Hawk's Meadow...

The lovely homes pictured on the left are located in Hawks Meadow, a Tim McKenzie development on Midtown Road on Madison's west side. It took us quite a while to find the development because we were looking for something more than a sign. After all, these homes have been on the market for more than 8 months, so we thought there might be something more than an empty field here. Actually, we expected to find five 3-bedroom IZ homes located here selling for $193,209, an amount considered affordable for those making 80% of the area median income. We searched high and low throughout the empty field, but all we found was dirt and the sign. There were no IZ homes (or any other homes, for that matter) to be found.

McKenzie supposedly began marketing the units on August 10, 2005. The marketing period ended on April 7, 2006, meaning that these IZ homes have been lost from the program and will be sold at market rate. Of course, a prospective buyer could not see a home, as the homes do not yet exist. Not only did the marketing period begin before construction had even begun, but it ended before construction started, as well.

To include the 5 IZ homes, McKenzie received incentives from the city in the form of a density bonus that allowed the site to contain additional units above and beyond what would otherwise have been approved in the space allotted. Of course, these IZ homes will not be sold at the affordable rate promised, but McKenzie will still reap the benefits of additional profits from the extra units allowed by the density bonus. Perhaps the IZ homes would have been a bit more likely to sell if even one was available for potential buyers to see. After all, who wants to buy a 3-bedroom plot of dirt in a field in the middle of nowhere?