Demolition for new retail center

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Madison-based Park Towne Corp. is developing an 8,100-square-foot retail center at 420 Gammon Place across from West Towne Mall.

Demolition began Friday on the existing building, which originally was built for a TGI Fridays restaurant, with construction to start next week. The new center’s anchor tenant will be Wells Fargo bank, with space for three to four other tenants yet to be filled, Park Towne’s Mike Ring said.

The TGI Fridays closed in 2006, with subsequent restaurants opening and closing in the location since then. The building dated to the mid-1980s, and also was developed by Park Towne.

The Madison Plan Commission approved the current project in July. Ring said he expected building construction would be finished by the end of March, barring any weather delays. Engineered Construction of Verona is the project contractor and Gary Brink & Associates is the architect.

Previous Madison redevelopments completed by Park Towne include Town Center Square, a 30,000-square-foot retail and office building in the 6800 block of Odana Road and the West Side building where Jared’s Galleria of Jewelry is located, at 505 S. Gammon Road.

Symdon Motors gets a facelift

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Symdon Chevrolet in Mt. Horeb asked Engineered Construction to bring their showroom, entrance and service area up to General Motors’ newest corporate style.  The new look is more modern and enticing for prospective customers.

Changes to the exterior include an architectural metal face lift, a new entrance and new windows.  The showroom, customer lobby and offices were carefully scheduled by project manager Jim Ladika to make the facility available for business as much as possible during construction.

Engineered Construction is also adding 5,000 SF to the service department and replacing the mechanicals as well as adding four new service bays for improved repair capacity.  The first phase was finished July 30th and the second is scheduled to be completed in September. For more information, visit www.symdonchevy.com.

New Italian Restaurant

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Engineered Construction recently completed renovating a former seafood market into a sit-in/carry-out restaurant.  Novanta’s menu features 10-inch Neapolitan pizzas, a fresh mozzarella bar, paninis and salads.  Project Manager Jim Ladika and Aro Eberle Architects worked with owners Vincenzo Pugliese and Nick Mattioli to make their dream a reality.

The wood-burning pizza oven, which cooks pizzas in 90 (“novanta” in Italian) seconds, is the heart of the restaurant.  The construction schedule and restaurant layout revolved around the arrival of the oven, which came from Italy in part by boat.

The entire interior, except the floor, was demolished and prepped for the oven’s arrival.  Project Superintendent Steven Hubert relates, “The oven is so large that a window had to be removed to get it into the building. It was a monster!”  Upon arrival it was fixed in place, hand-mosaicked, and the restaurant was rebuilt around it in warm browns, reds and yellows.

Novanta is open for lunch and dinner seven days a week and has seating for 38 inside and several on the sunny sidewalk.  It is located in the retail center at 8452 Old Sauk Road.  For more information visit www.facebook.com/novantamadison.