Construction moving on schedule for new Madison Public Market

MADISON, Wis. (WMDX) – Officials with the City of Madison Engineering shared an update on the construction of the new Madison Public Market on Tuesday. When completed in March of 2025, the market will support over 100 local businesses, and provide a physical storefront for them to sell their products.

The Public Market is currently in its construction phase, as crews work to repurpose the former Fleet Building on First Street into a market. The construction team has completed the process of decommissioning the building, and is wrapping up selective demolition throughout the facility. Sub-slab utilities have been installed, and new construction work on the inside of the facility will begin over the next few weeks. Construction on the exterior of the building is still on schedule to begin in the late spring. 

Lots of work needs to be done to renovate the former Fleet Building, says the Madison Public Market Foundation, the group that will operate the future public market. Since construction began in October of 2023, crews have made significant progress towards renovating the building. 

The Madison Public Market has been decades in the making, and has seen a ballooning budget in recent years. When the Madison Common Council first approved plans for the project in 2015, they had given it a budget of around $14 million. But with the COVID pandemic driving up the costs of both labor and materials, the final cost came to over $23 million. Despite the rising costs, both city and county officials voted last fall to help bring the market to fruition, and with construction underway, the project will continue to move forward. 

The Madison Public Market will serve as a hub for local businesses of a variety of different cultural backgrounds. It will have space for 30 permanent booths, a variety of temporary vending spaces, outdoor food cart stalls, a commercial kitchen, and an ongoing MarketReady program for business development training.

The Madison Public Market is expected to open in March of 2025.