Hurdles remain for Baird Center convention hotel in Milwaukee

Listen to this article

By TOM DAYKIN

USA Today Network via Reuters Connect

A hotel tied to downtown Milwaukee‘s Baird Center is likely years away from being built – assuming the $500 million project wins city approval.

That’s according to comments made during a presentation before officials from the public agency which operates the convention center and other downtown venues.

Such a hotel, with upwards of 600 rooms, should be the topic of a “thoughtful, long-term conversation,” said Peggy Williams-Smith, president and CEO of Visit Milwaukee.

That private nonprofit group, which receives public funding, promotes Milwaukee as a destination for convention goers and other travelers.

“We’re not advocating for…another convention hotel in the immediate future,” Williams-Smith told members of a Wisconsin Center District board committee at its March 9 meeting.

“Projects of this scale take many years of study, planning, and collaboration before they ever become reality,” she said.

The district is a state-created agency which operates Baird Center, UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena, and the Milwaukee Theatre.

The historic theater could be demolished and replaced by a 650-room hotel, apartments, and commercial space, according to a recent study commissioned by the district.

Baird Center has lost business to other cities because the newly expanded facility isn’t connected to enough hotel rooms, according to the study from consulting firm Hunden Partners.

The study said other cities which compete with Milwaukee continue to add convention-oriented hotels.

That includes Kansas City, Indianapolis, and Columbus – which Williams-Smith said “have zoomed past us” with recent hotel investments.

Milwaukee Theatre’s demolition is opposed by preservationists as well as Pabst Theater Group Inc., which promotes events there, and the National Independent Venues Association.

The study reviewed five other prospective hotel development sites, including two nearby parking lots − one owned by the city just south of Vel R. Phillips Plaza, 401 W. Wisconsin Ave.

Such hotels generally need public financing, a Hunden executive told committee members at its Feb. 20 meeting. Some Milwaukee hotel operators say that price tag could be $400 million to $500 million.

The Hunden study didn’t include possible financing sources for a hotel. A future committee meeting will focus on that topic, said Liz Sumner, Milwaukee County comptroller and committee chair.

One possible funding source could be the district’s ability to borrow money by selling bonds − with that debt repaid through the district’s taxes on people using Milwaukee County hotel rooms, restaurant meals, and car rentals.

But the project also would likely need city zoning approval. And any proposal to demolish the theater would have to overcome the city’s December designation of that building as historic.

The committee is to report its review of the hotel study to the full board in May.