WI: Historic Wilson Street office building poised to become Madison Amtrak station
The developer of The Edgewater and the Kohl Center is seeking to reinvent the historic State Office Building at 1 W. Wilson St. as a Downtown Madison transit hub housing the city’s planned Amtrak station.
The Wisconsin Department of Administration put the building up for sale late last year. It’s now proposing to accept a $10 million offer from Madison-based Landmark Development, the agency said in a filing with the State Building Commission.
Landmark wants to reinvent the building as a centerpiece of the Isthmus, president Bob Dunn said.
“It's a very, very unique opportunity in Madison, and it should be done in a way that it really creates the next great destination that defines our Downtown,” Dunn said. “And that's the nature of the work that we do.”
The 11-story, Art Deco-style State Office Building was constructed in three phases between 1930 and 1959 and is listed in the state and national registers of historic places. It’s currently vacant but was most recently home to the state Department of Health Services.
The state plans to sell the building and the less distinctive GEF 2 and GEF 3 on South Webster Street to shrink its physical footprint in Madison and reduce deferred maintenance costs. The price tag for needed upgrades to the State Office Building was estimated three years ago at over $200 million.
Landmark would repurpose the building for housing and some combination of retail, dining, entertainment and office or coworking space, Dunn said, along with “transformative” transit offerings, including an Amtrak station.
“I think his vision is completely in sync with the expectations the community has for the adaptive reuse of this Downtown gem,” said Ald. Mike Verveer, who represents much of Downtown in the 4th District.
Verveer, a longtime advocate for passenger rail, said he’s most excited about the Amtrak station.
Long wait for passenger rail may be over
Amtrak recently announced plans to bring service to Madison by 2030, earlier than previously expected. Shortly before that, the city identified Wilson Street as its preferred corridor for a future Amtrak station.
“Amtrak is kind of a game-changer for Madison,” Dunn said. “I think there's opportunities to look at other modes of transit that naturally could build off of national and regional rail like Amtrak.”
Madison has come close to getting its own Amtrak station several times in recent decades, most recently in the early 2010s, when the state was in line to receive $810 million in federal funding for a Madison-to- Milwaukee passenger rail connection until then-Gov. Scott Walker rejected the money.
The sale of the State Office Building to Landmark “could be a watershed day for Amtrak’s arrival in Downtown Madison,” said Jason Ilstrup, president of Downtown Madison Inc.
While the developer is based in Madison, Ilstrup added, “Landmark has extensive experience working in urban passenger rail throughout the country.”
Multiple developers bid on State Office Building
Landmark’s $10 million offer was one of three received by the Department of Administration, the agency said in its filing with the State Building Commission. It didn’t say which other companies bid on the building or how much they offered.
A pair of earlier appraisals estimated the fair market value of 1 W. Wilson St. at about $16.5 million and $20.9 million, according to the filing.
The agency said in a separate report that it prioritized purchase price when evaluating offers but also considered developers’ financial capacity and the scope and feasibility of their plans. Landmark’s proposal scored highest, with “a clear margin over competing offers,” the report said.
The State Building Commission will consider the DOA’s request May 13.
© 2026 The Wisconsin State Journal (Madison, Wis.). Visit www.wisconsinstatejournal.com.
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.