WoodSpring Suites buys disputed site

Chain has tried to build hotel near airport since 2015

An extended-stay hotel chain that has fought an extended battle to enter the Milwaukee area has bought a development site, with construction likely to begin this spring.

An affiliate of WoodSpring Suites has purchased the 11-acre lot, 1701 W. Layton Ave., from the State of Wisconsin for $1.75 million, according to state real estate records posted Tuesday.

The vacant parcel is a remnant of former highway land that was created when I-94 was reconstructed. It’s just west of I-94.

An executive for Wichita, Kan.-based WoodSpring couldn’t be immediately reached for information about when the new hotel is expected to open. It would be the first Wisconsin location for the hotel chain.

WoodSpring has been trying since 2015 to open a hotel near Mitchell International Airport, as well as locations in other Milwaukee-area communities.

The chain initially proposed a fourstory, 124-room hotel at 4040 W. Layton Ave., Greenfield.

Those plans were opposed by city officials, who called it a “value weekly rate hotel” that would generate a high number of police calls.

WoodSpring executives disputed that characterization, saying their hotels have secure main entrances, security cameras and proper exterior lighting. The weekly rate would have been $300 to $400, which is less than $60 a night.

The chain in 2016 proposed the same hotel for the Layton Ave. site. That Milwaukee parcel is zoned for a hotel, among other commercial uses.

However, because the hotel site would be developed separately from the rest of the parcel, it needed a certified survey map.

Such maps are usually approved routinely.

But the Plan Commission in May voted to deny the survey map request — despite a recommendation for approval from Mayor Tom Barrett’s Department of City Development.

Commission members voted after hearing opposition from Ald. Terry Witkowski, whose district includes the development site, and Deb Ritter, a resident of the Bostonian Village North condos, which is south of the proposed hotel site.

Both Witkowski and Ritter said an office building would be a better use for the parcel. WoodSpring would use 3 acres of the 11-acre lot.

Witkowski also told commission members WoodSpring “does not have a great reputation” and has been turned away in other Milwaukee-area communities.

At that point, the survey map’s review process “became political instead of technical,” according to a lawsuit WoodSpring filed in August.

The Common Council rejected the map request in June after Witkowski said the map was inaccurate. WoodSpring called that decision arbitrary and unreasonable.

The council and Barrett in October approved a redrawn map, and WoodSpring dismissed its lawsuit in November.