The Monona Terrace Hotel of the Judge Doyle Square project proposed five years ago under Mayor Dave Cieslewicz, will see another two months of negotiations between the city and the developer, JDS Development, LLC.

The proposal includes an internal renovation of the Madison Municipal Building, the reconstruction of the Government East parking garage on East Wilson Street and a new hotel to accommodate business at the Monona Terrace Convention Center. The city will move forward on the municipal building and garage while the hotel plans to go through more discussion.

Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, who serves on the board, said because the vote was unanimous, he has every expectation that the city council will accept the recommendation to push negotiations to Oct. 15, though he said he is not sure how much that will help.

“I would say that I’m pretty pessimistic about the hotel aspect of the Judge Doyle Square project moving forward anytime soon,” Verveer said. “On the other hand, I think that we have an excellent opportunity to move forward in more of a piecemeal fashion to accomplish other aspects in the project, the municipal building and the garage. These are two city projects I’m confident Mayor Soglin and the city council will include in the 2015 budget.”

According to a report by the Judge Doyle Square City Negotiating Team, the cost of the project as a whole is $174 million. Ald. David Ahrens, District 15, said the developer indicated a need for $45 million of that for the hotel as a public investment by the city, in addition to asking for the land for free.

Ahrens said the need for the large sum from the city is an indicator that it is not a viable financial project.

“I don’t see a course going forward on this. The proposed developer is so far out of the realm of even where the council is,” Ahrens said.

Ahrens said Madison’s hotel market has grown steadily since the project was proposed, and now the Monona Terrace is too small of a venue to be a reliable convention center. With larger convention centers in Milwaukee and Green Bay, Ahrens said trusting the Monona Terrace to consistently fill up and provide business for a hotel is not realistic.

Ald. Mark Clear, District 19, said Monona Terrace already puts up a strong competition to convention centers in larger cities. He said having a hotel in the area would only increase its competitiveness.

Clear said while more time will be necessary to come to a compromise, it is premature to declare the plan dead. He said, however, the likelihood of the city moving forward on the project this year is low.

While opponents to the project say Madison lacks the need for further hotel development, Clear said the market is there for expansion.

Ahrens agreed, noting that Madison has a “very strong market,” with a number of events that completely sell out everything for miles around.

“When this whole project started there were about 1,000 rooms in downtown Madison, and at the end of this year there may be 1,800,” Ahrens said. “That could easily collapse the market here. This is an experiment, really. We don’t know whether it’s going to work.”