Overview
Block 89 is a mixed-use project that was designed to recapture and enhance the tradition and historic scale of Madison’s Capitol Square.
To preserve Capitol views, the buildings facing the square are lower than the buildings at the back of the block and have a large roof terrace overlooking the Capitol Square on the fourth floor. A beautifully landscaped central courtyard in the middle of the block, which is available for all tenants, was designed to preserve views and light for all buildings in Block 89.
Office buildings in Block 89 include: the One East Main building, the historic Insurance Building at 119 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. (MLK Blvd.), the ten-story 10 East Doty building, and the nine-story 33 East Main building at the corner of Pinckney and Main Streets. One East Main was originally a J.C. Penney department store that was stripped down to its concrete structural frame, expanded and converted to office use in 1987. Its major tenants include service agencies for the State of Wisconsin legislature, which were moved out of the Capitol to accommodate the renovation of the Capitol, as well as several major law firms, Walgreens and Starbucks.
The Beavers Reserve Fund Fraternity, a fraternal insurance company that became National Mutual Benefit, built the historic Insurance Building in 1922. The ground floor of the building had a large ornate two-story Cameo Ballroom that accommodated dances and parties. The ballroom was extensively renovated and has the distinction of being perhaps the only room to house the State of Wisconsin Assembly, Senate and Supreme Court. From 1992 through 2001, the Assembly, Senate and Supreme Court in turn held sessions in the ballroom when they were moved out of the State Capitol while their permanent chambers were renovated. The Insurance Building has been completely renovated with floors that interconnect with 10 East Doty at the third through seventh floor levels.
10 East Doty is an award winning ten-story office building that was designed by Valerio Dewalt Train and constructed in 1998. Its narrow floor plates are designed to accommodate small and medium sized tenants. The building façade along Pinckney Street includes the Burrows Block, a landmark sandstone building dating back to 1850 which was painstakingly reconstructed in its original three-story form.
33 East Main is a nine-story building at the north corner of Block 89, which was constructed in 2005-2006. It features floor-to-ceiling exterior glass. The structured columns are held back from the exterior, as is the plenum for delivery of heating and cooling, so that the perimeter is transparent and unobstructed. With a floor plate of approximately 15,000 square feet, a central elevator core and windows on all four sides, the building provides an unusually large number of exterior offices and conference rooms in relation to its floor area. Designed by Valerio Dewalt Train, 33 East Main has an exterior that steps in and out, emphasizing the interior column grid.
Each of the office buildings has its own lobby entrance directly off the sidewalk. The buildings are interconnected to one another through a shared parking ramp, a shared service core above the parking ramp and on several upper floors.
