Feb. 21–Plans for an extended-stay hotel near Mitchell International Airport, temporarily halted last fall by a Milwaukee zoning board ruling, are apparently proceeding.

The four-story, 124-room WoodSpring Suites will be built at 1701 W. Layton Ave., just west of Interstate 94. The $4 million development will use part of a vacant lot purchased from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation.

A corporate filing for WoodSpring Suites Milwaukee Airport LLC was recently registered with the state Department of Financial Institutions. Also, city building permits have been issued for the project.

A spokesman for the Wichita, Kan.-based WoodSpring chain couldn't be reached for more information.

Plans for the value-priced hotel surfaced last year. The project was delayed when the Board of Zoning Appeals voted in September to deny WoodSpring's request for a variance to allow the project to proceed as designed.

Department of City Development officials said last fall that the hotel should be redesigned so its main entrance faces Layton Ave. But the hotel's design called for the main entrance to face west, toward S. 20th St.

The hotel was designed that way because most of the customers will drive to the hotel from S. 20th St., according to WoodSpring's zoning board filing. The development parcel doesn't have direct vehicle access off Layton Ave.

WoodSpring's plans are now apparently proceeding under the department's design condition, said Ald. Terry Witkowski, whose district includes the site. The site's zoning allows a hotel to be developed without Plan Commission and Common Council approval.

Although construction hasn't started yet, the hotel chain could begin that work at any time, Witkowski said.

Witkowski opposes the hotel proposal. He and some nearby homeowners are concerned about the type of customers who would stay at the hotel, with Witkowski preferring to see offices developed on the parcel.

WoodSpring executives say their hotels have secure main entrances, security cameras and proper exterior lighting.

WoodSpring also wants to develop hotels in Menomonee Falls and West Milwaukee.

Tom Daykin can be reached at tdaykin@jrn.com