Contact: Joshua Wescott, Office of the County Executive (608) 267-8823 or cell (608) 669-5606
Center for Resilient Cities Offers to Buy, Redevelop Badger School
Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk announced today the county has received an offer to purchase the old Badger School from a group that’s looking to redevelop the area and convert it into a site for urban agriculture and a community center.
Falk was joined today by a number of local leaders, representatives of the Center for Resilient Cities, which has made the offer to purchase, and nationally renown grower Will Allen for the exciting announcement. Allen is best known for his efforts in Milwaukee and across the country to redevelop urban areas into “good food” gardens that raise locally grown food for neighborhoods.
“Thanks to the bold vision of the Center for Resilient Cities, it’s easy to picture how different this old school and the area around us will look in just a few short years,” County Executive Kathleen Falk said. “This sale means the boarded up windows and walls behind us will be replaced by lush gardens, rich soils, and real opportunity for this neighborhood.”
Falk noted a resolution will be introduced to the Dane County Board Thursday night authorizing the offer from the Center for Resilient Cities to purchase the site at a cost of $500,000. Under the proposal, the county won’t have to do any demolition work. The county has paid for asbestos removal from the building which would have been required prior to any sale.
Badger School sits on 3.85 acres and is located at 501 East Badger Road on Madison’s south-side. Dane County purchased the former Badger School property from the City of Madison in 1978.
For a number of years the building was leased to the Madison Area Rehabilitation Centers but most recently housed Dane County’s Neighborhood Intervention Program, a program that works to keep kids on the right track and out of trouble. The Neighborhood Intervention Program offices have since moved to the Dane County Job Center site at Aberg and Sherman Avenues.
