Location
Located just west of the capitol square, 306 West provides a centrally-located luxury apartment community for the western side of Downtown Madison.
306 West also made our list of the Top 10 Luxury Apartment Communities In Downtown Madison – click to see exactly how high they ranked in our 2024 Power Rankings.
The West Washington Avenue corridor to the south and west of the state capitol is generally a bit quieter and more residential than other areas around Downtown Madison, but it is by no means isolated from all of the neighborhood amenities that downtown Madisonians enjoy:
- 2 blocks from the Capitol Square
- 2 blocks from the Overture Arts Center
- 3 blocks from State Street
- 4 blocks from Lake Monona and the Capital City Trail along John Nolen Drive
There’s a reason Madison is consistently ranked as one of the most bikeable and walkable cities in the country (ranked as 2023’s #11 most bikeable city by LawnStarter) – the isthmus on which Downtown Madison sits is only ~12 city blocks wide from lakeshore to lakeshore. 306 West firmly plants you within walking or biking distance of nearly everything Madison is known for.
Common Area Amenities
The garden-level outdoor courtyard offers residents and their guests a space to kick back and enjoy the beautiful Madison summer weather. They also have a gas barbeque grill and outdoor gas fireplace on the terrace as well, offering residents with the chance to use the space into the chillier shoulder seasons.
A club room is also available in the building with 24/7 availability for residents, and while the space does have a coffee station and seating area, we would much rather spend our time out on the terrace if given the choice between the two.
The 306 West fitness center – also open 24 hours a day – is provided on site as well, and has enough equipment for most people to complete a workout that involves some version of cardio and weight/resistance training.
306 West is a self-described “outward looking community”, meaning that they have purposely foregone many of the grander common area amenities offered by other rental properties in the area in favor of letting the neighborhood’s amenities provide that extra level of entertainment.
Sure, a rooftop deck in the building would be nice… but within a 10 minute walk to the east side of the capitol square, you can enjoy a bottle of cabernet at Eno Vino Wine Bar while taking in their stunning capitol views from atop the AC Hotel Madison Downtown. While 306 West’s marketing team certainly isn’t wrong about the neighborhood amenities, having a rooftop deck accessible inside of the apartment building would have been pretty nice, too.
Pets Welcome
Pet owners also appear to be quite plentiful at 306 West, with a heated pet wash station on site for owners to use. Pet rent starts at $25/month per cat, $50/month per dog, and a maximum of 2 pets allowed per apartment.
It’s also worth noting that there are no breed, weight, or age restrictions for pets, a policy which was commended by the US Humane Society as being one of the few luxury rental communities in the nation with no weight or breed restrictions in place.
Directly across South Henry Street is the Way of the Cross Garden, a publicly accessible greenspace currently occupying the original site of Madison’s first Catholic church. This makes for an excellent nearby option to take your dog out for a walk and let them sniff the various trees and bushes all throughout the garden.
Condo-Quality Apartment Finishes
306 West’s 1-bedroom and 2-bedroom apartments (sorry, no studios or alcoves) come in two different finish packages: one with darker ebony cabinetry and polished concrete floors, and the other with lighter natural maple cabinets matched with a walnut wood-look vinyl plank flooring.
Unlike nearly every other luxury apartment community out there, 306 West has succeeded in offering two distinct finish packages which fully change the style of the unit.
The darker “Modern” finish package with dark walnut cabinets and polished concrete floors (as seen in the video linked above) feels decidedly industrial, almost loft-like. The lighter “Cosmopolitan” finish package feels like a much more traditional apartment while still maintaining its modern aesthetic.
Regardless of which finish package you select, you’ll have condo grade finishes for all of the appliances and fixtures in your unit. French door refrigerators and Bosch washers and dryers come standard in every apartment, as do the 9 foot ceilings and outdoor gas line connections on every unit’s balcony/patio.
Three additional items worth noting about the interiors of 306 West’s apartment finishes:
- Every 2-bedroom unit also comes with a gas range in the kitchen versus electric glass-top ranges in the 1-bedroom apartments.
- Every apartment in the building has either a walk-out patio or balcony, though some floorplans only have a “juliet balcony” – essentially a sliding patio door with a railing immediately in front of it.
- The living room of every apartment will have a painted accent wall, with “Modern” finished units having as dark blue accent wall, versus the “Cosmopolitan” finished units done in a lighter blue.
While this isn’t a knock against the quality of the apartments at 306 West or the particular paint colors they’ve opted to use, we aren’t huge fans of pre-painted accent walls in luxury rental communities. Color choices and paint trends can vary so much more quickly than other interior design trends – just look at the huge variety in the Pantone Color of the Year Award Winners since 2010.
It even appears that 306 West’s developers may have used something very close to the 2012 Pantone COTY “Tangerine Tango” as the main exterior accent color for the entire building, something that would make sense given the building undergoing its development and design process sometime in 2012/2013 prior to fully opening in 2015.
Real estate developers and interior designers, take note: from the renter’s perspective, a predetermined accent wall color in a private apartment will almost always drive away more potential tenants than it attracts. And from a property management perspective, it’s so much less work for your on-site maintenance and leasing teams to coordinate apartment move-ins, move-outs, and turns when you only need to worry about one shade of wall paint for every apartment as opposed to three.
On-Site Garage Parking
Parking is available on site in one of two locations: their own private underground parking garage, or in the semi-public parking structure across the alleyway.
For residents who choose to park on-site in the underground climate-controlled garage, parking rent will run you $220/month. EV charging stations are also available in the underground garage for residents with electric vehicles.
Parking in the neighboring parking structure across the Washington Place alleyway is a reduced $150/month. Note that this parking garage is not climate controlled, and is shared with neighboring businesses such as the Hyatt Place Madison Downtown, the Meriter Clinic, and Capitol Lakes Retirement Center, among others.
Utilities and Internet
306 West residents are only responsible for their electric usage and internet in their apartment. For electric, each apartment’s usage is individually metered, with the monthly bill being paid directly to the Madison Gas and Electric Company (MG&E).
Internet options available in one of two ways: 1) choosing direct service with Charter Internet, or 2) using the building’s internet contract through 5Nines, a local Madison internet service provider and paying based on the desired data speed:
- 20 mbps = $20/month
- 50 mbps = $40/month
- 100 mbps = $55/month
Pricing
Disclaimer: exact apartment pricing is subject to a number of factors, and can change weekly or daily. As such, we always like to preface this section by reminding you that any specific pricing mentioned in this article was pulled as of the date the article was written. While we do periodically update the prices to reflect the current market rates, you should always go directly to the property’s website for the most up-to-date pricing and availability information.
306 West offers 1-Bedroom, 1-Bedroom + Den, and 2-Bedroom apartments. If you’re looking for anything smaller such as a studio or alcove, you’ll need to take your search elsewhere on the Madison isthmus.
- 1-Bedroom ($1,850 – $2,200/mo)
- 1-Bedroom + Den ($2,000 – $2,400/mo)
- 2-Bedrooms ($2,475 – $3,900/mo)
Price vs Square Footage
The average 1-bedroom floorplan at 306 West’s apartment is going to be on the larger side for comparable properties in the city. Very few 1-bedrooms will be below 700 sqft, with a handful that push up towards 900 sqft as well.
For those seeking a 2-bedroom option, 306 West has a selection of average-sized 2-bedroom floorplans which range from just under 1,000 sqft on the lower end to 1,110 sqft on the upper end.
For those in the market for significantly more space, 306 West does have a handful of larger 2-bedroom options. At 1,871 sqft, you won’t find many rental options larger than this in other luxury apartment communities around Madison.
For anyone curious, as of March 2024, this specific unit (#801) is on the market for $3,900/month. Here’s a video walk-through tour of this apartment as well:
We’d also like to give a quick shout-out to the 306 West management/marketing team for having so many different unit walk-through videos on 306 West YouTube page. These videos are definitely worth checking out to get a better feel for specific unit types and views throughout the building.
Who Should Live Here
Based on all of the information we’ve researched about 306 West, here are a few different types of renters who we feel would be most likely to want to rent here:
Pet Owners With Breed-Restricted Dogs
We touched on this a bit earlier, but 306 West has one of the most inclusive pet policies in the city, allowing all dog (and cat, for those wondering) breeds without exception. Owners who have dogs which are most often labeled as “typically aggressive breeds“. So if you’re the owner of a doberman pinscher, pitbull, rottweiler, chow chow, presa canario, akita, german shepard, husky, or other miscellaneous wolf dog or wolf hybird, you might want to take a look at 306 West.
Pet Owners With Large Dogs
For larger breeds specifically, we like that the management team has done events in the past catering specifically to pet owners in the building, giving their dogs a chance to meet under relatively controlled circumstances in the outdoor patio area during such events.
We also like that the building’s construction has full concrete slabs between each and every floor. This means you won’t be able to tell when the larger, heavier dogs in your upstairs neighbor’s apartment decide to get the zoomies.
Anyone Looking For An Industrial Loft-Style Apartment
While not fully considered to be loft apartments, anyone looking for something more industrial in their interior finishes should really like their “Modern” finish package. The combination of concrete floors, black trim, and espresso brown/black cabinetry is among the most industrial feeling apartments we’ve come across in Downtown Madison.
Grilling or Barbeque Enthusiasts
Most cities have fire safety ordinances in place which severely restricts – if not outright bans – the use of grills on private apartment balconies in luxury apartment communities. 306 West somehow found a workaround to this general rule, meaning that residents can have gas grills out on their balconies. If you enjoy preparing your own grilled meats and vegetables, this is an extremely noteworthy amenity to have available in your apartment.
Final Thoughts
Even without all the common area amenity bells and whistles offered at many other comparable properties in Downtown Madison, 306 West has a lot of great things going for it. What you lose in common area amenities though, you more than make up for it in your high-end condo-quality apartment finishes.
There’s a reason 306 West ranked as one of Downtown Madison’s Top 10 Luxury Apartment Communities in our 2024 Rental Review Source Power Rankings.
So what do you think about 306 West? Let us know using the form below, or down in the comments!
