MADISON MARQUETTE Realty is a mighty mall developer and manager. The Cincinnati-based company swoops in to save shopping centers that are either struggling to survive or flat-out dead.

Madison Marquette, founded in 1992, has fixed up failing malls from Florida to San Francisco. For example, three years ago the company started managing the "underperforming" Del Monte Center in Monterey, California, and quickly turned it around by signing leases with corporate shops like Whole Foods Market.

Now, they have a rescue mission in Seattle. Surprisingly, the company has come to bail out what should be one of the most happening shopping centers in town--the Broadway Market on Broadway between Harrison and Republican. After all, given our super economy, other malls are certainly booming. "Business has been fantastic," says Mikel Hansen, Southcenter Shopping Center general manager and Northwest Shopping Center Association president. "The last 18 months have been great for retail in the Seattle market." Hansen estimates that profits for malls in Seattle increased last year by five to 10 percent. So what's up with the Broadway Market--and by implication--Broadway?

Retailers near the market worry about the declining Broadway business core. "We're sort of feeling like an old section in town that's getting a little banged up," says Bailey/Coy Books manager Michael Wells. "I wish there were an influx of new businesses."

Broadway CD's sales associate Brandon Meredith has worked at various jobs in the market over the last five years. "I think it's dying," he says. "I think business down here has gone downhill. Three storefronts are empty...."

The Market started in 1926 as a collection of retailer stalls. It became a drugstore in the '50s, then a Fred Meyer in the '60s, and finally, a developer expanded the space from 28,000 to 240,000 square feet in 1986. Now the mall includes a 230-car parking garage, 100,000 square feet of retail space, and 30 apartments.

Madison Marquette's purchase of the property last October boosted shopkeepers' spirits. But eight months after they took over, the place still looks depressing. Greetings, a card shop, left its spot in the market between Urban Outfitters and the Gap earlier this year. That space remains empty, aside from two cash registers sitting on a counter. Last spring Garden Botanika also went out of business and left behind a vacant storefront. And music chain Sam Goody is gone as well, leaving another empty space.

Employees who work in the Market say business is slower now than it was last year. Fewer people--mostly white, 20- to 40-year-old hipsters, gaysters, and young urban professionals--walk through the Market during prime shopping hours after work. And they don't seem to buy much. Some carry shopping bags from Fred Meyer or the Gap, but not from smaller retailers like Yazdi, and few stop to look at jewelry or CDs at the carts. Bored shopkeepers chitchat, take smoke breaks, or just stand there. Obviously business is not at its best.

Faced with a revitalized downtown--which is clearly sucking shoppers away from the once-booming Broadway--Madison Marquette is struggling to jump-start Broadway Market. Here's the best thing marketing director Christi Woodards can say: "We're aggressively pursuing [potential tenants]." It's been eight months since Madison Marquette bought the place. Woodards says it could take up to another eight months to fill the Market's empty spaces. "We want to make sure we have a full-rounded retail mix of restaurants, clothing, jewelry..." Woodards explains. She says they're being picky, because "we don't want to become the average mall down the street." They've also hung up paint color samples to signal their plans to repaint the inside.

Madison Marquette won't release the names of new tenants until they've signed a lease. However, if their track record is any indication, they might not be such a hit with big-shot tenants. When Madison Marquette tried to get Virgin Megastore to move in, the store said no thanks, according to Virgin's Michael Townsend.