Middleton Hills hits stride

After several slow years, Middleton Hills near Madison, Wisconsin, is hitting its stride. Last year was the project’s best, with sales of 29 single home lots, plus 8 townhomes and live/work units. Fifty-five units of senior housing were completed. This year has begun even better, with sales of 42 single home and townhome lots in the first five months. Essex Corporation, which is building the senior housing in the town center, has started work on another 50-unit building. Increasing awareness of the New Urbanism is helping to improve interest in the project, according to Architect Jane Grabowski-Miller, who works for developer Marshall Erdman Associates. “People are starting to understand what the New Urbanism is,” she says. “Before, they didn’t have a clue. Also, we have enough built now so that they can see what the neighborhood looks like.” Finding long-term tenants for the mixed-use town center has been tough, however. Two commercial buildings totaling 20,000 square feet are largely empty. A small grocery store failed, and has been converted into a cafe serving breakfast and lunch. “The cafe is doing better than the store,” Grabowski-Miller says. “The residents like it better, because they can meet their neighbors. People just went in and out of the store, and didn’t linger.”