The Madison breaks ground on expansion in FM

Dignitaries including Fort Madison Mayor Matt Mohrfeld, center, and The Madison staff, along with owner Mark Holtkamp and Construction Manager Mark Schickedanz break ground at The Madison's expansion project in Fort Madison Wednesday afternoon.

Photo by Chuck Vandenberg/PCC

EXPANSION

There's no better word for a mayor to hear than the term "groundbreaking"”

Matt Mohrfeld, Fort Madison Mayor

2023

The Madison's expansion project will bring a 34,000-square foot assisted living and memory care facility with 36 rooms called the Birkwood Village to the property in Fort Madison.

FORT MADISON - Mark Holtkamp tends to shy away from the media and let community people do the talking about growth in the city, but his recent $8 million investment in assisted living and memory care is nothing to be shy about.
Holtkamp, a 1994 graduate of Fort Madison Aquinas, took over ownership of The Madison in 2020 and within a year had a plan in place to expand on the property.
Wednesday morning officials stuck golden shovels into the ground to commemorate the official kick off of that project.
Directly to the northeast of the expansion project is an Urgent Care Clinic almost at completion. About a half mile to the west is ground being prepared for the possibility of a new Lee County Health Department and on the east side of town is a mammoth undertaking to re-establish the Fort Madison Marina and Riverview Park area.
Those are signs that, according to Fort Madison Mayor Matt Mohrfeld, show Fort Madison is far from sitting idly by.
The new expansion will provide 36 new rooms, 24 for assisted living patients and 12 for memory care units in the 34,000 square foot addition.
Holtkamp said there are many to thank for getting the project to that point.
"We really appreciate everyone that's helped us get here - from architects to contractors to really everyone with input to this point. We've had some great success with our other Birkwood Village we recently opened in Toledo (Iowa) and we're really excited to bring this to Fort Madison as well," Holtkamp said.
Mark Schickedanz, owner of Schickedanz Construction in Fort Madison, who's the construction manager on the project. said he is hoping for a 13-month turnaround on the project.
Mohrfeld said there's nothing he likes to hear more than development and investment.
"There's no better word for a mayor to hear than the term "groundbreaking"," Mohrfeld said.
"Mark is organic. He's from here and to come back here and invest $8 million in a needed industry in our community. You just can't measure that. This translates into jobs. This is a big thing."
The city got behind the project to the tune of a 10-year tax abatement approved in March of 2021 to encourage the development. The city balked at a 20-year TIF incentive, but said 10 years is a more contemporary approach to re-establish funds returning to city coffers for services quicker than traditional incentives.
Mohrfeld said the city is seeing traction in a lot of areas with conversations coming around child care and land development.
"If you were on the outside looking in and you're seeing what we're seeing and hearing. There is a lot happening," he said.
With a backlog of possible tenants for the rooms on a list, staff at the event said they would begin working through the waiting lists of people looking for assisted living facilities as construction begins.