CUNA Mutual Group is planning a major mixed-use project on and around its west-side Madison campus, reopening old wounds over how some of this land was acquired.
Back in the early 1980s, relates former Mayor Paul Soglin, CUNA Mutual said it needed more land for eventual expansion. “They gave some kind of alert or signal: We may leave,” says Soglin, now working for a union representing CUNA workers.
The UW-Madison, prodded by business and civic leaders including then Mayor Joel Skornicka, agreed to sell the company 60 acres of University Research Park land.