July 25–An $8 million extended-stay hotel proposed for Wauwatosa’s Innovation Campus development is back on track after the County Board approved the project Thursday without a wage mandate.
Jacksonville, Ill.-based Hospitality Specialists Inc. wants to operate the 128-room hotel at the development, which is east of Highway 45 and north of Watertown Plank Road. The hotel’s brand hasn’t yet been named.
The board on June 20 approved a development agreement for the hotel. That agreement is needed because Innovation Campus is being created by an affiliate of University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Foundation on land it purchased from Milwaukee County.
However, the board initially attached a provision to that agreement requiring the hotel to provide sick pay and wages of at least 125% of the annual poverty-level wage. That would result in starting wages of around $14 an hour, compared to typical starting wages for hotel workers of $8 to $9 an hour.
Hospitality Specialists co-owner Jim Mann said that provision would make the hotel uncompetitive, and kill the project.
County Executive Chris Abele vetoed the development agreement, and asked the board to approve it without the wage provision. The board sustained Abele’s veto at its July 10 meeting.
The latest approval for the development agreement came Thursday on a 16-2 vote after the board rejected an attempt to again attach the wage mandate. Supervisors Theodore Lipscomb and John Weishan Jr. were the “no” votes.
Mandate supporters said it would help lift workers out of poverty, and is matter of fairness. Opponents said it was a misguided effort that would kill the hotel project.
Weishan’s proposal to amend the agreement and again add the wage mandate failed on a 15-3 vote. Joining Weishan in voting for the amendment were Supervisors Gerry Broderick and Willie Johnson Jr.
Some supervisors who previously supported the wage provision, and who opposed the amendment in this latest vote, said they will work on a broader living wage proposal for Milwaukee County that goes beyond just one project.
“I 110% support the spirit of this amendment,” said Supervisor Peggy Romo West.
Wauwatosa city officials say the hotel would play a key role in generating property taxes to pay off the city’s debt tied to building roads and parking structures at Innovation Campus. The hotel would have an estimated value of $8 million and would join ABB Inc.’s regional headquarters, a business incubator, apartments and other buildings at the development.
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