Contrary to numerous recent media reports, The Ghazi Co. is not planning to bring a House of Blues, Hard Rock Café or an ESPNZone to its proposed downtown Milwaukee development.
Afshin Ghazi, president of the Charlotte, N.C.-based company, recently stomped on those reports while testifying before the city’s Zoning, Neighborhoods and Development Committee.
The Ghazi Co. plans to build a $120 million complex on a two-acre, city-owned parking lot southwest of North Fourth Street and Wisconsin Avenue. The development would include 200 condominiums, a 175-room boutique hotel and 100,000 square feet of entertainment, restaurant and retail space.
The Common Council recently granted an option on the site to Ghazi, so the company can further pursue the project and work to obtain tenants and financing for the development.
The entertainment and retail portion of the development is expected to provide a boost for the Midwest Airlines Center and the Shops of Grand Avenue, both of which are located across the street from the site.
However, Ghazi told the city committee that recent media reports about the prospective retail tenants were overstated.
“You have a very anxious media here in town,” Ghazi said. “I had an interview with one of your local television stations (WTMJ-Channel 4). They asked me, ‘What tenants have you spoken to?’ I didn’t tell them that I had spoken to anybody. I told them, ‘I’ve spoken to only the core group of tenants we have in Charlotte in asking them in passing if they would like to go see Milwaukee or not. Those tenants include tenants like (Charlotte-based) Bar Management Group, which is a big company located in 50 markets around the country. I’ve passed it along to Fox Sports Grill, and that’s about it. And lo and behold, I watch the news that night, and they said, ‘Coming soon: House of Blues, Hard Rock Café, ESPNZone.’
“ESPNZone isn’t doing deals, as far as I know. House of Blues was just bought out (by Beverly Hills, Calif.-based Live Nation Inc.) and I don’t think they’re doing deals. And Hard Rock Café is, to me, a worn-out concept. I’m not sure I’d even pursue them, even if I had the opportunity. So I have not talked to any of those tenants.”
The rumors may have been fueled by stories about the project in The Business Journal Serving Greater Milwaukee, Ghazi said.
“I get regular calls (from media) out of cities for any project we are working on,” he said. “The Business Journal in Milwaukee has called me numerous times and because we haven’t had control of the property, I have declined to comment every time. We have not said anything to The Business Journal, other than we are contemplating coming (to Milwaukee). And they, I think because of our project in Charlotte, have jumped to conclusions about what the project may be or is trying to raise controversy or anything else.”
Familiar concerns
The House of Blues rumors raised some concerns in the community. House of Blues was perhaps the most controversial tenant of the proposed PabstCity development that was rejected by the Common Council in 2005. Milwaukee aldermen killed that project, which would have transformed the former Pabst brewery into an entertainment district with stores, restaurants, residences and office space, by rejecting $41 million in city assistance, most in the form of tax incremental financing (TIF).
Critics of the PabstCity plan said the city should not provide a subsidy for restaurants and entertainment venues competing with existing establishments. Some of the loudest critics were the owners of The Rave and Shank Hall, who feared that the House of Blues at PabstCity would have hurt their businesses.
Talk of the House of Blues in the Ghazi project rekindled some of those fears.
“Some folks in town have already pressed the panic button because the horrid word, ‘House of Blues,’ has been mentioned in newspaper articles in connection with this development,” said Alderman Bob Bauman, who represents the downtown area.
Public benefits
The Ghazi project also would be subsidized by the city. The city plans to sell the property to The Ghazi Co. for $1, instead of the original $3.46 million asking price. City officials say the subsidy is appropriate because of the benefits of Ghazi’s development and because contamination must be removed from the site. In addition, a We Energies steam line must be relocated from the site.
Also, Ghazi’s project would provide several public improvements, including a public plaza, streetscaping and a new transit shelter.
Ghazi is not seeking TIF for the project, but may do so later.
At a recent Redevelopment Authority hearing, Ghazi talked about the types of tenants that actually might occupy the entertainment and retail space in his development. He mentioned Fox Sports Grill, a “boutique movie theater” and a bowling alley. The bowling alley would not be the typical Milwaukee bowling alley, according to Ghazi, who described the concept as “martini bar meets bowling alley.”
Westlake Village, Calif.-based Fox Sports Grill is a chain of sports-themed restaurants. Fox Sports Grill is expected to be a tenant in Ghazi’s EpiCentre development under construction in downtown Charlotte. EpiCentre will also have condos, a hotel, a bowling alley and a movie theater.
Ghazi told the Zoning, Neighborhoods and Development Committee that the hotel in his Milwaukee development would be a limited service hotel.
“There are a ton of flags out there flying,” he said. “Like the Hyatt Place, W Aloft, Hilton Conrad and several others that are out there floating around that haven’t landed (in Milwaukee). That’s a piece of the market where I think the next generation of hotels and business travelers and others are going to be going to. I think we’ve got the perfect site for one of them. I might not get the first one but, I don’t want to guarantee anything, but I feel very confident we are going to get one of them.”
Ghazi said the proposed development does not have an office component.
“I wish you had a stronger office market, because I’d be adding an office component to this,” he said. “But the office market is very weak here, compared to what our risk tolerance is, so we don’t have an office component to this project right now.”
