As a result of city operations closing down following the season’s largest snowstorm, a proposal for a new limited service hotel building near the University of Wisconsin campus was delayed in passing through the City’s rezoning process.
The Richmond Group was scheduled to present a new plan to the Urban Design Commission Wednesday that would replace the originally proposed double-tower student housing and hotel complex with a single-tower limited service Hampton Inn and Suites.
Gary Brink, the project’s architect, said in a letter to the UDC the company’s project development had taken a different direction since the group’s original presentation for the commission May 12. The group was not able to find a sponsor for the student-housing component.
The group provided the UDC with an official submission Jan. 26 that described the project, located on the corner of West Johnson Street and North Bassett Street, as a nine-story mixed use building with 194 guestrooms and minimal meeting space in addition to nearly 3,000 square feet of commercial space.
The submission also described two levels of elevated parking for vehicles, bicycles and mopeds, in addition to nine surface parking spaces.
The proposal originally detailed two buildings with 112 residential rental units in the first tower and 163 guestroom units in the second. It also featured three levels of underground parking, which the group expressed difficulty in funding.
Because the project’s proposers scrapped the original plans entirely, the UDC is considering the new proposal as an entirely new application, Al Martin, UDC member said.
“They are basically starting the process over,” Martin said. “After the UDC, [The Richmond Group] will also need to gain approval from the Common Council and the Planning Commission.”
The group is still responsible for providing a new informational presentation to the UDC for approval, Martin said.
The Richmond Group has resubmitted an application for UDC approval detailing plans for a stand-alone hotel, Martin said.
Because the project’s original presentation was canceled Feb. 2, the group will provide the UDC with an informational run-down on the project Wednesday.
A neighborhood meeting to discuss the proposal will be held Feb. 21.
