After years of anticipation, a commercial development is rising on the biggest vacant lot in what once was Madison's most troubled neighborhood.

Developer Scott Norton is building a $1.8 million, two-story, 39,000-square-foot office and retail building at 1526 W. Broadway on the city's South Side.

Norton also intends to do additional development on the west side of the site, said Ald. Tim Bruer, 14th District, who represents the area.

The project continues a remarkable turnaround for the neighborhood, once called Broadway-Simpson, where refurbished apartments, new condos, businesses and restaurants are replacing battered, drug-infested rental housing.

The investments followed the city Community Development Authority's cornerstone, the $14.3 million Monona Shores-Waunona Woods redevelopment, in which the CDA bought the largest concentration of housing — and problems — on the street, demolished buildings to reduce density, refurbished apartments and converted 34 townhouses into condominiums.

Norton's 3.5-acre site was cleared years ago as part of the Monona Shores redevelopment.

"This was unimaginable a decade ago," Bruer said. "This particular site was once the site of the most drug-infested and decayed apartment buildings in the city."

Next door to Norton's commercial project, his brother, Jim, four years ago opened Cranberry Creek Cafe in a new building at 1501 Lake Point Drive.

Nearby, across West Broadway, WPS has expanded, and across Bridge Road, Monona State Bank is building offices.

The CDA, meanwhile, is in the process of taking over a $4 million private redevelopment on the 1800 block of Lake Point Drive that replaced worn apartment buildings with 50 lower-cost condos.

The construction is "awesome," Jim Norton said. "It's adding credibility to what we've already known — the area is worth investing in."

Bruer said, "I think it serves as a model, not just for other neighborhoods in the city, but nationally."

— Dean Mosiman

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