The fate of a $60 million, 11-story condominium/hotel project along Downer Avenue will be discussed at a City Planning Commission public forum on Feb. 12.

New Land Enterprises, the project developers, wants to build a new condominium/hotel along Downer Avenue on the northeast corner of West Webster Place and North Stowell Avenue.

According to plans issued to the commission, the building would include 52 condo units, 78 hotel rooms, 76 residential parking spaces and 112 hotel/commercial parking spaces.

The project also includes plans to renovate the streetscape along Downer, repair and utilize the upper floor of the Harry W. Schwartz Bookshop for medical offices, and expand parking along the street.

New Land Enterprises asserts businesses along Downer Avenue are in a gradual state of economic decline. They attribute this to the decrease in customer traffic and the four retail vacancies present during their initial visit in August 2006.

�Four retail vacancies is an usually high amount for a merchant district of this kind,� wrote New Land Enterprise in their proposal to the Milwaukee Common Council.

New Land Enterprises believes the new project will stimulate growth along the avenue, by bringing more people into the area.

However, after the first condo meeting, neighbors around the proposed project site voiced their disapproval of the project. The Citizens for Balanced Development issued a statement outlining their concerns.

�We believe that the new medical offices called for by Downer Avenue master plan, are more likely to generate additional income for the developers, than they are to revitalize the avenue�s shops and businesses,� the statement said.

The group also argued the new building would have significant �shadowing� effects on other properties and disrupt the image of the neighborly setting, as most buildings in the surrounding area are only three to six stories tall.

The Balanced Development Committee also warned that such a large building would contribute to pedestrian and street congestion.

However, New Land Enterprises has drawn up a second revised plan, which will be discussed in this second public hearing, which addresses some citizen concerns.

The new plan features a redesigned building using extensive amounts of aluminum framings and windows to lighten its impact on the surrounding buildings. Also, architect Scott Kindness, reduced the building�s square footage by 50 percent, the Milwaukee Business Journal reported.

�The design has matured, and now we have a much better building,� Bob Greenstreet also told the Milwaukee Business Journal. Greenstreet is the City of Milwaukee planner and a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee�s School of Architecture and Urban Planning.

New Land Enterprises will present their second proposal before the Milwaukee Planning Commission at 2 p.m, Feb.12 at 809 N. Broadway on the second floor.

Check out the UWM Post blog at blog.uwmpost.com to find out what happened at the meeting.

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