Should Wisconsin Center District taxes be increased to include meeting space in a proposed development at North 4th Street and Wisconsin Avenue in downtown Milwaukee?
Milwaukee-based hotel development firm Jackson Street Holdings, LLC is proposing a $279.6 million plan at North 4th Street and Wisconsin Avenue that would include three hotels totaling 506 rooms, 103,000 square feet of convention and meeting space and 22,000 square feet of street-level restaurants, bars and cafés.
The 103,000 square feet of convention and meeting space provided in the project, called Nexus, would exceed the amount necessary to support the three hotels and provide the expansion the Wisconsin Center District has been looking for with the downtown Milwaukee convention center, according to the proposal.
The Wisconsin Center District would fund and own the convention and meeting facilities in the Nexus project, according to the proposal.
But to pay for those meeting facilities, it may be necessary to increase the Wisconsin Center District’s taxes on hotel rooms, car rentals and food and beverage sales in Milwaukee County.
Would an increase in one or more of those taxes collected by the WCD be a good idea to assist a development at the long vacant 4th and Wisconsin site? Let us know what you think by taking the BizPoll.
