An announcement about the development of a town square in the city of Madison tops the mayor’s list of good things expected to happen in 2026.
“We hope to have an announcement about the plans and development of the Madison Square some time in 2026,” said Mary Hawkins-Butler, who has served as the mayor of Madison for 45 years.
The city of Madison purchased the 17-acre parcel at U.S. Highway 51 and Main Street years ago with the expectation of developing a downtown square there.
“Covid set us back, but things are popping now,” Hawkins-Butler said. “We are still tweaking our plans and ideas. We’ve got to get it right.”
In 2020, Atlanta-based development Greenstone Properties was announced as the developer of Madison at Main, a multi-million-dollar project on the site. The project was to include the development of a specialty grocery store, restaurants, condominiums, town houses, office space, retail space, a hotel and even a parking garage, but it stalled.
Last year, the city took steps to make the site ready for development.
A new water main circling the entire block between U.S. Highway 51 and Magnolia Street and Main Street and Madison Avenue was installed. A retention pond with a floating fountain, surrounded by a sidewalk, was constructed on the southwest corner of the property. A combination of state and federal funds paid for it all.
Leah Kemp, director of the Fred Carl
Jr. Small Town Center, a community design center in the College of Architecture, Art and Design at MSU, considers the town square location prime real estate.
“A lot could happen on that site given its location,” she said.
In 2024, the city signed a contract with the Small Town Center to involve community members and learn what they’d like to see on the site, compile the information and provide preliminary drawings
that make it easy to imagine what might go there.
The general consensus was a desire for architectural design that’s “nothing too outlandish, nothing too different” in terms of what is already in Madison, Kemp said.
Hawkins-Butler also expects in the coming year a resolution of the city’s lawsuit against the Madison County Board of Supervisors, who excluded Districts 1 and 2 in the county’s Fiscal Year 2026 Funded Projects Plan.
“They took all the money away in Districts 1 and 2, which cut Madison out totally,” Hawkins-Butler said.
The city’s lawsuit that was filed in Madison County Circuit Court requests that “the Court enter an order reversing the county’s decision, rendering a judgement in the City’s favor, and instructing the Madison County Board of Supervisors to vacate its decision adopting the FY 2026 Funded Projects Plan.”
The city also requests that “the Court stay or temporarily enjoin the expenditure of any funds appropriated by the FY 2026 Funded Projects Plan if necessary to preserve the status quo pending resolution of the appeal” and requests all costs to which is entitled.
Madison residents pay more in county taxes than in city taxes, and Hawkins-Butler wants them to get what they’re due for their tax dollars.
“There needs to be accountability about how our county tax dollars are spent,” she said. “I want to look into that deeper.”
Also expected the coming year is the completion of the renovation of both the interior and exterior of the historic Montgomery House in downtown Madison, Hawkins-Butler said.
“Purchasing the property was big,” she said. “We saved the integrity of Main Street. We are hoping through a grant to get funding to renovate the inside and outside of the house.”
The Montgomery House began as a small pioneer structure in 1852 in the then-sparsely settled region, but by 1898 had been transformed into a charming country cottage.
The city of Madison owns the house and spacious grounds, and the Madison Station Botanic Garden has been established around it.
Hawkins-Butler would like in the coming year to acquire funding for the renovation of the Madison Square Center for the Arts, which was built in 1910 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Located on Main Street, the center sits on the property that will become the town square.
“The center needs some TLC on the inside, and some additional parking around it,” she said.
During the spring, Hawkins-Butler plans to schedule a ribbon-cutting and open house for the new Madison City Hall, which occupies the old Madison-Ridgeland School that was built in 1910 and renovated by architect Noah Webster Overstreet in 1922.
The city moved its offices into the newly renovated building last year.
Hawkins-Butler plans to be “watchful” of bills about school choice during the 2026 legislative session.
School choice allows public education funds to follow students in kindergarten through twelfth grade to the schools or services that best fit their needs —whether that’s to a public school, private school, charter school, home school or any other learning environment families choose.
“I don’t want to see any changes that would affect our school district,” Hawkins-Butler said. “I want to make sure our school district is protected.”
