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HomeMy WebLinkAboutWeekly Newsletter Date: September 2, 2011 To: Mayor & City Council From: Mark A. Rohloff, City Manager WEEKLY NEWSLETTER Subject: WOGERNESE HOTEL GROUP PLANS TO PURCHASE CITY CENTER HOTEL 1.: As I'm sure Council Members have heard by now, the Wogernese Hotel Group (WHG) announced plans on Thursday to purchase the City Center Hotel from the Nashco Hospitality Group. This group, led by WHG, includes a partnership with the UW-Oshkosh Foundation and the Oshkosh Area Community Foundation. I do not have the details on how this partnership will work, but all three groups invited me to a press conference on Thursday to discuss this project. Up to now, the city's involvement in this has been providing information to potential buyers of the hotel. The Wogernese Hotel Group appeared to be the only party ultimately interested in making an offer on the hotel. I have been peppered with questions from the media and other interested parties about the next step in the process. My understanding is that WHG has a 90-day period in which to close on this property. I expect that they will go through the normal due diligence process when acquiring real estate. My understanding is that part of the 90 days is also to get consideration for a Tax Incremental Financing District. I have gone on record to say that I will support the creation of a TIF District for this project. This is the same assurance that I had given to previous owners of the hotel. I believe that WHG understands what information is necessary and that they will be very cooperative in assembling this information and going through the appropriate process. As I further understand, the tentative plans are for the hotel to close later this year and demolition work on the inside of the property to take place and be completed by the end of the year. This will enable the project to have the lowest possible value necessary as the base for a Tax Incremental Financing District. WHG will then begin renovation of the building, with plans for completion sometime in the summer of 2012. I do not have details other than it was obvious that they want to be done prior to EAA, but certainly earlier if possible. We will know more about this information as WHG goes through its due diligence process. I am certainly excited and enthusiastic about this project and appreciate the work of all parties involved. As more information unfolds, I will be happy to share it with the Council. TAKING ROOT CAMPAIGN IN OSHKOSH TOUTED IN STATE PUBLICATION 2.: Please find enclosed an article that appeared in a state publication concerning Oshkosh's Taking Root Campaign. The article discusses creative partnerships in Wisconsin and highlights the cooperative efforts of the city, Community Foundation and a local tree service. As the article states, other communities across the state are jumping on board and taking up their own tree planting initiatives. Weekly Newsletter September 2, 2011 Page 2 RECONSIDERATION OF CVS PROJECT 3.: I am aware that most, if not all Council Members have been contacted in one form or another by both residents and developers impacted by and/or associated with the proposed CVS project, which was rejected by Council at your last meeting. th Council Member Pech has asked that this item by placed on the September 13 Agenda for reconsideration. My understanding is that the purpose of the reconsideration is not to have the project approved at that meeting. Rather, the intent would be to direct the City Manager to work with the neighbors and the developer to develop a compromise plan that would be acceptable to Council based upon these discussions. I am certainly willing to personally involve myself in this discussion process. I am not sure if both parties can reach an agreement on issues related to the project that would enable us to come back to Council with some type of revised proposal, but I am willing to try. There was some suggestion to refer this matter back to the Plan Commission. However, I do not feel that this would serve any purpose as the issues of contention are really between the developer and the neighboring residents. If Council Members have any other thoughts on how you would like this matter approached, please contact me so that I may th incorporate it into information that we may share with the Council prior to the September 13 Council Meeting. CITY CENTER RIVER WALK DISCUSSIONS PROGRESSING WELL 4.: This week, Community Development Director Davis and I met with representatives of City Center LLC to discuss details on our agreement to acquire land along the riverfront for the construction of the River Walk. We resolved most of the remaining issues at this meeting and I expect that we will be reaching final agreement within the next month. This puts us on track to bid this project out for construction to begin this fall. After a winter hiatus, construction would resume in spring, with a projected completion date next summer. With the favorable news about the City Center Hotel, staff is looking at incorporating River Walk plans in front of the hotel into this design plan. When we begin meeting with the soon-to-be-new- owners of the City Center Hotel, we will work with them to coordinate construction efforts so that we are not stepping on each other's toes as the hotel undergoes its renovations early next year. With all of these plans in place, we could see the River Walk extending from the Leach Amphitheater over the UW-Oshkosh by the end of next summer, 2012, which is great news for the entire river front. If you have any questions regarding this project, please contact Community Development Director Davis. TRY TRANSIT DAY A SUCCESS 5.: The Oshkosh Transit System would like to thank the Oshkosh community for making Try Transit Day a success. Last Saturday, Oshkosh Transit offered free bus service and provided incentives for new riders. Volunteers were on the buses and downtown to help community members learn more about Oshkosh Transit. All riders received prize entry forms and incentive cards with discounts to local businesses. The event resulted in a 60% increase in ridership. The 2,647 rides provided included many first-time riders learning how to use the bus system. A survey of participants showed that 20% were first time riders. A total of 49% of participants listed shopping or work as their trip purpose. Other trip purposes included visiting friends/family, learning the route to school, learning more about the bus routes, medical appointments, visiting the parks and more. If you have any questions concerning Try Transit Day or the Oshkosh Transit System, please contact Transportation Director Chris Strong. Weekly Newsletter September 2, 2011 Page 3 UW-OSHKOSH UNVEILS WELCOME CENTER PLANS 6.: Along with the discussion of the City Center Hotel, UW-Oshkosh officials also revealed some preliminary plans for an Alumni Welcome Center that is proposed along Wisconsin Street at Pearl Avenue. You may recall that earlier this year, the city sold the University Foundation land adjacent to their current parking area. This property is located south of Pearl and north of the Fox River and Steiger Park. The plan is for the Foundation to build this Alumni Welcome Center that will also serve as another conference center in the downtown area. These plans are tentative as the University and its Foundation will undergo a fundraising effort for this plan to become reality. The University has discussed their ideas with me about the Alumni Welcome Center for some time now, and I wanted to brief you on some of the discussions we had and how it may impact the immediate area. For instance, the city and University have discussed the parking issues associated with Steiger Park and the unauthorized use of this parking lot by University students. Both the city and the University do not want students using the park's lot. One of the options we are discussing is to convert the Steiger Park parking lot into green space that will transition to the Welcome Center green space. Meanwhile, the University would agree to develop parking in the vicinity of the Alumni Welcome Center and reserve an area for public parking use. This would achieve two objectives: 1) It would enable the University to enforce its parking restrictions on its students who would not be permitted to park in this area while providing public parking for park users and, 2) Eliminate parking access for Steiger Park on Wisconsin Street, which can be dangerous, particularly during rush hour periods. Steiger Park visitors would now access their parking lot through Pearl Avenue near the Welcome Center, which would be a much safer access point for park visitors. Similar discussions will take place on the University's role in maintaining the River Walk trail through Steiger Park and the University area in order to maintain a level of consistent maintenance. The city and the University will continue to have discussions as the plans for their Alumni Welcome Center unfold. If you have any questions as this project progresses, please do not hesitate to contact me. CITIZENS ACADEMY CANCELLED 7.: According to Media Services Director Dean Leisgang, we only received five applications for participation in our Citizens Academy, which we had planned on conducting this fall. Because of the low number of applicants, we have decided to cancel the Citizens Academy at this time. All applicants have been notified of our decision. We may decide to again try recruiting sometime in the future. If you have any questions concerning the Citizens Academy, please contact Dean Leisgang. DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS & UPDATES 8.: Other items I'm enclosing with today's Newsletter include a press release from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation concerning the causeway across Lake Butte des Morts on Highway 41. The DOT is advising boaters to use extreme caution in this vicinity as there will be numerous barges with large cranes and other construction equipment in the area. Construction is scheduled to begin after Labor Day, and includes replacing all six US 41 lanes crossing Lake Butte des Morts. Insofar as minutes are th concerned, I'm enclosing the following: The minutes of the August 16 Plan Commission thth meeting; the minutes of the June 27 Housing Authority meeting; the minutes of the July 26 th Library Board meeting; the minutes of the August 9 Traffic Review Advisory Board meeting; th and the minutes of the August 4 Museum Board meeting. I'm also enclosing a press release, reminding residents that there will be no garbage or recycling collection on Monday, Labor Day. Collections for the remainder of the week will be delayed one day. The last item I'm enclosing is the most recent hotel/motel room tax report. Weekly Newsletter September 2, 2011 Page 4 th UPCOMING MEETINGS 9.: Meetings I have scheduled for the week of September 5 include the following: On Monday afternoon, I will be attending the Winnebago County Labor Council Labor Day Picnic at South Park. At 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday, I will be meeting with representatives of the Wogernese Hotel Group to begin discussions on plans for a potential TIF for the City Center Hotel. At 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, I am meeting with Mr. Charlie Carlson, the consultant we hired to conduct our Classification and Compensation Study. On Wednesday, at 7:30 a.m., I will be attending a meeting of the Fox Valley Technical College Advisory Board. On Thursday, at 7:30 a.m., I will be attending a meeting of OAEDC. On Friday, at 7:30 a.m., I will be attending a presentation of the L.I.F.E. Study Report that is conducted by the United Way. In addition to these meetings, over the next few weeks, I will be involved in numerous meetings with department heads to begin review of their 2012 budgets. This will make my availability for other meetings somewhat limited during this time period. I appreciate your cooperation as I try to meet all of these schedule demands. If you have any questions about my schedule, please do not hesitate to contact me. MAR/jdc Enclosures