Plans call for razing the existing bus depot and constructing three new buildings to include 84 luxury apartments, 12,500 square feet of retail space and parking for 110 vehicles both above and below ground.

The buildings would range in height from three stories along West Main to five stories along West Washington. The bottom floors would have commercial space and entries for individual townhouse units, said Randy Bruce of Knothe & Bruce architects.

Badger Bus will continue to make stops at the Memorial Union and plans to use a transit hub planned for the new Union South.

The project is scheduled for an informational presentation before the city Urban Design Commission Wednesday evening.

The "Depot Apartments" is the second major development in the works for the West Washington Avenue corridor despite the current economic slowdown.

Developer Eric Minton is proposing a $7.4 million, 38,000-square-foot, five-story building with a health club and swimming pool, commercial space, about 35 rental apartments and 60 underground parking spaces.

Minton wants to demolish a single-story building that owned by optometrist Dr. John Bonsett-Veal at 425 W. Washington Ave. Bonsett-Veal would relocate to larger offices in the new building.

A proposal for a nine-story mixed use building at that site failed in 2005 in the face of neighborhood opposition..
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