By Anita Weier
Northside News
A development company formed by two long-time Madison real estate executives has purchased two lots on the Oscar Mayer campus and will manage the other two lots. The site — known as OM Station — totals 49.5 acres and includes eight main structures.
OM Development is led by Randy Goll and Dan Seibel, who have more than 60 years of combined experience in real state planning, development and construction. They hope to emphasize high-density-mixed-use zoning on the south end of the property, which will be put up for sale for residential developers to purchase.
“We are currently working to meet with all city departments to make sure we have a clear understanding of what the city’s master plan means so we’re marketing what their intent was,” Goll said.
They also plan to involve the community in future development plans.
The Oscar Mayer company left Madison in 2017, after which Kraft Heinz sold the site to Reich Brothers Holdings. It has remained largely vacant since then, as the City of Madison went through a planning process.
“The office building has been updated with mechanicals, so we will actively market to find office users,” Goll explained. “We hope demand will increase in the future for office space, but we are more optimistic we will find manufacturing tenants.” He noted that some office space locally and nationally has sat vacant as commuters worked from home.
“We will initially focus on leasing the industrial and office space and expect to see that sector of the development come to fruition relatively quickly,” Goll said.
Work will continue on removing industrial components that were left behind and relandscaping outside the buildings. “Overall, it’s become overgrown, and we will get that under control,” Goll said on a day when they were spreading mulch.
“The general appearance when potential tenants visit the campus was very important to us — pulling weeds, putting down mulch, cleaning it up. We will address parking lot issues,” he said. In the future the partners will be onsite most days of the week.
Goll’s experience includes 22 years as co-owner and vice president of construction for KVG Building Corp. During that time, he was involved in a wide range of real estate and development activities, including pre-construction consultation, design/build and general contracting.
Seibel earned his bachelor’s and law degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has nearly 40 years of experience, and is the founding partner of Seibel & Falkner LLP, which focuses on real estate law.
OM Development has hired four brokerage firms to set the development wheels in motion: CBRE, the Dickman Company, Hunter Real Estate and Mid America Real Estate Corporation. They have also assembled a team that includes Wyser Engineering for surveying, Pinnacle3 Engineering for civil engineering, and LF Green Development LLC for environmental consultation.
Goll and Seibel have spent a significant amount of time onsite and inspected the entire site from top to bottom. “We’ve literally been on roofs, in basements and have walked every floor in between,” Goll said.
OM Station currently has a handful of tenants. Badger Bus operates a shuttle service for UW-Madison from Lot 1; Madison BCycle LLC is on Lot 2; and the Bodgery and SkipperBud’s Madison are located on Lot 4.
“We anticipate most tenants will remain, but as we actively work to market and develop OM Station, we may move certain businesses to other locations on the site to make room for new additions,” Goll said.
Matt Wachter, director of the City of Madison’s planning department, said, “We are excited to work with OM Development on their plans for the former Oscar Mayer plant. This site represents an important piece of Madison’s history and will be an important piece of Madison’s future.”
