Aldermen Give Hotel Project Another Reprieve

The developer of a proposed hotel complex at College and Howell avenues has been given another six weeks to ease the city's worries about the $4.5 million it plans invest into the project.

The delay was the after top Oak Creek officials in June recommended withdrawing the funds because they do not believe enough protections are in place.

"This is public money that we have. We need to secure it the best we can," City Administrator Gerald Peterson said.

The city has "few guarantees if the project doesn't move forward successfully that the city's money would be returned in a timely manner," Peterson said.

Some Oak Creek aldermen, however, said they project has big potential and they want to see if developer Greg Trapani can satisfy the concerns of city staff.

"If we're still a ways away on a few things, I suggest we take a little more time and negotiate something else out," Ald. Dan Bukiewicz said. "I don't think we just fold it at this point."

Trapani has worked with Oak Creek for the last five years trying to get the hotel proposal — which includes a 107-room Four Points by Sheraton and a long-term airport parking lot — off the ground.

He doesn't want to pull the plug after all that time, especially after he "scoured the country" and lined up other revenue sources.

Oak Creek's financing is "really the only way to pull this deal off," Trapani said. The money, none of which has yet been spent, would come from a tax-incremental financing district.

"We feel like we can protect the city's money," Trapani said.

After more than an hour of debate, aldermen voted 4-2 to hold off withdrawing money for at least another six weeks.

Aldermen Michael Toman and Tom Michalski voted against delaying, saying they agreed with the recommendation to withdraw funds and did not see the need to delay again. 

The issue will come back to the council in September.