For most of 2026, the news at Hilldale has been about the building that used to show movies. Over the past nine months the restaurants and stores opening around that building have taken over its old job as the south end's reason to stay past dinner. A home goods store is being built into its back half.
The six-screen theater opened in 2008 as Sundance Cinemas 608. Carmike bought the Sundance theaters in 2015, and AMC acquired Carmike and renamed the Madison location AMC Madison 6 the following year. It closed in late 2022, about a month earlier than expected. AMC's spokesperson pointed to the chain's general practice of reviewing its locations and gave no reason specific to this site.
Nearly four years later, the building is being reused in pieces, and the pieces explain most of what has changed at the center this year.
The front half went first, and the back half is going to Pottery Barn
Since the closure, the front of the former theater has gradually been converted for retail and restaurant tenants. The back is the newer project. Construction crews are rebuilding the rear of the theater space next to L.L.Bean for a Pottery Barn, according to the Wisconsin State Journal.
This is a return to Madison. Pottery Barn ran a store at West Towne Mall for years before it closed in 2021. When In Business Madison covered the plan on February 26, 2026, no exact opening date had been announced. As of Hilldale's most recent site update in early September, the store is still listed as Coming Soon.
The swap matters for how the south end gets used. A movie theater drew a crowd in the evening. A furniture, rug and lamp store draws daytime trips. The evening draw now comes from the restaurants opening nearby.
What opened in 2026, in order
Each opening this year has added a reason to come back at a different hour.
- Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream, April 1. The company returned to Hilldale at 554 N. Midvale Blvd. and handed out a free scoop per guest from noon until 8 p.m. or until the ice cream ran out. Hilldale now lists it as open.
- Reformation, May 5. The clothing brand opened its first Wisconsin store at Hilldale.
- North Italia, September 2. The restaurant opened at 670 N. Midvale Blvd.
Chocolate Shoppe's opening was a homecoming more than a debut. "We're so excited to be back at Hilldale after all these years," Andy Lanz told WMTV. "There's a lot of history here for us, and we're looking forward to creating new memories with the community."
One is a first-in-Wisconsin store, one is a new restaurant, and one is a local business coming back. All three have the same effect for someone living a few blocks away on Hilltop Drive or Bluff Street. There are more places to walk to after 5 p.m. than there were a year ago.
Still coming soon
The next arrivals continue the same pattern.
CAVA is due at Hilldale "this fall," and it will be the first CAVA in Madison. WMTV's September 14 report placed it next to Chase Bank and LaserAway and gave no specific opening day. The State Journal reported that it will be in a separate building. WKOW described it as CAVA's first location in Wisconsin. Hilldale's tenant page still says Coming Soon.
Pottery Barn, covered above, has no posted date.
Sunglass Hut is also labeled Coming Soon in Hilldale's directory, again without a date.
With North Italia already open, CAVA would make two new places to eat at Hilldale in a single fall.
October happens in the same corner
The theater conversion and this month's calendar share a block. Hilldale's farmers market sets up in the lot behind L.L.Bean, off Segoe Road. That's the same neighbor the State Journal named for the Pottery Barn construction. On market mornings, the produce tables and the construction fencing sit next to each other.
The market runs Wednesdays and Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. through October 31, with Wisconsin cheese, produce, meat and eggs, baked goods and flowers. Leashed dogs are welcome. As of today, October 4, eight market days remain in the season.
| Date | What | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Wed., Oct. 7 | Couch to .2K session | Hilldale |
| Fri., Oct. 9 | Anine Bing and Jenny Bird styling event | Hilldale |
| Oct. 16–18 | Ulla Eyewear 28th anniversary event | Hilldale |
| Wed., Oct. 21 | UHFNA new-neighbor welcome social, 5:30–6 p.m., then annual meeting, 6–9 p.m. | Covenant Presbyterian Church |
| Sun., Oct. 25 | Hilldale-O-Ween, 1–3 p.m. | Hilldale |
| Wed. and Sat. through Oct. 31 | Farmers market, 8 a.m.–1 p.m. | Lot behind L.L.Bean, off Segoe Road |
Hilldale-O-Ween includes costume activities, a dance party and treats from participating stores. The event header lists it as Sunday, October 25, though one line of the description calls it Saturday. The University Hill Farms Neighborhood Association's October 21 evening opens with the social for new neighbors before the meeting starts.
The bigger plan is still on paper
Everything above happened inside buildings that already existed. The larger change for the south end hasn't started yet.
WS Development, which bought Hilldale in 2012 from Joseph Freed & Associates, announced a southward expansion in August 2021. Madison's Common Council approved the rezoning in May 2023. The approved concept covers 702 N. Midvale Blvd. and 401 N. Segoe Road and includes three buildings: a single-story retail building, a three-story retail and office building, and a mixed-use building with 100 apartments. In its March 15, 2023 letter to the city, WS Development called the project Hilldale Phase 3 and said it would proceed in stages over two to four years.
In the State Journal's Pottery Barn coverage, that redevelopment had still not broken ground. The longer-range concept described there includes retail and restaurants, a boutique hotel, the 100 apartments, a green, and space for events and an ice rink. No construction date has been published.
Across Sheboygan Avenue, the other big project nearby has a firmer schedule. Construction on Madison Yards Block Three started in July 2025, with 199 market-rate homes and 8,733 square feet of ground-floor retail. Completion is forecast for March 2027, and the retail tenants have not been named.
So the south end's next few months are fairly predictable. CAVA and Pottery Barn open in or around the former theater block, the farmers market wraps up on October 31, and the Phase 3 site stays as it is until WS Development announces a start.
Changes like a new restaurant row or a reused anchor building affect what a home a few blocks away is worth, and the comparable sales won't show it for a while. If you live in Hill Farms and want to know where your home stands as the south end of Hilldale changes, Husky Homes can walk you through it with local sales data and a clear plan for presentation. Request a Free Home Valuation.
