09 Dec Take a look inside Madison’s new Black Business Hub
Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corporation (WWBIC) is located within The Hub, a new building dedicated to helping entrepreneurs of color, on Park Street in Madison on Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2023. PHOTO: RUTHIE HAUGE
In July 2020, a month after George Floyd was murdered by Minneapolis police, Ruben Anthony Jr. stood at a podium in front of Urban League of Greater Madison and announced that his organization planned to build an incubator for Black and minority-owned businesses, and that Dane County would give $100,000 to pay for the planning.
Now, after four years of fundraising and nearly two years of construction, the four-story, 81,000-square-foot, $25.5-million Black Business Hub stands just yards from where the Urban League CEO made the announcement. Located at the corner of South Park Street and Hughes Place, it’s an emblem of the transformation underway on Madison’s south side.
Though the building is still under construction, with an official opening planned for spring 2024, it’s already started hosting events and welcoming tenants.
Summit Credit Union was the first to move in, opening a full-service branch inside the Hub about six weeks ago. The nonprofit Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corporation (WWBIC), has moved in too, coaching new and aspiring business owners at its new office on the Hub’s third floor. On the second floor, office space sits ready for the Madison Black Chamber of Commerce, which will soon relocate from about a mile up Park Street.
Next week, the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce will rent the lobby for a networking event, and in January, Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity will celebrate its Founders’ Day there. “The space is already in high demand,” Anthony said.
The lobby is camera-ready, with a minimalist aesthetic and wall-to-wall windows looking onto South Park Street. But the four adjoining commercial suites, which will eventually hold stores and restaurants, remain under construction, so they were hidden behind curtains for the Hub’s Urban Cabaret fundraiser event in October.