With the website now up, we can now look further into what is planned for WaterStone. See also the land-use plan I posted on here a couple months back, which in some ways is a better representation of the final product. Here's a "conceptual master plan" posted on the website:
Retail Center
Now, here's a close-up of the retail center portion of the project. The plans for this portion of the development:- A suburban retail strip, with 2-3 junior anchors and one big-box anchor. Target would be the best bet for the big-box, considering the Madison area will already have 2 Wal-Mart Supercenters before this project is built. For one of the junior anchors? Barnes and Noble. They like to be near lifestyle centers (discussed later).
- A grocery store. Publix just opened a store about 3 1/2 miles north of the WaterStone site. Kroger has an older, yet recently renovated store about 4 1/2 miles northeast, but it might be far enough away to warrant a new store. The store that's going to occupy this space is anybody's guess.
- A movie theater.
- A open-air lifestyle center, with probably 20-30 stores similar to the ones at Bridge Street. Probably no new names to the metro, but ones that are traditional lifestyle center tenants-- Ann Taylor Loft, Chico's, Coldwater Creek, Bath & Body Works, etc.
Ok, so I had a little fun with this picture. But if my lines are too confusing for you, here's a text summary:
- Two 4-5 story condo buildings adjacent to the lake.
- A civic (municipal) building. I'm guessing Madison wants to build city government offices here.
- Two art gallery/education buildings and a performing arts center. This part of the project is at best "iffy." Remember when Bridge Street had plans for a performing arts center?
- The true town center area will have buildings with retail on the bottom floor and offices on the upper floors, with a common area in the middle.
- Two waterfront buildings will have retail on the bottom floor, like the town center, but with condos/lofts on the upper floors instead of offices.
- An office park with up to 2 million sq. ft. of space. This might come in handy when and if BRAC comes.
- A 66-acre medical park with 1 million sq. ft. of space. It is odd that they are dedicating such a large tract to medical purposes when there isn't a hospital proposed here. The planned Madison Hospital will be located on 72 West.
- An 800-unit apartment complex.
- A 150-200 room "limited-service, extended stay" hotel. Example brands: Staybridge Suites, Homewood Suites, Hyatt Place.
Do you really think we can have support the same stores in Bridgestreet in multiple locations both on the WestSide of town?
ReplyDeleteSure. Why not? Parkway Place and Bridge Street have similar stores, and they're 6 miles from each other. This development is 8 miles from Bridge Street. And if the growth keeps moving west as expected, they'll have no problem finding customers. I wouldn't expect another Apple Store or Juicy Couture, however.
ReplyDeleteI think the anchored grocery store should be Whole Foods or Fresh Market, to mirror the southeastern side of town...Madison desperately needs an alternative to shopping at Walmart and Publix!!
ReplyDeleteI agree with the Whole foods or Fresh Market idea. We have enough of the regular grocery type stores. Madison could handle a store like that very easily. It is a bit more pricey but the quality is so much better. I know I would shop there.
ReplyDeleteI think that they need to bring a Wegmans down here personally. I mean a whole foods, and Fresh market is good too, but personally Wegmans in my opion is like a CostCo. Another thing Mayor Paul Finley should put at waterstone is some of these resturants I have named, Cheese Cake Factory, Unos bar and grill, Caribou Coffee, Chammps resturant, Mikes American Grill, Rio Grande Cafe, California pizza kitchen, Chipotle Mexican grill, Coastal Flats, Pot belly sandwhich works, Ruth Chris Steak House, Arties, Sweet water tavern, silverado restaurant, Best buns bread company, panera bread company, Hub 51, Mon Ami Gabi, Antico, and many others. Some of those are expensive places, however my friends, and I feel those places have unsurpassed a lot of other resturants. The next thing they need is businesses.
ReplyDeleteWEGMANS!!!! YES! I am from Central NY and miss Weggys so much. It is such a wonderful store. As far as I know, it has only made it as far south at VA.
ReplyDeleteFingers Crossed!
Trader Joe's! You can't forget Trader Joes!
ReplyDeleteWhatever happened to Waterstone? And the links in the article no longer work.
ReplyDelete