WoodSpring Suites seeks license in hotel battle

Typically, a newly built hotel gets its city license not long before it opens.

But nothing’s been typical about the WoodSpring Suites chain’s battle to open its first Milwaukee hotel.

The value-priced extended-stay operator is applying for a hotel license before it begins construction this year on the city’s south side.

WoodSpring is taking that unusual step because of continued opposition from Ald. Terry Witkowski, whose district includes the proposed hotel site.

The owners of a new hotel usually seek a city operating license after construction and building inspections are largely done, said Greg Hanis, an industry consultant.

“I’ve never heard of it being done the other way around,” said Hanis, who operates Hospitalty Marketers International Inc., which has an office in New Berlin.

WoodSpring’s license application is to be reviewed by the Common Council’s Licenses Committee at its July 17 meeting. The full council will likely vote on the committee’s recommendation at its July 31 meeting.

The hotel chain has obtained its building permit and is planning to begin construction in either August or September, said Stephanie Knebel, entitlement and permitting manager at Wichita, Kan.-based Brookwood Hotels, WoodSpring’s largest franchised operator.

The Milwaukee hotel would take about a year to build, she said.

Knebel declined to talk about why WoodSpring is seeking its license before starting construction.

But Witkowski has said repeatedly he will oppose granting a city hotel license to WoodSpring.

“I think it’s very wise for them to ask for a license before they spend money on construction,” Witkowski said.

Witkowski acknowledged that most new hotels that have opened in Milwaukee in recent years — a list that includes Hyatt Place, Homewood Suites, Westin, Kimpton Journeyman and SpringHill Suites — started construction long before seeking their operating licenses.

But, he said, those hotels were welcomed.

“That’s not the case here,” Witkowski said.

Indeed, Witkowski has been battling WoodSpring since 2016, when the chain first proposed a four-story, 123-room hotel at 1701 W. Layton Ave.

WoodSpring would use 3 acres of the 11-acre lot, which it bought in late 2017 from the State of Wisconsin for $1.75 million. The vacant parcel is a remnant of former highway land that was created when I-94 was reconstructed.

The hotel chain’s niche of offering bargain-priced rooms for guests who stay several days has raised concerns in Milwaukee and other communities.

WoodSpring in 2015 proposed a similar hotel at 4040 W. Layton Ave., Greenfield.

Those plans were opposed by Greenfield officials, who said it would generate a high number of police calls.

WoodSpring executives dispute that claim, saying their hotels have safe main entrances, security cameras and proper exterior lighting.

The chain then focused on the Milwaukee site, which has zoning that allows hotels.

Those plans were delayed after the Board of Zoning Appeals in 2016 rejected WoodSpring’s request for a design variance. That would have allowed the hotel to place its main entrance facing South 20th Street instead of West Layton Avenue.

WoodSpring then proceeded with revised plans to include a Layton Avenue entrance that didn’t need a variance.

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 routinely approved.

But the Plan Commission in 2017 rejected 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 Witkowski 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.

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

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

The council and Barrett later approved a redrawn map, and WoodSpring dropped its lawsuit in November.

Witkowski said he opposes a hotel license for WoodSpring because it wouldn’t have enough employees — especially at night.

“If you have a business model where you would leave the place unstaffed at night,” he said, “it says we’re open for drugs, prostitution, whatever goes.”

WoodSpring executives say their hotels do not have such problems.

Most guests are college-educated, with incomes at or above national averages, according to the license application.

WoodSpring’s customers include people relocating from other cities, shopping for a new house, helping family for a week or two with a newborn child, and families whose homes have been damaged by fire or weather.

Guests also include business travelers on temporary assignments, according to WoodSpring, which in January was bought by Choice Hotels International Inc.

WoodSpring Suites operates more than 240 hotels in over 35 states — but none in Wisconsin.

Witkowski said he’s not previously opposed a new hotel license since being elected to the Common Council in 2003.

His district includes six new hotels that have been built near Mitchell International Airport since 2005.

However, he and other council members in 2016 voted to suspend the license for the Econo Lodge Milwaukee Airport, 6541 S. 13th St.

That hotel, which is in Witkowski’s district, had problems with prostitution and people using heroin and other drugs, according to a Milwaukee Police Department report.

That trouble was cleared up during the 45-day suspension, Witkowski said. Among other things, the Econo Lodge’s operators kicked out some longer-term guests, he said.

That situation is analogous to what WoodSpring Suites could foster with its bargain rates for longer stays, Witkowski said.

“I have no desire to create a crime problem in my district,” he said.

Tom Daykin can be emailed tdaykin@jrn.com and followed Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.