Common Council votes "no" on turning Glendale Hilton into dorms
Common Council votes no on turning Glendale Hilton into dorms
Common Council votes no on turning Glendale Hilton into dorms
GLENDALE (WITI) -- The Glendale Common Council on Monday night, September 9th was forced to make a decision regarding the future of the Hilton Hotel and Anchorage restaurant on N. Port Washington Road. The vote was on a possible re-zoning of the area to allow a dorm for Chinese students to replace the hotel.
“What’s going to happen on the corner and Hampton and Port Washington Road?” Glendale Mayor Jerome Tepper said Monday night.
Speaking to the Common Council of Glendale and a room full of concerned citizens, Mayor Tepper discussed the possible future of the site where the Hilton Hotel currently sits.
“People are, do not want to see the Hilton Hotel leave," Tepper said.
Tepper has been told that in April of 2014, the Hilton will no longer be involved with hte hotel, leaving the status of the property in flux.
That's why the Wisconsin International Academy asked to have the area re-zoned, so that it could be turned into a dormitory for its Chinese students who attend schools in the area like Dominican High in Whitefish Bay, according to Principal Matt Gibson.
“We need to find a place that can be home for at least 200 students, which includes residential but also the classrooms and research center," Gibson said.
The city had concerns that re-zoning the area would mean nearly $245,000 in tax revenue lost, that would have been passed on to the taxpayers -- but those concerns were alleviated before Monday night's meeting.
“The buyers have agreed to reimburse the city for three years of our room tax and they’ve also additionally added another $50,000 for year four and another $50,000 for year five," Mayor Tepper said.
Even with the concession, Glendale's Common Council voted unanimously to reject the plan.
"We’re disappointed. So we’ll look at a Plan B," Gibson said.
While it was previously discussed as an option, Plan B won't include the Dove Health Care building on Bender Road in Glendale.
“We looked at it but it just didn’t meet any of our specifications short-term or long-term," Gibson said.
That means Glendale will most likely not be in the WIA's long-term plans.
“I don’t want to totally dismiss it, but we don’t have any sight that we’ve been pursuing or has been pursuing us that meets any of the requirements," Gibson said.
"In the meantime, the question is whether another hotel of equal stature will locate here and that’s the challenge at this point and time," Mayor Tepper said.
People who left Monday night's meeting upset with the decision didn't want to talk on camera, but voiced concern over leaving an empty hotel on the lot, instead of having the academy take over.
The Glendale Common Council hopes to keep the current hotel in place, even without the Hilton name -- or to attract another hotel in the future.