members.”

One way the university can change, the panel said, is to develop a non-profit real-estate development corporation. Torphy says university officials have been discussing creating a non-profit corporation that would consider — but not be limited to — real-estate ventures.

The panel praised the university for creating its 30-year master plan but said the campus needs to work more closely with citizens and city and state officials in planning future developments. It suggested hiring a campus architect and professional planners and creating a campus design review committee to assist in that process.

The university did employ professional planning staff until two years ago, when 28 planning positions were cut as part of the reductions in the 1995-97 state budget. The reductions were fueled in part by the state Department of Administration wanting to use its own personnel for university development projects.

Not surprisingly, the ULI panel identified transportation and parking as a major issue. The university should substantially increase the cost to park on campus to encourage more alternative forms of transportation and use the proceeds for other parking projects, the panel said.

Members also suggested that the university build smaller parking ramps and develop underground parking toward the interior of campus rather than construct large, above-ground parking ramps on the edges of campus. Some nearby residents have complained about living close to large campus parking ramps.

The possibility of light rail transit and a rail stop on campus was mentioned by the panel as well, but members stressed that light rail was several years away from becoming a reality and advocated expansion of the city’s bus service as a realistic option.