Potawatomi Hotel Rendering

At the February 27th, 2012 meeting of the City Plan Commission two requests for zoning changes were recommended for approval which will allow Potawatomi’s luxury hotel proposal to move forward.  The recommendation was contingent on providing the Department of Public Works with traffic information, and the city’s acceptance of additional refinements and enhancements being made to the hotel design.  The 20-story, 375-385 room facility is proposed to be located at the corner of West Canal Street and West Potawatomi Circle creating a new gateway to the casino.  The current design includes white metal panels, and floor to ceiling windows that will have a green tint to compliment the existing hotel’s motif.   The hotel will have a mix of standard rooms and large suites, and include a full service restaurant, lobby bar, a retail store, meeting rooms, exercise facilities, a bowling alley, spa, indoor pool, club room and bar located at the top of the hotel.  Once complete the new hotel will provide 230 full time jobs.

In addition to the new hotel Potawatomi plans to construct a four level 480 stall, 49,615 SF precast parking garage directly east of the existing parking garages south of the casino.

The changes were unanimously recommended for approval.  These zoning changes will now go before the Zoning, Neighborhoods & Development Committee for approval.

Here’s a radical thought, let’s leverage casinos to build a transit system in Milwaukee.

According to the Philadelphia Inquirer (as reposted by the biglittler blog here), Atlantic City casinos are getting together to fund the operating deficit of express train service between New York City and their boardwalk to appeal to 25-34 year olds who don’t like sitting in traffic. The casinos are contracting with NJ Transit to operate the trains. Read more…

Could Milwaukee leverage the Potawatomi Casino in the Menomonee Valley to grease the wheels on funding for a light rail system? Connecting the casino with the new Milwaukee Intermodal Station, Miller Park, the companies in the Menomonee Valley, State Fair Park, and the new UWM campus on the County Grounds (along with the Zoo) would provide a smooth route that connects many major landmarks and a decent amount of jobs.

The rest of the central city (the folks who need the system the most) should still be connected with a route that runs up Fond du Lac Avenue from the Intermodal Station (thereby linking up almost all of downtown). Much like Michael Cudahy’s vision.